Lacking Context for Social Justice

Scripture: He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, "‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" Matthew 19:18-19

Observation: The "rich young ruler" is told by Jesus to obey God's commands. When he asks, "which ones", he is told ... a partial and edited list. First, he is told only really five of the ten commandments (not murdering, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and obedience to parents). The sixth item, loving your neighbor as yourself, is not one of the ten, but is an edited version of not coveting, which originally lists several of your neighbors items (house, wife, etc.). This leaves four commandments completely unlisted, and interestingly they are the first four regarding the relationship with God ... having no other God, worshiping idols, honoring God's name, and observing the sabbath.

Why did Jesus skip these? I can only logically think of one answer: Without a relationship with God, the very idea of obeying the commandments is moot - it doesn't even really exist within one's heart - and therefore there is no reason to discuss these four commands within the context of this question. To put this another way, it is only by having a relationship with God that anyone can properly consider their relationship with others, therefore teaching about cultural and moral behavior only makes sense to those who already know, love, and seek to honor the Lord.

Application: I spent 15 minutes last week reading about the "tyranny of the woke", and how confused our society has become about social justice. I then went down a little rabbit hole about examples of recent issues where all communication on social issues is breaking down due to a total lack of mutual context, and wondered how we can ever find sensible dialogue again. Jesus knew this would happen, and he knew why.

Worldwide, societies that have systematically rejected God have also systematically embraced injustice. However, those that seek to embrace justice actually have no idea what justice means, what it looks like, or how it operates. We now see our "post-truth" society falling into a spiral of rejecting God, thus adopting policies and norms outside of God's precepts, which then encourage society to further reject God. The very idea of having cultural norms that align to God's moral guidelines is moot - the idea doesn't really exist within most people's hearts - because the relationship with God is leaving our society.

Prayer: Lord, I have prayed for my nation, my town, my neighborhood, my friends, and even for my era. All things are possible through you, so therefore I now simply pray into your will. May I and others find the way to be faithful to your word, telling others you good news. If this creates a revival, so be it, and if this merely saves a handful of souls, so be it. Thy will be done. Amen.