On Tuesday, January 19, Cabrini Green Legal Aid and Renew Chicago hosted a conversation with Dr. Tony Campolo entitled “Do Justice. Love Mercy.” Here’s a few notes.
- Jesus came into the world with Good News for the poor.
- Moses called the Jewish people to observe Sabbath …The Sabbath was three things: 1) the 7th day; 2) 7th year – dividing your land and giving it a year off; it’s environmentalism; 3) the 50th year… the year of the Jubilee… all debts are to be cancelled, all prisoners set free.
- The Jews never observed the year of Jubilee because the rich people controlled the system, so debts were never cancelled, prisoners never set free.
- Isaiah 61 – When the Messiah comes, you will know who He is because He will declare the year of jubilee…
- In Luke 4, Jesus goes to Nazareth and reads Isaiah 61, proclaiming the year of the Lord… the year of jubilee.
- People knew whoever declared the year of Jubilee was the Messiah.
- He said, “this day,this Scripture is fulfilled in your eyes.”
- “In case you didn’t get it, I’m it…”
- He was a Savior who came to bring justice to the oppressed; to release the captives; to be a voice for the voiceless.
- Jesus said if you want mercy you’ve got to give mercy.
- Mercy is crucial.
- All justice is is mercy translated into policy.
- There’s two types of justice in America: justice for the rich; justice for the poor.
- Poor people go to the gas chamber because when they have their day in court they have no one to speak for them.
- Who will defend the poor?
- Cabrin Green Legal Aid is doing a phenomenal work in defending the poor in Chicago.
- Jesus came with a whole new way of doing things.
- What’s wrong with American justice in the area of criminal law is the fact that it’s built on retribution.
- We make people pay for their crimes.
- The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus doesn’t make us pay for our sin.
- We’re forgiven by the grace of God.
- The poor get the short end of the stick when it comes to justice.
- The rich get off easy.
- Poverty has an awesome effect on people.
- Poverty destroys family.
- The #1 cause of divorce are struggles over money.
- Poor people divorce at a higher rate than middle class people.
- In this country, 50% of first-time marriages will end in divorce.
- 60% of second marriages end in divorce.
- That doesn’t account for marriages that dissolve without legal action.
- The poor often don’t have the means to do the process of law.
- Kids are often caught in the middle.
- Who should decide what’s right?
- The poor need justice.
- The poor need someone to stand up for them.
- Jesus came into the world to declare the Jubilee.
- That’s His mission; that was the first message He preached.
- Jesus’ ministry wasn’t about getting people into Heaven.
- Jesus came to bring love and justice into THIS world.
- The world will end when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of God.
- The world is being transformed by God’s people.
- It’s easy to look around and lose hope.
- God is not the author of evil.
- The tragedies and evils that happen are not God’s doing.
- In the midst of everything that does happen, God is there at work, bringing about good. (Romans
- God is in Haiti, He is there, He is in their midst, He will bring good.
- God is not the author of Evil, but He works through us to change things.
- Christ always was. There was never a time He didn’t exist.
- The Christ who created the universe humbled himself and became a human being.
- He was born in Bethlehem’s manger.
- He grew up among us.
- On the eve of His crucifixion He told His disciples He was leaving.
- His disciples panicked.
- He said [John 14] the work He did will be done by those who follow Him.
- He promised to dwell in us.
- Christ promises that He will leave us, come back and be in us.
- There’s a difference between Christ being with you and Christ being in you.
- He’s always with you.
- He’s only in you if you invite Him.
- He does not impose Himself on a person.
- We shall do greater works than He did as His Spirit empowers us.
- Christ had a human body 2,000 years ago.
- The same Christ that was incarnated in Jesus wants to enter into our lives and be incarnated in us.
- We are to be the body of Christ.
- “the same spirit that was in Christ Jesus shall be in your mortal bodies…”
- Miracles happen.
- No one can match Jesus when it comes to miracles.
- Jesus could only do one thing at a time… He could only personally connect with one person at a time.
- Christ alive in all of us enables us to do great things because we’re able to reach and impact more people.
- We shall see Him and become like Him.
- Jesus came into the world to declare justice.
- If we, as the body of Christ, are to heed the calling, we will work to bring justice to the oppressed.
- The Gospel is for here and now… to bring justice and hope to the world around us.
- So often the words of the culture are better at expressing the truths of the Gospel than our church music or sermons.
- Les Mis… “who will be strong and stand with me?”
- We are the people who dream the impossible dream.
- When the Bible speaks clearly we don’t want to face it when it makes us uncomfortable.
- Everybody knows what Jesus teaches except Christians.
- We’ve been spiritualizing Scriptures.
- The theme of justice appears over 2,015 times in the Bible.
- The Justice Bible
- We should invite gays and lesbians to worship.
- Membership is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
- If a church has 900 members you can count on 300 of them being there.
- Whosoever will come may come.
- The early church didn’t have a membership roll.
- Every Christian is ordained to ministry.
- The church has handled the gay and lesbian community poorly.
- We raised $84 Million against Prop 8; 10,000 volunteers… to get people to vote against gays.
- What did the Church win?
- The Gospel is built on restoration.
- Restoration requires repentance. People need to recognize they have done wrong.
- Restoration involves restitution.
- Restoration mandates reconciliation.
- There has to be forgiveness, but forgiveness only takes place when we go through those steps.
- Connecting victims and perpetrators is challenging.
- We don’t know why horrible things happen.
- In the midst of what has happened, what does God want us to do, how does He want to work through us to make good?
- We need to love people who have messed up.
- We shouldn’t drive anyone out of the church.
- The Church is full of hypocrites.
- We are not what we should be, but thank God we aren’t what we were.
- We are called to remember what Jesus said the Law was about, “to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.. and love your neighbor as yourself.”
- All of the laws we make will not proximate to the law of love Jesus created.
- Justice is love turned into policy.
- We are called to do justice and to extend mercy.
- We need to be voices and advocates.
- Jesus came to fulfill the law.
- The law was not meant to hurt us, it was meant to help us and bring us to God.
- When you bring a violator to justice, you are doing the violator a favor.
- You’re forcing the violator to face their wrong… that’s the first step to restoration and wholeness.
- If you don’t get an honest verdict from the doctor, there is no cure and you will die.
- You need to make people aware of their wrong and help them become who they were meant to be.
- There is no salvation without repentance.
- There’s no repentance unless we hold people accountable.
- We must do justice and love mercy.
