Cold Case Justice

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 21 Listen: (3:33) Read: Romans 1 Listen: (5:02)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 21.6-9

6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, 9 and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Reflection: Cold Case Justice

By John Tillman

Crime dramas usually start with a dead body.

In the mid-2000s, Cold Case, flipped that script. The show’s detectives investigated unsolved murders from decades past. The story moved simultaneously on two timelines. In the present, you watched the detectives investigate. In the past, you got to know the victim as they moved inevitably toward the day of their demise.

Cold Case typically started in the past with the sympathetic victim’s story. We developed a saying: “Don’t get sucked into Cold Case. We know how it ends!”

Knowing the victim’s fate was morbid, but seeing them first as a person, instead of an unidentified body, created a unique emotional dynamic. There was a poignant satisfaction when justice finally came for the long-unsolved crime, right before the credits rolled.

As Moses reviewed the law, he described a crime scene identical to the first murder. Like Abel, a body was found in a field, with the victim’s blood crying out to God for justice. Moses prescribed a ceremony, atoning for the community’s guilt. They confessed their failure to provide justice and pleaded for God’s mercy on the community and the victim.

Unsolved crimes are a failure of the community to establish and enforce justice. If you look up crime statistics in your county, you’ll find unsolved murders and open cases. If we observed Mosaic law, we’d be out in the field, sacrificing a cow every week.

Thank God that ultimately Jesus will bring justice for everyone. On the day of judgment, every “cold case” will be solved and every perpetrator punished as the credits of history roll. However, even though we know that no victim’s cry will go unanswered in eternity, that doesn’t mean we shrug our shoulders today and neglect our calling to establish justice and repent of our failures.

Flip the script. Think about the victims before they are statistics. Don’t merely say, “Our hands did not shed this blood,” and “Our eyes did not see it.” Let us open our eyes to see the causes of crime and suffering in our communities. Let us work with our hands to prevent poverty, lack of opportunity, and social inequality—the precursors of crime.

Are there church or community groups or programs near you addressing these problems? Devote prayer, time, or money toward them. Establishing justice is a Christian calling and preventing crime is as much a part of it as investigating crime.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm

Wait upon the Lord and keep his way; he will raise you up to possess the land, and when the wicked are cut off, you will see it… — Psalm 37.34

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Do You Feel Like It?

Despite questions, fickle desires, favorites, frustrations, or vindictiveness, we are called to remain rightly responsive to the realities of who God is, and who we are.

Read more: Degrading Each Other

“You have done it unto me.”…Whether we help or harm others, Jesus steps into the interaction.

Prophets Like Moses

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 18 Listen: (3:08) Read: 2 Corinthians 11 Listen: (4:46)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 19 Listen: (3:04) Read: 2 Corinthians 12 Listen: (3:54)
Read: Deuteronomy 20 Listen: (2:55) Read: 2 Corinthians 13 Listen: (2:19)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy18.18-19

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.

Reflection: Prophets Like Moses

By John Tillman

Prophets speak about the future, but aren’t fortune tellers. Prophets perform signs, but aren’t sorcerers. What is a prophet like?

God says his prophets will be like Moses. God will put his word in their mouths and tell them his commands. God will hold accountable those who do not listen. Prophets speak to people on behalf of God.

We think of prophets as having spooky supernatural visions and experiences. They sometimes do. But most of the time, prophets’ “visions” are simple observations of human wickedness. When prophets speak, they usually address problems of the moment and promises for the future.

Problems of the moment can be problems people face or problems people cause. The people faced the probem of Pharaoh’s army. Moses said, “You will never see them again.” (Exodus 14.13) The people caused problems through rebellion, idolatry, and sin. Moses issued God’s judgments. (Exodus 32.30)

Promises for the future can be blessings or cursings, conditional or unconditional. Pharaoh heard conditional promises of plagues, suffering, and death if he did not let the people go. The people heard conditional promises of life, peace, and safety if they followed God’s commands. (Deuteronomy 28.9-11) God’s unconditional promise was to save a people for himself and bring them to a good land to prosper. (Genesis 12.1-3; Exodus 6.6-8)

Prophets speak of the future based on what God says about the present. Prophets see the now through God’s eyes and hear it through his ears. Prophecy is one of the gifts described in the early church community. (Romans 12.6; 1 Corinthians 12.8-10) We still need believers with this spiritual gift today. We must hear the cries of the poor, oppressed, and vulnerable before we speak about power. We must confess the reality of today’s sins before we speak of tomorrow’s judgment or salvation.

Are you a prophet? Do you see today’s problems? Do you know God’s promises for the future?

If you do not sense a prophetic call to speak, obey your calling to listen to today’s prophets. Prophetic messages are often uncomfortable or inconvenient. Resist the urge to grumble against them as the people grumbled against Moses. Beware “prophets” who always promise comfort and safety and say “peace” when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6.14; Ezekiel 13.10)


Remember this, too. Every believer carries at least one prophetic message—the gospel. Go. Tell of the problem of sin. Tell of the promise of freedom, forgiveness, and salvation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Be a prophet like Moses who sets people free. (Luke 4.16-20)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come now and see the works of God, how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people. — Psalm 66.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Tortured Prophets Department

Many who speak out against abuses in the church…of power and sexual abuse, found the track “Cassandra,” from Taylor Swift’s album, devastatingly relatable

Read more: Unworthy Prophets

May a better class of prophets speak the truth to power and to God’s people.

Kingly Qualifications

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 17 Listen: (3:24) Read: 2 Corinthians 10 Listen: (2:45)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 17.16-20

16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Reflection: Kingly Qualifications

By John Tillman

Many places in scripture tell us God considered Israel’s request for a king an idolatrous act, a rejection of him, and a rebellion. (1 Samuel 8.6-9) Yet, knowing the request will one day come, God gave Moses a list of qualifications for kings.

The godly king Moses described is nothing like the ones Israel had and nothing like the ones we ask for today. In a poll released in July of 2024, Americans rated important traits in a president. They don’t compare well with God’s priorities.

God’s first requirement is to not build up expensive military resources. (Deut 17.16) The second requirement is sexual purity in marriage to just one partner. (Deut 17.17) The third requirement is to not enrich himself through his position. (Deut 17.17) Sounds tough already, right? But the last qualification is the kicker and most important.

God wanted kings to be biblical scholars. (Deut 17.18-20) The first task of the king was to write out his own copy of God’s law and to study and read it every day, so as to follow it without turning to the right or the left. As Tim Mackie of the Bible Project says, Israel’s king was supposed to be “a Bible nerd.”

These kingly qualifications aren’t binding on our political systems, however, we can evaluate political leaders or other kinds of leaders using these principles. It’s tempting to look at the list, despair, and complain that there’s no one qualified. We can blame the system and absolve ourselves from guilt over who we choose to support. However, there’s a twist…

In democracies similar to the United States, authority derives from the consent of the governed. You are the king. These principles are for you. The reason our leaders don’t match them is decades of us not matching them.

This is not just a technicality for citizens of democracies. It is a theological reality. With or without political power, we are the body of Christ, our king, on this earth. As regents and ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are the rulers commanded to do these things.

To reign with Christ, develop the qualities of a godly ruler. Love and study the Bible. Do not enrich yourselves through misuse of power. Be sexually pure in marriage or chaste in singleness. Do not trust in violence or its tools but trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20.7)

Properly representing Jesus’ kingdom will have effects on earthly ones.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come, let us sing to the Lord; … For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. — Psalm 95.1, 3

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Kings Like Ahab

Victories don’t grant leaders a never-expiring stamp of God’s approval or mean a leader is “God’s man or woman.”

Read more: To Wicked Kings, Foreign and Domestic

We must abandon Jonah’s sinful wish to weaponize God’s wrath. God will not be our tool of destruction.

Sola iustitia — Justice Alone

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 16 Listen: (3:25) Read: 2 Corinthians 9 Listen: (2:26)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 16:20

20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Reflection: Sola iustitia – Justice Alone

By Erin Newton

What is justice? Is it simply enforcing what is legal? Or, as Christians, do we believe in a view of justice that exists beyond the bounds of the Constitution or any such government document?

Our contemporary culture has spoken at length about justice and across various topics from race to gender to politics to immigration. Justice is wrongfully withheld. Justice is woefully overused. Add the word “systemic” to justice and many heated debates ensue.

In his book, Ministers of Propaganda, Scott Coley examines various views taught from the pulpit that are founded on misleading rhetoric. In the final chapter, he states, “The persisting myth that we should regard those who demand systemic justice as false teachers or theological liberals is more than mere error: it presents a false image of who God is and what God requires of us.” Deuteronomy 16 supports such a claim.

In a series of instructions about festivals, including the Passover, God speaks of the importance of justice. He warns against accepting bribes because it “blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent” (v. 19). Justice is to be protected from corruption and people are to be treated fairly—equally, without discrimination.

It is fascinating that instructions about how to govern the community are sandwiched between instructions on worship, as if God is showing the people that one must have the other. There is no proper worship of God if justice is corrupted. There is no justice for the people if idols are the center of attention.

What does it mean to follow justice and to follow justice alone?

When we define justice with our government’s version of legality, we make the justice that God commands relative. It only means something if our government has decreed it so.

When we pursue justice and our own comfort, convenience, or financial gain, we are not following God’s command to keep justice pure from corruption. That sort of justice preserves the status quo.

Following justice alone is in no way a self-seeking, self-benefiting action. Coley drives home the reality of what justice looks like: “Scripture provides not a single example of a false prophet demanding justice for the oppressed. By contrast, Scripture provides many examples of God’s prophets decrying the political or religious establishment for perpetuating systemic injustice.”

To follow justice is to be a prophetic voice, and that is always a voice for the oppressed.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Jesus said: “As long as the day lasts we must carry out the work of the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work. As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.” — John 9.4-5

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
 by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: What You Are Doing Is Not Good

An “outsider” came in and criticized Moses’ system of justice! “What you are doing is not good!”

Read more: Are There Ashtrays in Your Elevators?

Like ashtrays in elevators, there are always systemic, tangible, widespread, societal enablements of sins.

Deuteronomy’s Dream for the Poor

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Deuteronomy 15 Listen: (3:20) Read: 2 Corinthians 8 Listen: (3:25)

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 15.4-5, 7-11

4 …there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God…

7 If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Matthew 26.11

11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.

Reflection: Deuteronomy’s Dream for the Poor

By John Tillman

Matthew 26.11 is just one phrase of many words of Jesus that have been misquoted, taken out of context, or abused in history. People have used this to imply that poverty is intractable and action against it is ineffectual at best and against God’s will at worst. This false teaching is one of the more damaging ones to spread in the history of the church.

Jesus never implied opposing poverty means opposing God’s sovereignty. Instead, Jesus directly referenced Deuteronomy 15.11, including its command to be openhanded toward the poor.

Deuteronomy makes an extraordinary promise that “there need be no poor people among you” (Deuteronomy 15.4) but follows it up with realism, saying, “There will always be poor people…” (Deuteronomy 15.11)

God proclaims the possibilities of generosity while acknowledging the grim reality of greed. Through following God, we can open our hearts and hands, maintaining idealistic visions and actions without losing sight of ugly realities. Christians can look the darkest realities of poverty in the face and confidently say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“If only you fully obey the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 15.4)

The dream of Deuteronomy 15.4 was fulfilled (for a short time) in the early church. It was said of them, “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 4.33-34) These Spirit-filled believers fulfilled Deuteronomy’s proclaimed possibility about the poor.

All systems controlled by humans eventually become corrupted and the Acts 4 church is no exception. Racism slips into the distribution of food and the highest levels of the church leadership must get involved (and get honest) to solve it. Corruption in systems run by humans is inevitable. If the church’s own system faced accusations of inequity, how much more can we expect inequity to be a concern in secular systems? However, these concerns are not a reason that we should abandon our calling in this area.

At the heart level of each individual and at the highest levels of our churches, denominations, and governments, Christians must acknowledge that the poor are our responsibility and are one way that God will judge how well we are helping his will to be done “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6.9-10)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm

Though high up, You see the lowly;
Though far away, you keep an eye on the proud. — Psalm 138.6

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: He Became Poor

The reasons God gives for his just acts of judgment against Israel and Judah…always include offenses related to oppression of the poor.

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