We read from Isaiah 1 on Sunday, and the prophet didn’t mince words about Judah’s need to repent, not just of personal sin and idolatry but of remaining silent in the face of rampant injustice and oppression:
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Erich Bridges
So, is this just talk from a grouchy old prophet who died 2,600 years ago? Do we let it go in one ear and out the other as injustice grows right here by the day? A tyrant now rules our land and is attempting to destroy the freedoms we (or some of us, at least, those of us who are white and have money) have enjoyed for so long. Just yesterday, he seized control of Washington’s police force and called in National Guard troops on a ridiculous pretext (violent crime there is at a 30-year low) and openly warned the same is in store for other cities, especially cities run by leaders of the opposing political party.
He is actively undermining government institutions, the courts and the rule of law and attempting to engineer congressional districts to ensure continuing one-party power. He is eliminating medical care for the poor, veterans and the elderly.
“The tyrant doesn’t care; he just doesn’t want to see them as he is driven to and from his golf club.”
He is sending armed, unidentified agents to grab people, without due process, off the streets and in courthouses in the Richmond metro. On Friday, an Afghan teen living here on an entirely legal special immigrant visa (his family helped American troops in Afghanistan, risking their own lives) was arrested at the Henrico County Courthouse by ICE and sent to one of their detention facilities as county prosecutors were about to dismiss his reckless driving charges.
Immigrants, whether undocumented or legal, are being terrorized along with their families and entire communities.
And now he is trying to force homeless people — an especially vulnerable group that we as a church minister to regularly via our Compassion Ministry — off the streets, even though they have nowhere to go given the high price of housing (the main cause of homelessness) and lack of treatment for those afflicted with mental issues and drug problems. The tyrant doesn’t care; he just doesn’t want to see them as he is driven to and from his golf club.
Do Isaiah’s words apply to us, individually and as a church? Do they apply to you? I know they apply to me.
If so, what are we going to do in response as our democracy crumbles and tyrannical injustice hurts more and more people? If we’re not going to respond, we need to stop reading the prophet’s words in our worship services, because we will be held accountable by God for doing nothing.
Erich Bridges, a Baptist journalist for more than 40 years, has covered international stories and trends in many countries. He lives in Richmond, Va.
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