Pastor John Van Sloten

Too many times lately I’ve had word justice-olatry run through my head.  And I know its not fair or even right.  Helping the poor is a huge part of what the church needs to be.  Jesus’ teaching and example clearly illustrate the need to help those on the fringes, the last, lost and least.  So all churches need to do it.  But it can’t be all that churches do.  Because “justice” doesn’t stop with the poor.  Nor does the definition of “poor” stop with the poor.  Oil industry executives are poor too; they’re doing business in a way that falls short of the glory of God, that could be so much better.  Families in our city are very poor; the love that flows between them is drying up, spouses aren’t being loved as they should and kids are being ignored or abandoned.  The academy is also feeling the pinch.  Competition has so decimated collegiality that learning potential has been left severely impaired.  Everything that happens in our city is suffering from a severe form of poverty, at all levels.  

And I’m convinced that it allneeds to be addressed at the same time; that the traditionally defined poor will only find lasting justice as the rest of the poor find justice as well.  When the Oil industry, families, and academia are as they should be, when every person in this city, doing whatever they do, is made right, then, and only then, will the problems of the traditionally defined poor will be dealt with in a lasting way. 

I think Jesus needs to be recognized as the Lord of all things; work, leisure, sport, song, relationships, etc…  By keeping the definition of justice too small, we miss out on his bigger kingdom plan.  Now I realize the false dichotomy I’m creating.  And after this I’ll stop carping about it.  But sometimes we need the hyperbole to help us see the point.  And the point is that Jesus is most wholly worshipped as all of creation comes under his Lordship.  So its a both/and thing I guess.  While speculating about what a heaven on earth oil industry might seem esoteric…  while dreaming about a perfect university, sporting event, family, economy, and internet  may seem impractical, or less urgent, I think we should know that it isn’t.  We need to take the biggest view of Jesus’ saving presence in this world in order to save it.

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper,  a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.  When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”  Matthew 26