Search for righteous sets apart those who do acts of justice

Recently, I’ve been on my own search for a righteous person.

Political ads on both national and local levels would at least suggest “X” candidate or “Y” candidate was righteous. Might I find my coveted righteous person there?

Some synonyms of “righteous” suggest some pretty negative baggage: holier-than-thou, arrogant, judgmental, legalistic and hypocritical. But this isn’t the kind of righteous behavior I’m looking for.

In the Old Testament stories of Abraham, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, I see they sought righteous people, too. They hoped to see individual behavior that showed a person doing what is right, what is good.

Proverbs suggests the morally upright, the righteous, will prosper. But then Job and Ecclesiastes say the righteous will suffer and the wicked will prosper. Apparently, moral uprightness was no guarantee of anything, let alone a cushy life.

So I look at another significant meaning of the word “righteous(ness)” in the Bible to find a righteous person. This meaning involves doing social and/or political good.

There are amazing biblical stories which speak of an ancient Hebrew society focused on, but falling short of, creating a just society. Think with me of what that means about many of the stories and famous lines we find in both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament.

In Amos 5:21-24, Amos is angry at the upper class as he calls for Justice to roll down like waters and Righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. He uses a biblical literary technique called “synonymous parallelism,” where a second line repeats the first line in a slightly different way.

In Amos and throughout the Bible, righteousness meant justice. Read again Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount – for example, in Matt. 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

For a moment, don’t just think of individual moral behavior. Replace the word “righteousness” with “justice” and see where your imagination takes you.

Do you begin to consider social or personal acts of justice? If you do, you will be very much within the biblical tradition of righteous behavior.

What kind of justice do you first consider? Our normal justice system focuses predominantly on punitive justice, making sure an offender is punished. We usually seek that kind of justice in our personal lives as well, don’t we?

This form of justice may be necessary in our society, but biblical justice calls us to go well beyond punishment. The Bible calls us to consider “distributive justice,” when there is a fair distribution of the material necessities of life.

For example, the laws of Leviticus 25 turn debt-forgiveness completely on its head. These laws try to prevent economic exploitation by declaring land must revert to its original owners every 50 years.

This “Year of Jubilee” was a radical challenge that the people could never meet. Neither could we. We have the ability. But we don’t have the will.

I think if you understand that “righteousness” and “justice” are deeply connected, you will be provoked to see the Gospels, the good news about Jesus, in new ways.

Distributive justice effectively means that God’s grace is offered equally to everyone. Paul the Apostle saw God’s grace offered first to his people, the Jews, but then to the Gentiles, all who were not Jewish.

Jesus reminds us that God makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). God’s justice is available to all.

I’m still searching for a righteous person. But my search is now expanded to include people who do justice in their personal and social lives. That’s very good.

How’s your own search going?