Witness from Prison:  Do Justice!

And the crowd asked him, what then shall we do?  - Luke 3: 10

The third chapter of Luke brings to mind a quote from Dante's inferno: "the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." This is what John is preaching - it's not enough to have Abraham as father. Bring forth good fruits! When the people ask what they shall do, John tells them if they have two coats, share with the person who has none. He is not even telling them to sacrifice their own coat on their back, but only the coats left over. John's challenge transcends over to the present day. In this world, there are many starving people. Children and families go hungry when they fear going outside because they are in legal limbo and may be deported. Poor people living in city ghettos are economically alienated where a few supermarkets carry the worst-quality produce at the highest prices. Last May, 700 farmers in South Korea were evicted from their land (by 13,000 riot police) to make room for a proposed expansion of a U.S. military base. Over 400,000 Chinese families are being forcefully evicted from their homes/farms in preparation for the glamorous, commercial spectacle which will be the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to literally sharing food, working for a reorganization of societal priorities is an essential part of fulfilling the call to provide for human needs.

Indeed, those of us who have ever chanted, "fund human needs, not the war machine," are in fact echoing John's next demand, directed at the soldiers standing by. He tells them to inflict harm on no one, accuse no one falsely, and do not extort other people in order to augment their own wages. Unfortunately, the machinists of the War on Terror have inflicted harm on civilians and combatants alike and condemned generations still to come. “Amnesty International Magazine” (Fall, 2006) announced suspicions about "black sites" where people are detained for years because of "secret evidence" which the detainees have no way to rebut. Reconstruction contracts are awarded to friends of the administration without competitive bidding and regardless of whether or not their company even owns a single dump truck.

We can not sit around while bad fruit is borne in our name. We have a moral obligation to speak out. Sticking one's head in the sand and believing the U.S. can do no wrong is acting like the masses who claimed to be exempt from moral responsibility because of their familial connection to Abraham. But, "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." If we truly value freedom and human rights and nonviolence and sharing, we are called to long and careful labor; we must analyze our words and deeds so that those around us may be nourished and inspired toward self-transformation because of the good fruits we bear.

Reflection: What should we do now? What could it mean to ‘do” justice in our world?