The exclusion zone

FOLLOWING a tsunami in March 2011, an exclusion zone was declared around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Everyone within a 20km (about twelve miles) radius of the site was ordered to leave. Not all were happy about this – particularly older residents, who had lived in the area all their lives – yet it was too dangerous for them to stay. The exclusion zone was put in place to protect them and to this day they have not been allowed back permanently.

Some exclusion zones are necessary. Sometimes, though, we exclude others in an attempt to increase our own self-worth, or to make ourselves feel safer or more powerful. But this was not the way of Jesus.

Jesus And Justice – a study by the Army’s International Social Justice Commission – identifies a number of ways that Jesus ‘lived right and righted wrongs’. Here, we look at three of them.

First, Jesus showed compassion towards social outsiders. This is demonstrated in his interaction with lepers (see Matthew 8:1–3; Mark 1:40–44; Luke 17:11–19). Such people were segregated through no fault of their own, yet Jesus – understanding what life was like for them – chose to enter the exclusion zone others had placed around them.

Today, social exclusion can be based on a number of factors. These include health, educational ability, looks, sexual preference or economic status. ‘Social judgment parades with many faces,’ says Jesus And Justice. ‘The disfigured, the physically disabled, the mentally handicapped and even kids bullied in school playgrounds can be victims of injustice, without being guilty of anything but being themselves.’

To consider: Think of a time when you felt excluded from a situation. How did you feel about it? What about a time when you did the excluding – why did you do it and how did it make you feel?

Secondly, Jesus protested gender inequality. While females may not have been stigmatised to the extent that lepers were in his day, they were still considered second-class citizens.

Yet Jesus stood up for women and – more to the point – included them in his life. In Luke 10:38–42 we see him giving Mary and Martha his time and attention, relaxing in their home and holding candid conversations with them, and in Matthew 9:18–26 we see how he restored the life of a synagogue leader’s daughter and healed an older woman. No discrimination against the girl-child here and no concern for his own ritual purity when dealing with the stigma of a woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years.

Then, in John 20:11–18, we see Jesus revealing the amazing fact of his resurrection to a woman – this in a culture that didn’t accept the testimony of females in a court of law. What was Jesus thinking by taking what some would see as a huge risk? He was righting a wrong.

While the place of women has improved in some societies, in others female babies are still abandoned or even killed because families prefer males. Elsewhere, girls are forced into marriage and childbearing at an early age. In some Christian churches women are still unable to take their place alongside men in ministry and even in the Army we don’t always get the gender balance right – especially in our boardrooms and executive councils.

To consider: What can we do to right wrongs for the women and girls we encounter?

Thirdly, Jesus embraced the excluded. One of the ways he did this was by his attitude towards children. In his day, children were kept in their place. ‘Beyond participation in their families,’ says Jesus And Justice, ‘children were socially insignificant. They were cultural nobodies. Their voices didn’t count.’

Jesus, however, was child-friendly (see Luke 18:15–17; Matthew 18:1–7). He urged his followers to protect children, to listen to what they had to say and to learn from them. The importance a culture places on schooling, healthy lifestyles and child protection issues is an indication of how it values these vulnerable members of society.

To consider: Do children truly have a voice in our homes, communities and churches? Or do we listen without really hearing?

Whether it was by interacting with outcasts, speaking out against inequality or highlighting the importance of young people, Jesus ignored social exclusion zones. He lived right and made life right with others. Our challenge is to follow his example.

• Major Ruthven is Editor-in-Chief and Publishing Secretary, THQ