Mennonite Church Peace Resources for Youth

Does our prominent position as respected middle-class Americans hinder our commitment to justice? I know my view of justice has been diluted by it.

I had often heard about justice, or the setting of things to rights. But rarely had I considered the implications of a life dedicated to justice. I had always assumed justice consisted of not much more than talk and tithing to help some poor kids in Cambodia.

But whoa, was I wrong! Purely by chance one day, I opened the Bible, and read a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees, the elitist religious group of His day. "But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, rue, and every herb, yet you neglect justice and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others." (Luke 11:42, NET Bible) Here was a people dedicated to tithing, yet who neglected justice. I soon realized that justice involved more than just sharing monetary wealth.

In the United States, I tended to view justice as perfectly fine as long as it didn't shatter my comfort zone. If justice was something I could do without suffering personal loss, then I'd be willing to do it. But I discovered that justice is much more than that. I have a vision of a global church arising that does actually care and will make things right in a big way no matter the personal expense.

This starts with us and with small things, such as shopping at Hot Topic. Too often, I delight in browsing the latest clothing styles at the mall without considering the poor individuals who may have labored in thankless, cruel sweatshops to produce Americans' brand name clothing. Maybe if more of us protested and boycotted clothing brands that use foreign sweatshops, their inhumane conditions would improve. [For more information about sweatshops, check out the following websites: Co-op America, SweatShop Watch, and Coolnotcruel]

Maybe if we were more committed to adopting orphans and caring for single mothers, the injustice of abortion could be set right. We've taken the easy way out, however, and reduced it to an issue that can be solved by legislation.

Maybe if we were more committed to loving Muslims and Middle-Eastern people in the United States, then public sentiment would not condone a fruitless war of aggression. Maybe more white Americans could see Iraqis as people instead of "evil".

If we are committed to justice, we need to be willing to suffer in large or small ways. It is only then that we can really feel and see what others are going through. Maybe then we can really "love our neighbor as ourselves" as Jesus recommended.