Sunday Ruminations Pt. 4

Cat MYB
May 31, 2020
3 min read

Jesus was involved in social justice.

He had a clear vision of why he was on earth “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent." (Luke 4:43). Jesus saw this speaking of the Gospel as even more important than helping the sick and the poor because he knew the Good News would bring a more perfect and complete solution than his healing and physical food ever would.

Yet that did not stop him from having compassion on those who needed help (Luke 7:13; Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34 to name a few). Repeatedly, the Bible talks about how he saw people in their situations, had compassion on them and stopped what he was doing to help them. He helped sick people, old people, poor people, young people. He spoke up for the minorities, the despised and the abused.

In a book I am reading, there is a discussion about the meaning of 'compassion', which has its roots in a Latin word, meaning 'to suffer with'.

If we understand compassion to mean this, Jesus didn't just donate a couple bucks to charity, or dole out platitudes to those in pain. He came alongside them and suffered along with them. Ultimately he did this by bearing the pain and shame of humanity on the cross for the sake of those who might believe in him so that they would be saved from themselves and live with him in eternity (the very Good News he was preaching all along).

Now my struggle is, what do I do?

My heart is heavy.

The Black Lives Matter campaign is raising a whole slew of heartbreaking issues that are rampant in America which are really worth paying attention to. I'll link an instagram page w helpful links at the bottom which I found helpful.

But as a Malaysian, living quite far away from all that, it's also made me think of the incredible injustices that occur right here. The refugees in Malaysia, the Rohingya, in particular. The foreign workers who are absolutely treated as inferior by most Malaysians. The hundreds of indigenous tribes who are being cheated of their land and prospects. Human trafficking which occurs rampantly right underneath our noses.

Obviously, I am not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus. Only he can bring a true and final end to these pains and right the injustices faced, once and for all.

But as Jesus spoke up and cared and suffered with, he asked his followers to live the way he did. So my question stands. What do I do? I recognise I cannot suffer alongside any of the aforementioned people, they have endured far more than I can even imagine. But I can listen, I can try and understand what they are going through, I can learn and educate myself. Research, donate, volunteer, consider future plans. Being a teacher could mean so many things, in terms of my future, but it also means that right now, as an educator, I have the chance to speak into the lives of my students and encourage them to see their part in making our world a safer and more inclusive place.

As for what I do today, I am convicted of my need to pray to thank God that he WILL bring justice for good when he returns and to ask God what my first steps should be and then DO.