God hates passive injustice

 This week's Bible study is on Exodus 23:4-5:

“If you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return it to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, but be sure to help him with it.

 These verses are part of what God is telling to the Israelites as they travel to the promised land he has for them. At first, it seems to be about donkeys. But really it's about how sometimes our hearts lead us to sin against our fellow human beings, while lying convincingly to make us believe we've done nothing wrong. We've all got a little sociopath lurking inside of us.

First a little bit about donkeys. Very few of us own donkeys nowadays. A donkey is not a house pet. Back in biblical times, a man's donkey was his car, his UPS truck, his tractor, and his moving van, all rolled into one. If he lost his donkey, he lost his ability to do much more than menial labor.

So when we read about donkeys, we should understand that a lost or injured donkey is a bit like a lost or broken down car would be for us nowadays. Your livelihood could be at stake. In the wild west, for the same reason, you could get the death penalty for stealing a man's horse. It is a Big Deal.

But these verses aren't talking about donkeys. They're talking about the blackness of our hearts when we don't like someone. You know that coworker who is always backstabbing you, or that neighbor who is always having loud parties and rotten house guests who throw their trash on your lawn? We naturally want to do mean things to those people, but we know it's not good for our Christian witness, so we hold ourselves back and pretend we're good people.

But what about when that person is about to make a big mistake? What if they're in trouble and only you could help them? Do you intervene and sustain this person who has no love for you, and is a thorn in your side? Or do you just rub your hands together gleefully and watch misfortune happen to them? Most people are more than happy to watch their enemies suffer.

But that's not what God wants from us. The language in the verses is vehement. "You must *by all means* return it to him." "You *must not* ignore him." Why such forceful and insistent language? Because doing the right thing is against our nature in these situations! Nobody wants to help their enemy!

We lie and tell ourselves that we're innocent if we're not active participants. "I wasn't the one who left his wallet on the counter and walked off." "I wasn't the one who rolled his window down and forgot about the thunderstorm that was coming." We pretend that we're just helpless observers, like we're watching it on TV. "Oh, sucks to be him. But he had it coming."

But God tells us here that we're actually guilty if we're passive observers in that situation. We should take action to help our enemy avoid catastrophe! This is the lesson Jesus is repeating when he tells us to love our enemies and to bless those who curse us. He's reminding us that he's been telling us all along and we're still not getting the point.

We would naturally help if it was our friend's donkey, and even would probably do it if it was someone in our community, but our enemy? That's abnormal, even potentially self-destructive. And yet God commands it and has been commanding it.

If you read the chapter, you'll find that these verses are not just isolated verses about donkey etiquette. They are nestled in a bunch of other verses that tell us to avoid passive injustice. Like don't go along with a crowd that is trying to lynch someone who may be innocent. Like don't tell lies in court if others are also testifying falsely. Lying and turning a blind eye may seem passive, but they are actively evil.

We're tested in this a lot even today. Someone gives you extra change, or forgets to charge you for something, or drops a bill on the floor and doesn't seem to notice. Do you speak up? Is it different from stealing if you don't? We act as if it's different, but in both cases we are the deciding factor in ensuring their misfortune.

Examine yourself in this. Is your love for others just limited to not actively harming them? Are you like a dog who would gladly bite if not for the chain of morality holding you back? If we truly want to live according to God's will, we've got to do better.

So, next time you see the "donkey" of your nemesis wandering the street, or some other jackass who has fallen and can't get up on their own, stop and lend a hand.