Holding Fast to Hope (pt. 2)
In this second blog, Michael Briggs unpacks more theological themes of climate justice and how we see them in the Bible.
[Read Holding Fast to Hope (pt. 1) here.]
iii. The Bible tells us that God asks us to take care of the earth.
In Genesis 2, God commands His image-bearers (people) to “serve and protect” creation. I believe the Bible is very clear on these matters. Yes, humans were given dominion over the earth and everything in the earth. But, we were meant to exercise godly power over the earth. Not what we have witnessed in recent times, mining valuable resources by whatever method possible brings the greatest profit in the shortest time, leaving the earth wasted.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
Genesis 2:15
We should also consider that mankind was given the task (and blessing) of representing God in this world. We are the caretakers. We hold sway over all the earth, and we (bearing God’s image) bear a responsibility to act as God would. Does God misuse His creation? No. Is God unwise in His management of resources? No. Is God ever cruel or selfish or wasteful? No. Then neither should we be.
iv. The Bible tells us that God uses the earth to teach us
When God is teaching the Israelites how to be His people after rescuing them from Egypt, in Leviticus 25, we hear how God directs that not only the people but the land that sustains them shall be respected.
When the people act justly toward each other and the land, obeying God’s laws, both they and their land prosper. However, when the people fail to do so, both they and the land suffer. Drought, war and disease all stem from a lack of compassion whereas righteous behaviour brings prosperity to people… and earth. After the fall the land itself is cursed by God.
Walter Burghardt says it this way. ‘the Rescue preached in Bible takes place within a single, all-embracing community of: God, people, and earth.’ And you cannot separate these out. Or drop one off.
v. The Bible tells us that God asks us to take care of each other.
While woven throughout Scripture’s tapestry, it is summed up perfectly by our Jesus in Matthew 22 when He responds to the question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
With over 600 to choose from, this was surely meant as a trap for the pot-stirring travelling teacher. Jesus expertly replies with what has become the Christian rule of faith for millennia: to love God with everything you’ve got, and to love your neighbour as you love your own self.
If this is the summary of the entire Law and the prophets, as Jesus declares later in the same passage, then we Christians would do well to pay attention. And if God loves His world—as Scripture clearly attests—and if the cultures and livelihoods of our neighbours around the world are being threatened by a changing climate—as headlines, scientific reports and first-hand accounts all confirm is occurring at an alarming rate—then acting to address the threat of climate change isn’t optional. It’s what it looks like to follow Jesus in the 21st century.
In Leviticus 25, God is speaking to his people about Jubilee. A time of celebration. A trumpet call of joy. Where salvation would not just be a concept but a felt and lived-in reality. A time when debts were cancelled, land rested, and servants freed.
Somehow though, we’ve reduced it to a metaphor. But Leviticus is quite clear: God isn’t talking about symbolic debts or land or servants. It’s a year of rejoicing and redistribution and re-joining your families.
Climate change, of course, exposes everyone in the world to more floods, droughts, and other natural disasters, but the impact that these events have on people is almost entirely determined by their wealth: the physical strength of their homes, the safety of their clean water supply, their proximity to rivers and oceans, and their food security.
For this reason, poor people will bear the brunt of increasing natural disasters due to climate change. Those who earn their living by farming or whose lives depend on how the river runs, need us to embrace the concept of jubilee because they suffer the consequences of our complacency.
The Christian idea of justice is rooted in Jesus’ command that we love our neighbour. Biblically speaking, justice is related to how the oppressed are treated. Climate justice is not only about the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, but also about the relationships between us and our global neighbours (including our descendants). The justice that Christians seek is one which restores both human relations as well as the relationship between humans and nature, distorted as they are by greed and oppression.