Rounding Out the Year

Last weekend, Michael and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I cannot begin to express how crazy it is to be standing on this side of that year.

In the last eighteen months, we have done the following:

• lived in China
• returned to the United States
• signed two year contracts for cell phones
• got engaged
• moved our former lives in Iowa and Texas/Oklahoma to New Jersey
• planned a wedding
• found a house to rent despite being unemployed
• got married
• lived off our savings while working less than 15 hours a week each for 8 months
• found full-time jobs
• in Michael's case, said full-time job ended; in Elena's case full-time job turned out not as expected

The only thing we managed NOT to add to this terribly eventful list of activities is getting pregnant. For this, I am grateful.

Year Two is starting out just as eventful. We're looking to move again, this time not so transglobally (I think I just invented another word), transcontinentally, or even transprovincially/transstately. We're only going transcountyly this time. More on this in posts to come.

(P.S. We're not pregnant.)

Mercy and Justice: Human Dignity

Job’s Example

Job 31:13-15 reads:
“If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?” (Job 29:7-17 and 31:13-23 both are passages that will stir up good things in you)

There is something here about Mercy and Justice that shakes me to the core. It’s Job’s philosophy of man. It’s his basic reasoning of why he should act justly and be merciful to others. (There is in fact two things here but right now I’m just focusing on one. I’ll cover the other one at another time.) So, what was this reasoning? What was this philosophy of man? It was this: My neighbor and I were both made from the same hands. We come from the same Creator.

Job knew that his servants, no matter how poor and “insignificant” they were to society, were to be valued as fellow human beings. He knew that they were created by the same God who created him. Therefore, valued them. He knew of the dignity they deserved just on the basis of where they came from. Therefore, when Job acted justly with his servants, he was valuing and preserving their human dignity.

Shem and Japheth’s Example

Genesis 9:18-29 records the story of Noah getting drunk and passing out naked in his tent. His son, Ham, went into the tent and, after seeing his father’s nakedness, proceeds to tell his brothers about it. The brothers, Shem and Japheth, took a garment with them, walked into the tent backwards, and covered their father’s nakedness with their faces turned away. After Noah awoke and found out about all of this, he cursed Ham and blessed Shem and Japheth.

I’ve read this many times in my life and I’ve always thought that the curse upon Ham was pretty harsh just for something that the National Enquirer would reject because it’s not very sensational. But there is something here about Mercy and Justice. And that something is crucial. That something is called shame. The injustice that happened was that Ham brought Noah’s shame out in the open by exposing his nakedness.

Here are two examples of shame: 1) The shame a father feels because he doesn’t have the means to buy enough groceries for his family. 2) The shame a peasant farmer feels because he is powerless to fight against the government who steals his land. The first of these deals with what Mercy does. Mercy provides for the poor. Mercy is open-handed to the needy. Mercy has a fat heart of compassion for the poor. The second deals with Justice. Justice fights for the oppressed. Justice speaks up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Justice has a hatred for injustice.

In the story about Noah and his sons, Ham exposed Noah’s shame. Shem and Japheth, on the other hand, restored their father’s dignity. Our natural sinful selves are interested in scandalous and sensational stories. Shem and Japheth no doubt had that same sinful nature. But they didn’t submit to it like their brother did. Maybe they remembered God’s words to Noah: “God made man in His own image” (Gen 9:6) and therefore made a connection between God’s image and human dignity.

Shem and Japheth saw something in creation that brought worth to others. They knew that people were image bearers of their great and glorious God. Noah had brought shame upon himself. Ham brought that shame out in the open. Shem and Japheth took on the role of restoring Noah’s dignity and by doing so, restoring God’s glorious image in Noah.

The Exchange

I see that an important goal of Mercy and Justice is taking shame away from others and trading it in for human dignity. Why? Because everyone, although totally depraved, was created in the image of God. Mercy and Justice is about exchanging shame for dignity. It is exchanging shame for the image of God. It is exchanging shame for the glory of God.

How Did Job, Shem, and Japheth Exchange Shame for Dignity?

Job valued and preserved human dignity in his servants. Shem and Japheth restored human dignity in their father. Valuing, preserving, and restoring dignity in the poor are all very important jobs of believers who desire to live the command “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

Mercy and Justice is valuing, preserving, and restoring dignity in fellow human beings.
It is valuing, preserving, and restoring the image of God in fellow human beings.
It is valuing, preserving, and restoring the glory of God in fellow human beings.