Jeremiah 33:14–16
In Advent, the church focuses on the eschatological promise of the coming reign of God. The anticipation of Advent reminds us that the incarnation of God on earth is a prolepsis — an experiencing-in-advance — of the true and complete fullness of creation, of the justice God promises.
The promise of coming justice is central to the text from Jeremiah, a promise from God to bring the “righteous Branch” from David, who shall “execute justice and righteousness in the land” — justice so complete that the land shall be renamed: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
The promise made to Israel, which is a promise for the whole creation through Israel, is the promise of justice. And not only of justice as an abstract value, but of just government — in biblical terms, of a just ruler. Or, as we might put it in modern political terms, of just ways of organizing our society. Of just interpersonal relations. Of social relationships structured by justice and righteousness.
The point is that the promise is not separable from the realities of government and societal relationships. The promise to Jeremiah is not an unearthly paradise but a human society structured by God’s justice.
The challenge is to recognize that such justice has not yet fully appeared. Christian theology has tended to separate this promise from its historical context and associate it with a coming future age or the end of history.
Reading this text in Advent can be a reminder to Christians, though, that the promise of God for justice is a promise for the renewal of this world and society. For Christians, the incarnation of God in Jesus is the beginning of the age to come. We live on the edge of apocalypse. In this space, where God has become incarnate within our society but where justice has not yet won, is a profound place for transformation: a creative womb where we can build and experiment and construct new alternative ways to the death-dealing ways of the world and new ways of healing and transforming harm. In this liminal space of tension and creativity, we work alongside God, bringing to birth God’s justice and righteousness from within the societal structures where we find ourselves.
Hannah Bowman is the founder and director of Christians for Abolition.