Justice and Vocation

Over the past year, I have been reflecting on what I think is one of the most overlooked doctrines of the Christian faith. It is the doctrine of vocation. According to Gene Edward Veith, “The Reformation doctrine of vocation teaches that all Christians are called by God to live faithfully in three arenas, the household, the Church, and the state, in which all Christians are to live out their priesthood as believers by offering up their lives as living sacrifices to God.” In other words, vocation teaches that our everyday roles, responsibilities and relationships are the arena for serving God. This means that the pastoral calling is not the only valid calling for the Christian. The calling of spouse, parent, salesperson, scientist, retail worker, citizen, city government worker etc. are divinely ordained paths that Christians can live out faithfulness to God and love of others.

There has rightly been an increased awareness of the importance of societal justice. God cares deeply about justice. The Scriptures attest to the fact that God has special concern for the vulnerable in society. Under the umbrella of biblical justice there are many rabbit holes that one can follow. However, I want to highlight one that I think is overlooked: the relationship of vocation and justice.

God has given the various vocations (or callings) in society for the pursuit of justice. The equitable treatment of everyone and the protection of the vulnerable is one of the objects of vocation. For example, one of the most vulnerable populations to be provided for and protected by vocation are children. In God’s economy the child is supposed to be taken care of by the vocation of the parent. The child is secure in the vocation of covenantal loving marriage of the parents. The parents provide for the child through their vocation of work. The neighborhood is supposed to be protected by the vocation of the good citizen and the government vocations of civil workers (ie police, ETM, firefighters etc.). A child is supposed to be protected from potential war via the federal government and the military. I could go on and on but if the persons in these various vocations fulfilled these callings with faithfulness and love for those with whom they are in direct contact with justice would be fulfilled for the child.

The persistence of injustice in our world is the function of the abdication or abuse of various vocations. Back to the previous example, the child is not taken care of if the parent abuses their vocation of care. The parent cannot take care of the child if there are not viable options for the vocation of work. The child cannot play in safety if the functions of protection in the neighborhood are defective. A child in a war-torn county is vulnerable to hunger and violence. In other words the abuse of callings and responsibilities puts the vulnerable in the path of danger.

The breakdown of multiple vocational responsibilities or the abuse of them creates a myriad of complex problems. These problems must be addressed but my goal in this writing is to point that if we do not first fulfill our present vocations, we do not have the moral right or standing to fix the complex breakdown of vocations in our society.

In simplest terms, I am saying that if you care about justice, you have to care about the vocations given to you by God. God desires to care for those around you and wants to use you as the tool for their care. This does not seem big enough for us. We want to look towards mass change without seeing how integral our everyday roles are to that change.

So if you want to care about justice, be faithful to your spouse. Love and care for your children. Do your job well. Show tangible kindness to your co-workers and clients. Give to the neighbor in need. Pray for and serve your fellow church members.

There is much talk about justice for the other. We can think our vocation is righteous statements on facebook or twitter. But in reality we often choose vocations that put distance between us and the “other.” So we speak about caring for the poor but we do not choose the needy as neighbors. We talk about racial equality but we choose to work and go to church with those who are most like us. Save the speeches about justice, if we do not seek out everyday vocations that would put us in the position to love and care for those who are in need. There is too much speech about advocacy without proximity.

There is much more to be said about justice in society of which I plan to write more about. But Christians must pursue justice in their everyday vocations. In other words, this means regular hard faithfulness. We bear our cross in our vocation. We sacrifice our desires in our vocation. We provide for those around us in our vocation.