20 Feb Our Daily Bread, not our Daily Crumbs

Special Days

20 February 2023

Monday, World Day of Social Justice

OUR DAILY BREAD, NOT OUR DAILY CRUMBS

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10, Recommend reading the full text, John 10:1-21)

The text comes from the background of Jesus interacting with the man who, through blindness, is being marginalized (John 9). The interaction sparked some anger among the Pharisees as it insinuated that they were blind themselves too, thus far from the gospel truth of justice and helping the marginalized.

The readers of the New Testament argue that the purpose of the gospel of John was to prove conclusively, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and that all

those who believe in him will have eternal life. Eternal life in social justice must be taken to mean human dignity, economic equality and equity, Gender justice, and racial justice as a missiological mandate. The qualification was not race, economic status, or political proximity to the political and religious centre. The understanding of Jesus of Nazareth’s social justice was distributive, i.e., equality, all created in the image of God in unique ways. Luke affirms that the ministry of Jesus could not be separated from the issues of justice (Luke 4:16ff). The respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms was core to his preaching and healing.

As attested by both John and Luke, Jesus of Nazareth’s view of social justice is that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities, and thus challenging churches to do the same as they participate in the mission of God. Therefore, none of us deserves crumbs that fall from the tables of other people, as this would be an insult to the goal and mission of the Jesus of Nazareth. John 10 is made up of two neatly joint episodes. First (v1-21) sees Jesus as a good shepherd whose role is also found in the second (v22-42) to unsettle Babylon. Participating in the mission of God in the context of social justice calls for the unsettling of lifedenying institutions, systems and ideologies and, thus, costly discipleship.

prayer

Father of all creation, mother of peace and love, teach us to do your will your way. Teach us to go beyond feeding the poor to eat with them. We have learnt to be an inclusive society, teach us, Lord, to be including as well. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are never at crosspurpose, invite the church to participate in the ministry of Social Justice. We pray, hear our prayers. Amen.

for further thought

What should be our mission to ensure that everyone gets bread, not crumbs?

Sindiso Jele

Council for World Mission