Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Epiphany - Year B

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

It is the king’s responsibility to uphold and administer justice. It is a president’s place to do the same. Likewise for a bishop, pastor, lay leader. And for the just anybody’s not so far listed, they too have a responsibility for justice processes.

The yearning for, searching for, attempting, implementing of justice is constituent with long-term common good.

We keep short-circuiting justice with economic and political models that eventually meld together, each subverting the other through unquestioned support of the other. Soon there is no check or balance available to keep the poor from becoming poorer even as prosperity for all is available. The needy stand as sign and significance of a lack of pity, compassion, community. As oppression and violence are put into legal place to ensure economic/political power, we look to justice leaders only to find them absent.

It is not just the king that needs a reminder about the interconnected web of life and the respect and honor due each one. This is a reminder to all that justice depends on each of us to raise the questions and to risk standing with the poor and those who have no helper.

On Epiphany may we give even better gifts than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. May we offer our heart and energy to justice on behalf of manger-laid people everywhere.