This past week has been filled with all sorts of feelings regarding George Floyd, protests, police violence, and the strength of the community in Minneapolis. This death has felt especially close to me. I used to live just north of that Target and Cub Foods, and I often went to the stores along Lake Street for groceries. And my church is just across the river on Marshall Ave.

I’ve been grieving yet another unjust death of a black person—a second in my own Twin Cities that was covered by the media (rest in peace, Philando Castile). I’m outraged at the violence I’ve been seeing in videos from the police towards peaceful protestors. I’m frustrated that the media is being shot at by police while trying to find the truth. Where’s the justice? When will the corruption end? When will black lives matter? Can’t they finally live their lives without fear of being killed by a white person?

I’m tired. I’m tired of all of it. But do you know who’s more tired? Black people. The families that have lost loved ones to police violence. The POC communities that have been subject to systemic racism and oppression. I think of the black children I used to babysit back in the States. I can’t bear to think of them living a life in fear of a premature, unjust death. They’re tired.

But I can’t be quiet, even if I am tired. My exhaustion is nothing compared to the reality black people have faced for hundreds of years. If you’re silent, you’re complicit.

And I can’t be quiet because God calls us to practice mishpat—biblical justice. I must fight for the justice God commands us to uphold.

What is mishpat?

The word mishpat (משפט) is the Hebrew word that is used throughout the Bible to mean “judgment” and “justice.”

I’ve recently learned about this word from my favorite guys at the BibleProject. This biblical justice—mishpat—is to take care of the poor and marginalized peoples around you. And not just take care of them like give them some money or food. Mishpat means to take up their case as your own. It’s to make the problems of the marginalized your problem. In the Bible, these communities were usually the poor, the orphaned, and the widows, because they were at greater risk of oppression and being taken advantage of. But this is not an exhaustive list. Mishpat applies to any oppressed and marginalized group. Who is a marginalized group today? Black people. Who is vulnerable right now? Black people.

This kind of justice that the Bible demands is not passive. It’s not just praying and leaving the final judgment to God. Don’t get me wrong: there is power in prayer. And God’s final judgment is absolute, just, and better justice than we can possibly find among people.

BUT, that does not mean that we are not also supposed to act. We pray for God’s justice, and we know it’s coming, but we also take up the case of the marginalized as our own, and fight for their own rights as God’s beautiful creation.

Mishpat is active. Not passive.

Retributive and Restorative Justice

Some instances of mishpat in the Bible refer to retributive justice. Retributive justice is the punishment—or consequences—of doing evil, wicked things. So, if you steal something, you go to jail. If you damage something or lose something that belongs to someone else, you pay a fine, or recompense.

But most cases of mishpat actually refer to restorative justice. This justice is actively seeking out the vulnerable and oppressed in order to help them. As Tim and Jon from the BibleProject aptly describe, it means, “taking steps to advocate for the vulnerable and changing social structures to prevent injustice…[it’s] a radical, selfless way of life.”

This restorative justice is what these protests are trying to accomplish, and I am here for it.

Mishpat and Justice in the Bible

There are dozens and dozens of verses talking about mishpat. Here are a handful of passages that show us what biblical justice looks like.

8 Speak up for those who have no voice,

for the justice of all who are dispossessed.

9 Speak up, judge righteously,

and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.

Proverbs 31:8-9 (CSB)

3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 22:3 (CSB)

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed

    and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

8     the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

    the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the foreigner

    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Psalm 146:7-9 (NIV)

17 Learn to do right; seek justice.

    Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

    plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 (NIV)

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 7:12 (eSV)

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 14:18-19 (eSV)

17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:17-18 (eSV)

A plea to my Christian brothers and sisters

All over my Facebook feed, I see my brothers and sisters joining the good fight—seeking justice for George Floyd and mishpat for black communities. I feel encouraged seeing Christians and non-Christians joining together to fight for what we know is right, just, and good.

But there are those that don’t see it this way. Those that proclaim “All Lives Matter” in the face of violence against black people. Those that choose to be passive and silent.

I cannot account for the non-Christians in this group. I cannot hold them to the standards of God and God’s Word, because it is meaningless to them.

But to my silent—or worse, defensive and affronted—brothers and sisters in Christ…I am holding you to God’s standard, because you profess to follow the God of the Israelites, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. God is clear on Their stance regarding justice for the marginalized. Will you continue to live a life that isn’t seeking restorative justice for these people?

I urge you, for your sake and for the vulnerable—you must not be silent anymore. If we are silent, we are complicit. You must not prioritize the “all” or the safe or the powerful over the communities that are in danger now. If we do these things, we are not being righteous and just. We become the oppressors at that point.

Don’t oppress in the name of God. That’s not what God stands for. My God is a God of justice—of mishpat. If your God doesn’t stand for this justice, what god are you following?