Inspiration for Justice-Seekers
The Resurrection animates us to keep working with God toward his new world unveiled in Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus was not just about him. It was not merely the reversal of a brutal and unjust death. Rather, as N.T. Wright says in Surprised by Hope:
The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom. It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven. The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it.
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection orient and animate those of us who want to say yes both to belonging and participation with God as his cooperative, justice-seeking friends. The resurrection is a constant source of nourishment for our souls because it alerts us to a new, unseen but truthful reality and encourages us to keep working with God toward his new world unveiled in Jesus Christ.
We begin living into this reality during the 50-day season of Eastertide, which may be familiar to those of you who follow the liturgical calendar. Eastertide is a time for the Church to remember, celebrate and seek to let the new life of the resurrection flow through us for the sake of others—specifically those who are suffering injustice.
But we can’t seek justice alone. Here are some inspirational quotes from some of my favorite justice-seekers who encourage me to participate with God in his work of repair, even when I feel like giving up. I hope these words will help you connect resurrection reality to seeking the good of others.
“I [God] am involved in mankind.”
—John Donne, quoted in Spiritual Direction and Care of Souls“There is a fierce urgency of the now.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr., as quoted by Jemar Tisby in The Color of Compromise“Reconciliation chooses sides, and the side is always justice.”
—Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness“I choose to identify with the underprivileged. I choose to identify with the poor. I choose to give my life for the hungry…this is the way I am going. If it means suffering a little bit, I’m going that way. If it means sacrificing, I’m going that way. If it means dying for them, I’m going that way, because I heard a voice say, ‘Do something for others.’”
—Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here?“All of us are called to the work of justice, which will look different for many people.”
—Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation: Hospitality of the Heart“While it is important for us to take up some task of justice, we are not meant to take up every task of justice. God knows that we are finite human beings and does not ask us to do more than we can bear.”
—Richard Foster, Streams of Living Water“We must avoid superficial optimism and crippling pessimism.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love“I seek a gracious spirit in dealing with the injustices of the world. This I do not confuse with softness, or cowardice, or sentimentality. I must know clearly the evilness of evil, and recognize it for what it is—stark, brutal, terrifying. [But] even as I resist evil, I share in the guilt of evil. It is in this sense of sharing the guilt of evil that should inspire a gracious spirit in dealing with injustice.”
—Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart“Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So, we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, TLB“The Christian faith has always been characterized by a strong and focused sense of the future…[and] the practical effect of the belief is to charge each moment of the present with hope.”
—Eugene Peterson, The Message Remix“If we retreat from the inspiration of God’s word, we can be pragmatists or political opportunists, but we will not be the sort of Christians who are ever shapers of history.”
—Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love
Finally, here is a prayer I cherish from Howard Thurman that is suitable to all of us who want to live in, and pass on, the new life of resurrection. I invite you to make it your companion during Eastertide.
Let thy light burn in me
that I may,
from this moment on,
take effective steps within my own powers,
to live up to the light
and courageously to pay
for the kind of world
I so deeply desire.
This I do in quiet ways,
that on [one’s] lonely path
you may not walk alone.
—Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart