For Oct 26

Sermon Notes: Protecting The Vulnerable

Intro: We see various protests in the news shouting for justice. But what is justice?  Is it restoring what has been lost?  Is it punishing wrongdoers?  Sally, in the Peanuts cartoon, cries out at Christmas each year, “All I want is what’s coming to me! All I want is my fair share!” That’s her concept of justice...what she deserves...her fair share. But we should be careful about asking for our fair share and getting what we deserve. Justice also includes accountability for our wrongs, getting what we deserve, as well as holding others accountable for theirs.

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I. Our God of Justice

A. Last week, I said that our God is a God of purpose, order, and discipline. Let’s add justice to His traits. God makes that point In Micah 6:8, asking “…what does the Lord require of you? To act justly. love mercy. and walk humbly with your God”. Justice is a means of sustaining order and discipline to achieve God’s purposes. God being the God of justice requires us to act justly, treating others as we want to be treated. Loving mercy, generously giving grace, which is undeserved favor, to others. And walking humbly with our God, agreeing with God that we’re sinners, deserving of condemnation, but saved only by His grace. So, if we are going to demand justice, we’d better be capable of living up to what justice requires of us.

B. It's also easier to ask for justice when we perceive ourselves as the oppressed and perceive God as the Champion of the underdog. To illustrate that, Jesus tells about a reversal of fortunes for a rich man, and a beggar named Lazarus. The rich man lived in luxury, while ignoring Lazarus eating scraps falling from his table. When both men die, the rich man goes to a place of suffering, while Lazarus goes to a place of comfort, separated by a large chasm. The rich man desperately asks for Lazarus to put just a cool drop of water on his tongue, but is denied, told that during life he had the good life, while ignoring Lazarus’ suffering. Both men now realized God’s eventual justice.

C. For years, the powerful Amalekites would raid Israel’s lands, stealing their crops and livestock. After years of this, God comes to underdog Israel’s aid, approaching Gideon, a humble farmer hiding in fear from the Amalekites, to gather an army to defeat the powerful Amalekites. Although Gideon’s initial army is small compared to the Amalekites, God further orders it limited to just 300 men. God of the underdog has chosen a cowering farmer to lead a pitifully small army against a superior army.

D. But God’s plan uses the element of surprise in the darkness of night, so the confused Amalekites end up killing each other, and without any of the 300 even using their sword, the Amalekites are destroyed. God had shown Israel that He was the force that would defeat their enemies, and didn’t depend on the strength of an army, or a strong leader. The God of Justice defeated the oppressor, protecting the vulnerable to achieve His purposes with order and discipline.

E. God is justice seems to especially focus on the suffering of the least of

all people. Jesus frequently heals lepers, untouchables, therefore vulnerable, under the Law. Lepers begged for alms, or charity, to survive the few years they had left. But in Hebrew the word for charity is tzedakah, derived from the Hebrew word for justice. Instead of being translated as generous gifts, tzedakah is rooted in the concepts of justice and fairness, implying a duty to help those in need as a matter of principle. Justice meant giving alms to those begging, not out of altruistic generosity, or as a tax deduction, but out of justice. Acting justly, loving mercy, humbly doing God’s will, a way to promote a more just and equitable society. 

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ii. Matthew 25: 31-40

 A. Tzedakah, justice, is not just about giving money. In our Gospel reading, Jesus shows that it includes how we treat others. In His prophetic revelation, Jesus foretells that all nations, all people, not just Israel, will be gathered where He will separate them in the Final Judgement. He commends the righteous group for giving Him food when He was hungry, water when He was thirsty, welcoming him as a stranger, giving Him clothes when He needed them, looking after Him when he was sick, and visiting Him in prison. Unaware of their ever having done it for Him, the righteous ask when did they do these things for Him. Jesus’ answer is one we all need to remember: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

B. This isn’t just a moment in time, it’s the Final Judgement. These righteous ones, although they may not have ever seen Jesus personally, were being commended, given eternal life for what they had done for the least of others, the ones Jesus refers to as His brothers and sisters. The other group, the unrighteous ones, were sent away from Him, condemned, for what they hadn’t done, like the rich man hadn’t done to help Lazarus.

C. Of those who would qualify under the banner of ‘the least of these’, the Bible mentions "widows" 81 times and "orphans" or "fatherless" over 60 times, reflecting a consistent theme of compassion for these vulnerable groups. These were the particularly vulnerable because they had no legal standing under Jewish law. Women, even from childhood, were considered as property of their father until they were married. Even then, a man had to ask a father’s permission to marry his daughter, purchasing her by paying the bride price to her father, just as you would to purchase livestock, or property. Upon marriage, she then became the husband’s property, and she would be dependent on him. Although widows were those whose husband had died during their marriage, divorced women were often categorized with widows as needing legal and social protection because both were seen as vulnerable. Without a husband, or children who could support her, a widow had no legal means of support, unless her father might agree to take her back, or she became a servant for a household.

D. Children, girls or boys, had no legal standing under the law either. Boys at least were considered as reaching manhood at the age of 12, so they might be able to fend for themselves to some extent, and care for the mother. But, if a woman was widowed with a young child, through the death of her husband or divorce, the child was considered fatherless, an orphan also without support. So, widows and the fatherless were of special concern to God, giving Psalm 89’s reference to God as Father of the fatherless, as we read in our Call to Worship, even greater meaning.

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IIi. Deuteronomy 24:17-21

A. God’s provisions for justice to care for widows and the fatherless, is extended to foreigners, and addressed under the Law, as seen in our OT reading. Harvesters were to leave sheafs of grain, olives, or grapes that they may have initially passed by, so they could be legally gathered by the fatherless, widows, and foreigners, called gleaning.

B. That law was seen in practice in the Book of Ruth. Naomi, a Jew, was returning to Israel after a severe famine there, with her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite whose husband, Naomi’s son, had died, Naomi’s husband had also died, so both were childless widows. Ruth, a foreigner and widow, and Naomi, a widow, would have had no means of support, especially for food. Naomi is too old to glean in the fields, but sends Ruth to glean in the field of her kinsman, Boaz  A righteous, single man, he notices Ruth gleaning, and tells his workers to purposely drop grain in her path. Boaz tells his workers to protect her, and even gives her extra grain. Naomi and Ruth then have more than enough to get by.

C. It worked so well that Boaz marries Ruth, and they have a child they name Obed, who in turn has a child named Jesse, the father of David, making the foreigner and former widow Ruth the great grandmother of King David, and therefore even a legal ancestor of Jesus. This was not a mere coincidence, but God showing His justice. Deliberate compassion for two vulnerable widows

D. Jesus even personally experienced the plight of the widow in His human life. It’s believed Mary was widowed after the 12 year old Jesus was found in the Jerusalem Temple going about His Father’s business. Having reached manhood at age12, being the oldest son and having learned the carpentry trade from Joseph, Jesus would have assumed full responsibility to support Mary and their family until the other siblings could also contribute. Even while dying on the Cross, Jesus placed his widowed mother in the care of His disciple John, charging him as a son to care for Mary as his mother. It may not have been a coincidence that John was the only one to die a natural death to ensure Mary’s care.

E. None of this was lost on Jesus’ half-brother, James, where he writes in James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.

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IV. Foster Family Ministry

A. This is more than just a sermon about God’s compassion and protection of vulnerable orphans and widows. Although Equal Opportunity legislation in this country has continued to open horizons in the workplace for women, our youth have become an increasingly major challenge. Gangs have become their families. Kids in schools and even college campuses are being killed by gun carrying young people. It’s become a major problem across America, one without a simple solution, but one that we, as a church family, can contribute toward some resolution.

B. A few weeks ago, I shared with you that Nadine, Cathy and I attended a seminar about the Fostering Family Ministry. It’s a ministry to develop people who might be interested in becoming foster parents, but also for churches to develop partnerships with foster families. At the end of that sermon, I presented startling statistics of young people aging out of foster care, that 66% would be caught up in sex trafficking, one out of two would develop substance abuse problems, 73% of the young women would be pregnant within 2 years, and 40% would be homeless within 18 months. These are compelling reasons for us, as the church, to partner with foster families to bring Christ and Christian alternatives to foster youths before finding themselves vulnerable on their own. They’re the orphans, troubled youth looking for answers to life’s problems. It would be a great opportunity to show them God’s love through us.

C. As the face of the Church, partnering with them, we need to take time to get to know them, and time for them to get to know us. They need advocates to listen to them, and respond to them. The Church can and should be that voice!  Helping to make, as we sang earlier, Happy the home where Christ is there, where children early speak His fame, and parents hold Him dear.

D.  While some may consider being foster parents, many of us here are grandparents. But we can support foster families, becoming grandparents to foster families. Inviting them to church functions, like our annual Thanksgiving meal. Giving foster parents a breather, taking their foster kids on day trips, like ball games, or outdoor activities like fishing and hiking, Teams taking on minor maintenance projects at foster homes, freeing foster parents to spend time with their foster kids.

E. How do we implement such a program? Prayer is always a good start. In your bulletins are bookmarks with a seven day Prayer Plan. Please put this somewhere it can be seen, and pray each day, perhaps several times each day, for that day’s goals.

F. Secondly, our Mission Committee has volunteered for Champion training to become our church leaders to develop our program. I’ve been told, as pastor, to stand down and let our lay people take charge of this program. That’s a great idea, not only because I have enough on my plate, but I’ve seen you rally around our young people, even coming up front with their grandchildren during the Youth message.

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Conclusion: If you’re interested, there’s a basket on the back table with cards labeled Next Steps, and pens. You can take a minute to fill out a card and leave it in the basket. Or take one home, pray about it, and return the filled in card to the basket whenever you make your decision. There are other information leaflets that may be helpful as you consider the program. Here's another chance for us to be Christ’s voice of justice to these youth. We may be their only hope. Amen