{"id":9376,"date":"2024-12-12T07:56:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T11:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=9376"},"modified":"2024-12-17T11:13:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T15:13:24","slug":"advent-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2024\/12\/advent-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent: Embracing Justice in Our Broken World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Advent<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Part Three of Advent and Justice Toward One Another<\/a>)<\/b><\/h2>\n

John says, \u201cI baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome Readers! <\/i><\/b>Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

(Read this series from the beginning at\u00a0Part 1<\/a>\u00a0and Part 2<\/a>.)<\/b><\/p>\n

The one they looked at was still to come and would plunge them in the Spirit. Luke\u2019s gospel characterizes what that would look like in terms of social justice: good news to the poor, freedom and sight for those imprisoned, freedom for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord\u2019s favor when all debts would be canceled, all slaves set free, and all lands returned to their original owners and\/or their descendants. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is on me,<\/p>\n

because he has anointed me\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to proclaim good news to the poor.<\/p>\n

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and recovery of sight for the blind,<\/p>\n

to set the oppressed free,<\/p>\n

to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favor.\u201d (Luke 4:18-19)<\/p>\n

Referencing language from the Hebrew, prophetic, justice tradition (see Jeremiah 15:7), John states that the coming one wouldn\u2019t only bring justice and liberation, he would also come to clear the threshing floor, separate the wheat from the chaff, gather the wheat into his barn, and bring the chaff with unquenchable fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chaff was also a politically and socially loaded term at the time. The apocalyptic book of Daniel describes a socially just world that turns all unjust and oppressive empires into chaff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.\u201d (Daniel 2:35)<\/p>\n

This imagery resonated with the oppressed masses John spoke to, because it characterized Rome and its extensions such as Herod in Galilee and the complicit Temple State in Judea as the chaff. Systemic injustice would be burned up with fire that no human effort could halt or extinguish. And all just social elements would be like wheat to be gathered and kept, just like the wheat farmers gathered into their barns. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this speaks deeply to me this year. Advent isn\u2019t about escaping to somewhere else or about escaping inward either. Advent is about the arrival of justice where we are. And that\u2019s what I want to be about. I have deep anxiety over what the next four years are going to bring, and I\u2019m choosing to focus on what I can<\/i> do about it. Some of us can do precious little while others, closer to the powerbrokers of our society, can do a lot. Wherever we find ourselves on that spectrum we are called to do what we can.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Advent is about establishing justice on Earth and shaping our world into a just, safe, compassionate home for everyone. I want to be a part of the Advent community, the people who bring about the arrival of that kind of world. This year, during our Advent season, I\u2019m not looking for someone or something else to show up. I\u2019m rededicating my commitment to show up myself in whatever ways possible for the sake of justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are you receiving all of RHM\u2019s free resources each week?<\/p>\n

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.<\/p>\n

Sign up at:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/renewedheartministries.com\/Contact-forms\/?form=EmailSignUp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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