Prophetic voice of the Church

One of the main functions of the Church is the prophetic task of advocating for the rights of the poor. This is advocacy for the cause of the establishment of the human dignity and rights of the people, speaking on behalf of the poor and marginalised people in society. The Holy Bible and all Christian teaching are full of instruction on this real issue of life. Proverbs 31:9-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Saint Luke records in his Gospel that Jesus announced his mission to the world by reading from these Old Testament prophetic words of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus came to the world to preach salvation from the bondage of sin. This word, 'salvation', is of holistic meaning. It is not only transportation of people from this world to heaven. Salvation is ‘here and now’. Salvation is from any effect or consequence of sin. It is freedom from bondage and slavery of sin and sinfulness, both internally and externally. Salvation is living in right relationship with God and everything in the created order. People who are economically poor are in bondage; they are captive to certain conditions that go against human dignity. Poverty tells on one’s dignity.
Church’s prophetic voice is constituted by all thoughts, words and efforts that are aimed to free the poverty-stricken and the helpless and weak ones from any structural or non-structural elements or designs that are in the way of the realisation and enjoyment of human life and dignity.
All over the world and in all times, the Christian church has to play the role of advocacy with an unambiguous prophetic voice. We know from the Bible that God, the creator and sustainer of all people, raised his prophets to speak his prophetic utterance advocating for justice and peace among people. Those holy people of loving God heavily disapproved of all kinds of oppression, exploitation and injustice done by the wealthy and unjust people. Great prophets like Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others preached the words of justice, love and compassion and decried injustice and oppression of the poor by the rich, the unjust and wicked ones. God is just and righteous. As the creator of all people, he cannot be indifferent to some and favourable to others. It is the human sin-nature that lies behind the problems that humanity faces: injustice, poverty and exploitation. God said through Amos to a people who were hypocritical in their religious activities, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies… Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps! But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24). Justice must not be impeded for a society to live in peace.
Advocacy is a sacred calling for the Church in the world where millions of people are homeless, landless and without any attention for their lives. In a world marked by hatred, neglect, division, materialism, consumerism, wanton and reckless abuse and wastage of resources, human values are often trodden down. But a prophetic voice is a sacred calling from Christ to those who profess to love and follow him. To be sure, in Christian thinking, righteousness and justice are two sides of one coin.
Doing advocacy and being a prophetic voice can be effective witnesses to the divine love and compassion of God to the world at large. We serve our Maker when we serve others in times of critical needs. We can fulfil God’s commandments by practising his words of love, justice and mercy. Love, justice and peace lie at the core of our faith. We are not only for ourselves; we are for others. Christ lived his life for others, so if we follow him, we follow his commandment to love others. This is how we can fulfil all of God’s commandments.
In society, some people are helpless and weak. God gives us an opportunity to prove that we love these people and to say that we love God himself. We love God as we love and respect the cause of peace and justice in society, where he is ever ready to bless all. As believers, we are God’s co-workers! Justice and peace cannot be thought of in a vacuum. God works in us as we work with him to manifest our love and respect for him! The poor and helpless people are weak, and they cannot stand before the worldly authorities unless they are honest and just. Our prophetic ministry through advocacy for those who cannot speak for themselves can bring in great transformation in society at large.

The writer is a Christian Theology teacher and Church leader