Exporting Justice
As Americans, we are probably familiar with the idea of exporting not only goods but services and ideas. Because of our military power, we help our friends on the global stage with their conflicts, providing not only weapons and sometimes troops, but also training, intel, advice, and sometimes economic pressure against their enemies. When fighting the wars in the Middle East during the presidency of George W. Bush, we were told that these wars would accomplish the exportation of democracy and freedom. We were fighting for our values to be manifested on the international stage. Certainly, exporting freedom and democracy are good ideas. Unfortunately, the rollout of these values didn’t go as planned.
Exporting ideas and values can be particularly dangerous. Sure, everyone in the world is happy to receive food, clothes, and other goods, but sometimes powerful people in a government or social order are less excited about receiving democracy. That can mean a surrender of power. That could mean facing justice for violating human rights in the past. If you are a leader who has controlled your country with an iron fist, suddenly being at the mercy of the people you ruled over is terrifying. Sure, give them cell phones, shoes, and gaming consoles, just don’t give them freedom and justice. That will topple the fragile social order.
This has been a problem for empires throughout history. Some imperial powers intentionally oppressed the people they conquered, taking purposeful steps to erase their culture in favor of their own—this can be seen in everything from the ancient Assyrian Empire conquering and exiling Israel to the United States and Canada displacing indigenous people and forcing their children into schools to learn English and European cultural values. However, there have been times when big powers sought to improve life for the people under their authority. One could argue that the empires of Alexander the Great and Rome, while certainly violent, also provided improvements to trade, education, and infrastructure. Unfortunately, even amidst the improved administrative structures, people within these empires grew restless. If local leaders see imperial authority as an obstacle to their own quest for local power, they will do what they can to weaken imperial bonds.
I don’t want to suggest that rebellions were only caused by disgruntled local power seekers stirring up people to fight the empire. That would be too reductive. Sometimes imperial power was genuinely bad, overstepping and hurting innocent people. Sometimes there was national sentiment that came up from the grassroots, seeking cultural freedom for the people, regardless of the political leanings of their leaders. Whatever the case may be, exporting values can be difficult. Even if you are trying to share improvements to trade, infrastructure, and government structure, sometimes the best intentions are met with cold rejection, or worse, very heated rejection.
Given the difficulty of exporting values, we may wonder about God’s servant presented in Isaiah 42:1-9. The first verse indicates that the servant “will bring forth justice to the nations.” The passage continues to be excited about justice as it goes on. “He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in all the earth.” The role of the servant isn’t simply to bring justice and peace to Israel. The servant is going to export God’s justice internationally.
In the earlier parts of the Old Testament, God appeared much more focused on the people of Israel in particular. God seemed fine crushing the Egyptians with plagues for the sake of the Hebrew people. The Canaanites were brutally killed and displaced to give God’s people a homeland. We can see the expectation that Israel’s leaders do what is best for Israel. There was a great deal of internal focus. However, by the time we get to this point in Isaiah, the prophets had a different understanding of the scope of God’s care. Israel is only special inasmuch as it brings God’s blessings to the world. God’s care goes beyond borders, national identity, and even religious belief. To be fair, this idea can be seen as early as Genesis 12:3, in which God tells Abram that all the families of the world will receive blessings through him.
The obvious implication is that borders don’t matter to God. All the countries of the world are under God’s authority, and God desires that justice prevail in every realm. This, of course, demands we ponder this question: “If borders don’t matter to God, should they matter to us?”
I want to make a distinction between national borders and personal boundaries. Obviously, people still need their own personal space, they can only help others insofar as they are able and shouldn’t be pressured to push themselves beyond what is healthy. No one should be forced to interact with people who have hurt and traumatized them without at least establishing some strong rules for the interaction. And this can be true between countries as well. The United States should not handle North Korea and Russia uncritically. However, there is a big difference between the government of Russia and the people.
As Christians, following the way of God’s servant, we should be concerned with justice throughout the world. We should be more concerned for the poor in Colombia and Russia than we should be with the rich in our own country. National boundaries don’t matter. The Kingdom of God knows no human boundary, but seeks to establish justice throughout the world. God is first and foremost concerned with the poor, the prisoners, the strangers, the outcast, the helpless, the sick, and anyone else in need throughout the world.
Of course, we have seen that exporting democracy and freedom through military power and international politics has been ineffective. Perhaps God’s Kingdom of justice expands in a more personal way. As we show love and kindness to others, invite the stranger in, and make sacrifices to help the needy, God’s Kingdom advances in and around us. God invites us to join in the mission to bring justice to all the world, and through participating in this, we learn that the imperial model of exporting values through domination isn’t God’s way. God’s servant brings justice to the world through selfless sacrifice. It may seem like a dead end, Jesus literally died in the face of imperial power, but he didn’t stay that way. Through love, God creates new life, transcending borders, and bringing justice to all the earth.
