A Fast of Righteousness

I am often puzzled by the things theologians say about “righteousness.” First, there are a striking number of different treatments. That alone should tell anyone that we are standing on the ground of “theory” rather than knowledge when we hear pronouncements about the word. It is, of course, an important word. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness…,” Christ commands in the Sermon on the Mount. I think I know what that means to a Lutheran or an Evangelical. I know what it means to NT Wright. But, none of what I see in them really makes a lot of sense in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. I am going to suggest something different. You may, of course, consider this just one more theory. So be it.

There is a great theme of righteousness in the Old Testament. To a certain extent, it can be described as a “proper balance,” or “things being in their right place, order and amount.” Most of the judgments that concerned normal people in their daily lives (apart from matters of ritual) were oriented around property, income, debt, and daily needs. The great “engine” of the Israelite economy (according to the Law) was the Law of the Sabbath and the Jubilee Year.

If we look at a simple rule we can see this in play. “Do not muzzle an ox who is treading out the grain.” It means, if your ox is being used to drive the mill wheel that is grinding the wheat, you may not prevent them from having some opportunity to munch the wheat that is falling at their feet. Why? It’s quite simple. You have a lot of wheat, and you shouldn’t begrudge an animal a small share. After all, it’s that animal’s sweat that is making your grain palatable. To greedily prevent the animal from its share is unrighteous. It is an improper balance and exploitation of a beast.

This, of course, is an example that involves only an animal. But the principle is constant throughout the Law and the Prophets. The Jubilee cancels debts and restores the land to its proper owner (and this is a “righteous” judgment).

When we come to the New Testament, Jesus repeatedly speaks of debts being canceled, of the deliverance of the poor, of the rich being in danger. When He offers a parable about the Judgment, it is about sharing: food, clothing, care, and concern. The one who shares with the one who is in need is counted “righteous.”

This, I think, points to a proper (and rather simple) meaning of the term. It is not just some form of “social justice.” There is something more cosmic and eschatological about it. Wherever the Kingdom comes, its “righteousness” is made manifest. What does that look like? Christ described it to the disciples of John:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Lk. 7:22)

These are all cases of people who live in a deficit (while others live in a surfeit). When the Kingdom is made manifest, things are set right: its righteousness is made manifest. But its coming is of a supernatural character. There is a moral component: we are taught to behave in a manner towards others that “sets things right.” We are told to do to others what we would want to be done to us. And then, because of the abundance of the Kingdom, we are told to do more than that. We give even to those who will not give in return. This is righteousness.

There is an inner righteousness. For the Kingdom of God is not a mere set of moral actions. It is also an inner transformation, where we not only “do” righteousness, but “become” righteous. That inner work is also the “setting right” of things. We were created in the image and likeness of God, but have become debtors to sin. Spiritually, we have become poor and are unable to overcome our hateful sin-master. God’s gift to us becomes an abiding Jubilee, abolishing the debt of sin and restoring us to our right place before Him.

However we might think of righteousness (perhaps as the Divine Energies), it has this characteristic of “setting right,” of putting things back in their proper place. Human beings were created to be the very image of God, but became enslaved to sin. In the pattern of our salvation, the Rich became poor, that we (the poor) might become rich. God became what we are that we might become what He is. His righteousness is His love.

While fasting with the body, brethren, let us also fast in spirit. Let us loose every bond of iniquity; let us undo the knots of every contract made by violence; let us tear up all unjust agreements; let us give bread to the hungry and welcome to our house the poor who have no roof to cover them, that we may receive great mercy from Christ our God.

Stichera on “Lord, I Call” for Wednesday of the First Week of Great Lent

 

 

About Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.



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11 responses to “A Fast of Righteousness”

  1. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    So we are set right not in a juridicial sense, but rather as an ontological reality?

  2. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Matthew,
    Yes. It’s interesting to me that the notion of “imputed righteousness” that gets used in some circles, actually means “not really righteous” but only “considered righteous.” It reduces the whole of salvation/atonement to a mental exercise in the mind of God. It’s just insufficient.

    A question: if something isn’t ontological (having to do with being), then what is it? Something that doesn’t have being? Isn’t that the same thing as something that just isn’t real? For me, if it can’t be discussed in ontological terms, then I wonder what we’re talking about.

  3. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    I wonder too …

  4. Rob Avatar
    Rob

    Hello. I currently attend a non-denominational Evangelical Church. I grew up in a Pentecostal Church. I have only recently (within the past 3 years) come to realize that I have more in common in the experience and understanding of the faith represented in your writings and that of other Orthodox content online, then I do with my own tradition (although I find some overlap with the Pentecostal tradition). I came to experience God in a real way when he spoke to me and intervened when I was involved in a near-death experience. That’s how everything began for me: it was through prayer before I knew communication with God was even possible. I believe that this experiential Christianity and journey that I’ve been on from the beginning has always made me an outcast to the Protestant tradition at large, though not as much out of step with my Pentecostal roots. I would have already converted to Orthodoxy on the basis of mysticism, monasticism, and the teachings and lives of the saints, but still have internal struggles and reservations concerning the real presence in the Eucharist, elements regarding Theotokos, and the more liturgical approach in general. Do you have thoughts for a “homeless” man like me? Thank you and Peace to you.

  5. Simon the Gray Avatar
    Simon the Gray

    I like it. I think this spot on. I think this ties back to communion and personhood. Things as objects in the secular have no proper place and neither do ‘membrane enclosed stochastic systems with epiphenomenal agency’, i.e. people. To have a proper place speaks to the idea of persons, persons havin inestimable value. If you see where I am headed with this would you mind elaborating? In my thoughts I can’t separate proper place/balance from the idea that even that wording and meaning loses force if it isn’t predicated or have reference to personhood, which I think is true even of the animals.

  6. Esmée Noelle Covey Avatar
    Esmée Noelle Covey

    In the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Publican was justified by his humility. Can this justification be seen as another word for righteousness? The Pharisee assumed he was righteous in the eyes of God because he fasted and tithed, but because he was arrogant about his good deeds he was actually more self-righteous than anything. While the Publican considered himself to be unworthy due to his perceived lack of good deeds, and it was his very sense of the nothingness of himself that attracted God’s love towards him and seemingly accounted him as a more truly righteous person.

  7. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Rob,
    There are many people whose stories “rhyme” with yours. Things such as devotion to the Theotokos, the Real Presence, liturgy in general, are new for you. It’s worth noting that no Christian, prior to 500 years ago, would have dreamed of raising a question about these things – they would have seemed normal to them. This is the Apostolic faith. There’s simply no evidence of a Protestantized Christianity before the Reformation (and it was slow in coming, even then). But continue to be patient. Especially be patient with your soul and your heart. Read. Listen. Attend liturgies if you’re able. It’ll come. It is a path that is well trod.

  8. Esmée Noelle Covey Avatar
    Esmée Noelle Covey

    Rob, when I first discovered and was pulled into the Orthodox Church, there were a lot of things I found hard to believe, especially in regards to the Theotokos. Elements of Faith concerning her were a stumbling block to me for a long time. But one day I just decided to stop trying to understand it and, instead, embrace the teachings of the Church as a whole. We are taught that God turns to us when we turn to Him and, in my experience, thr same is true of the Theotokos. A turning point in my relationship to her occurred when I decided to pray an akathist to her every day for 40 days for a dear friend who was sick. Something inexplicable happened in my heart during those 40 days and I grew to love her. After that, all my questions about her simply melted away and I became kind of obsessed with collecting icons of her, lol… and I now have an entire wall in my home dedicated to icons only of her. I have been Orthodox for 20 years now, and I feel like am just barely beginning to scratch the surface of the enormous breadth and depth of the Faith.

  9. Justin Avatar
    Justin

    Rob,
    I am one of those who Fr Stephen mentions as “rhyming” with you. I was in your exact position only a few years ago. Only to echo what Fr Stephen said… if you can, find an Orthodox priest you can meet with and ask questions of. Attend [his] Divine Liturgy, again if you can. Much, if not everything, is explained in the Liturgy. After a good long while of having conversations with a priest and learning in the Liturgy, things (not everything) begin to make sense. Patience is huge, and I had to remember one very simple thing: ***God is for you, not against you.*** God is not looking or waiting to find you in a mistake and zap you for it. If you are open and humble he will guide you where you need to be and where wants you. He did me in, that’s for sure.
    I will pray for you.
    –Justin

  10. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Simon,
    I’ll have to give it some thought. I think you’re correct, but I’ll see what I might add a little later. Getting ready for a Church night.

  11. Fr. Stephen Avatar

    Esmée,
    Yes. The words a very much related in Greek. Humility draws the grace of God towards us: “He gives more grace to the humble.”

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  1. Rob, I am one of those who Fr Stephen mentions as “rhyming” with you. I was in your exact position…

  2. Rob, when I first discovered and was pulled into the Orthodox Church, there were a lot of things I found…

  3. Rob, There are many people whose stories “rhyme” with yours. Things such as devotion to the Theotokos, the Real Presence,…


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