Week 7, Day 43 - Tired of Injustice

"If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves."  Leviticus 25:39-42

REFLECT

She made her way onto the city bus after a long day and plopped herself down in a seat half-way to the back of the bus. As it approached the intersection of Moulton and Montgomery streets, a white man got on and could not spot an open seat in the first ten rows-the designated white section. The driver told some of the blacks sitting in the middle to move further back, and a group of them did. All except 42-year-old Rosa Parks (later accounts say it was because she was tired; Parks maintained that it was because she was tired of the same old thing).

The law at the time stipulated that the first ten rows were reserved for whites, blacks had to enter via the back door of the bus, and they were required to move or stand if necessary. This was the law. So the bus stayed at that intersection with Rosa still seated, until the police arrived and arrested her.

She didn't know that the evening of December 1, 1955 would be a turning point in history. But the incident prompted a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama for thirteen full months. The law was challenged, finally ending up in a landmark case in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Justice often flows slowly and almost with imperceptivity. But when it does, it changes everything.

The Year of Jubilee required the Israelites to let their slaves go free and treat their slaves as hired workers. There is a major difference. In the history of the world, the norm is that people use other people. So when the Bible includes moments of backing away from those institutions, even if gradually, it represents justice.

Everyone is susceptible to treating others unfairly or unjustly, either in action or attitude. The beginning of the end of injustice is when we say that we're tired of the same old thing. We can do better than this.

MAKE IT REAL

Watch the news or read a paper today and look for one story of injustice that is the same old thing. Pray that God would move you from indifference to passionate advocacy.

Day 44