Saving Justice

A Reflection on the First Reading for January 13, 2019:
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7 

Thus says the Lord:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have endowed him with my spirit
that he may bring true justice to the nations.

He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.

Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.

I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,

​to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.

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Because of my Bible study group, I have a spent a lot of time over the past several months reflecting on God’s nature as a promise keeper. Unlike most parents, when God says He’ll do something later, He means it. He isn’t just pushing off His pleading children with a later that means never, His intention is clear. When He speaks through the prophets, we can trust that His promises are true. The Israelites knew this because their history showed time and again that the Lord is a promise keeper. He brought them up out of Egypt; He gave them children even when it seemed laughable; He made covenant after covenant and, even when they failed, He forgave them and kept His promise. He never abandons them, but pursues them, waits for them, and loves them.

"He never abandons them, but pursues them, waits for them, and loves them."

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The children of those covenants — those promises — have, through the diaspora, found themselves all over the world. I sometimes think about how that promise is written right into the DNA of God’s chosen people. I’ve been watching an obnoxious amount of DNA reveal videos on YouTube lately. So many of the people in the videos have trace amounts of Jewish blood (Ashkenazi Jewish in particular, although I’ve seen a few with Sephardic Jewish blood, too). These are people who no longer culturally or religiously identify with that part of their DNA, but despite that, they are part of an answer to a promise made to Abraham millenia ago. They are the living testament of the promise that Abraham’s children would be numerous as the grains of sand and be a great nation.

The promises made to the children of Israel, however, are not reserved for those first chosen people or those who share that DNA. As Isaiah reminds us, the fulfilment of the promise of salvation, Christ, came to be a light to the nations, not just to one nation. All those in grief and bondage, slighted with blindness, are offered the new covenant in the body and blood of Christ. When we are baptised, we enter into that covenant, the one promised here and elsewhere in the Old Testament.

This covenant promises us more than justice – it promises saving justice. This is not a justice that gives us what we deserve. Imagine if God had given the Israelites what they deserved when Moses came down with the tablets of the 10 Commandments and saw them worshiping golden idols? This saving justice that Isaiah speaks about is one where Christ comes and offers Himself in our place. His justice is tempered with mercy and it sets us free if we enter into this new covenant with Him. How blessed we are to have a Father who keeps His promises!

​Stephanie Potter

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