Daily Worship

Doing Justice

November 22, 2015 0 0

Jeremiah 22: 13-18

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying them for their labor.
14 He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace
    with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
    panels it with cedar
    and decorates it in red.

15 “Does it make you a king
    to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
    He did what was right and just,
    so all went well with him.
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?”
    declares the Lord.
17 “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,
on shedding innocent blood
    and on oppression and extortion.”

18 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“They will not mourn for him:
    ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
    ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

Lord Jesus, you taught that the wise person put your words into action.
Help us in this we pray.

We can see how in your eyes the doing of what is right and just is about defending the cause of the poor and the needy. How often have we seen you Jesus looking out for those on the margins, identifying with people in poverty, tending the broken, reaching out to the afflicted, and ultimately standing with those who are rejected. If we do the same and care for the homeless, visit people in hospital or in prison and clothe the naked, surely then we come to know you more, seeing you in our sister and brother.

Gracious Lord, help us not only to say but to do, not only to feel but to act, that the life of the new Kingdom of which you spoke might be all the more real among us. With faith we look forward to the time when the world will be made whole, confident that in the risen Lord our new humanity is already here. Until then may we “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with you O God.”

http://prisonersweek.org.uk