Human reason is like a drunken man on horseback; set it up on one side, and it tumbles over on the other. –Martin Luther
The believers to whom James is writing were experiencing some serious injustice. Their wages were being improperly withheld from them. They were being taken advantage of by the wealthy. The justice system in which they operated heavily favored the rich. Therefore, they didn’t stand a chance in court.
Truthfully, I don’t believe I’ve ever experienced the type of injustice James’ audience is facing. I’ve had terrible things happen to me. I’ve had my share of suffering. I’ve lived most of my life on the poverty side of wealth by American standards. But still, I haven’t experienced this. But I could. And I know of brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing some of these injustices.
I find James’ counsel to be interesting. And in his counsel I find a strategy for believers as we engage an increasingly volatile non-Christian culture. I want to use the word of God to prepare my heart and to develop a theology before this suffering happens. James 5, in particular, helps us navigate what to do when injustice happens. There are three ditches which we are prone to follow off into in our journey on the straight and narrow.
The Sides of the Horse
First, we must avoid the Almost Asaph path. Asaph was the writer of Psalm 73. He had a brief moment when he was “brutish and ignorant”. He looked at the unbelievers around him who seemed to be living life to the fullest. They were eating Ruth Chris steak dinners and Asaph had something akin to a half-eaten Banquet salisbury steak meal. He was given over to grumbling for a season and almost consumed by it. James encourages his audience to not go down that path (James 5:9).
Secondly, we must avoid the way of the Zealots. James’ call to “be patient” is set against the militant response of Zealots. The kingdom is not to come by force. The Scriptures are clear that we must not “take revenge” but “leave room for God’s wrath”. The slow plodding and faithful waiting of the farmer goes against the political philosophy and stirring of the Zealot. The way of patience and trusting in the Lord is the way of Jesus.
Thirdly, we must avoid the way of inactivity. James’ illustration of the farmer helps us to see that his call to patience is not a call to inactivity. Farmers don’t simply sow their seed and then sit back and wait on the rain. They do everything they can to bring about the growth of their desired object. Yet, they also realize that it’s ultimate growth is dependent upon factors outside their control. Therefore, inactivity is not the way to respond to injustice.
The Saddle
James gives us a couple of interesting models for this biblical patience in the face of injustice; namely, the prophets and Job. These guys weren’t quiet at all. The whole book of Job is about Job trying to get an audience with God so that he can plead his case. He feels as if he is being unjustly treated and so he wants to make a direct appeal to God.
Likewise, the prophets are far from quiet. Read Amos and tell me these guys weren’t bold. Consider the life of Ezekiel. Ponder the tears of Jeremiah. Try calling those in power harlots as Hosea did and see where that gets you. They did not back down from fighting injustice. But notice how they did it. They did it with biblical truth. They did it with the gospel. Our greatest sword for fighting injustice is the gospel.
This is what I think many are saying when they say our efforts towards racial reconciliation should be about the gospel. I agree with this. But then we seem to take that step a bit further, and pretend like we only need to rehearse the facts of the gospel. Nothing I’m writing in this article is meant to contradict or walk-back from what I said in this article: Why Racial Reconciliation Requires More Than Gospel Proclamation.
So, let’s be honest here. The prophets preached against real actual injustice and called upon real actual leaders to enact real actual policies for the good of those being oppressed. And James is calling us to take up this prophetic voice–to patiently proclaim prophetically.
But let’s also not fall of the horse the other way. Let’s not diminish the gospel and the power of the gospel in transforming lives and hearts and actually leading to real institutional change. Let’s not pretend as if our unity in the gospel isn’t a real actual unity which really does transcend color of skin, broken ideologies, and every shred of culture. The gospel creates something new.
The only sword we have in fighting injustice is the word of God. It doesn’t mean that sword doesn’t at times tear down old economic policies or rip to shreds communities built on injustice. Nor does it mean that this sword doesn’t rebuild old fallen structures and replace them with systems which actually reflect the justice of the Lord. But it does mean that the power we have is only going to be found in patient prophetic proclamation.
I suppose you could say that’s easy for me to say as one who at this moment doesn’t have a ton in common with James’ audience. And you’d be correct. But it doesn’t make this application of what James is saying any less true. We have in God’s Word an outline of how we respond to injustice. The specifics of this are difficult, I’ll admit. But this is the path we must pursue.
