The Biblical Example of Reparations Nobody Talks About

Why Reparations Are a Christian Mandate

(If you don’t know by now, I have begun to provide a voiceover for my posts. It’s right above this paragraph here. Just press play. Unless, of course, you’ve already figured this out, and you’re already listening. Now I just feel awkward. I’m currently reading instructions on how to listen to what you’re already listening to…

…anyway, if you listen to today’s post you get to hear me sing. Lucky you.

On to the post.)

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like¹.

In the array of Biblical stories commonly used to teach children about Jesus is a story about a little man. The man’s name is Zacchaeus. Anyone who grew up in a Christian environment like mine knows Zacchaeus well. One of the main reasons this is true is that we were taught a song about him to remember the story. By memory, the song goes like this:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
Yes, a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree,
For the Lord, he wanted to see.

And as the Savior passed that way,
He looked up to the tree.

He said, “Zacchaeus! You come down!"

For I’m going to your house today.

For I’m going to your house today.”

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector which also made him a chief sinner among Jesus’s people. As my Sunday School teachers explained, tax collectors were known for cheating people out of their money.

According to the story, Jesus did in fact go to the home of Zacchaeus and dine with him. The result of the visit was that Zach changed his ways and promised to pay back 4-times what he had cheated anyone out of.

The change was significant.

To us kids the lesson was this:

Zacchaeus was a bad man. Then he loved Jesus and became a good man. When he became a good man he said he was sorry to the people he had treated badly and paid them back a lot more than he had ever taken from them. Jesus can help you be good too.

We left the Sunday School room singing the song about a short man who climbed a tree.

I didn’t know until just now (having looked it up on YouTube) that there is a second verse to the song. It goes like this:

Zacchaeus knew that he’d done wrong
And sorry for his sins was he.

For to the poor, I’ll give one-half
Of all my goods said he.

And if I’ve cheated anyone
four times will I repay.

And Jesus said, “Salvation has come to you.”

I have come to seek and save.

I have come to seek and save.

If I’d ever been taught the second verse, I’d forgotten it. It’s not that I’d forgotten the part about Zacchaeus giving to the poor and paying back 4-times what he’d cheated people of, but it wasn’t the detail I’d lead with if someone asked me about the story. I’d have told you it was the short guy who climbed a tree to see Jesus². I wouldn’t have told you he was the guy who paid back 4-times what he’d taken from people when he made some life changes.

But now, today?

I think the paying back of money he took from other people is the point of the story.

People who follow Jesus make efforts to heal relationships they’ve damaged and repair the harm they’ve done.

If there are financial issues at hand, we repay that which we’ve taken, cheated or stolen. We make amends.

We make…dare I say…reparations.

I think I understand why this part of Zacchaeus’s story isn’t at the forefront of our memory.

The good news I was taught growing up was that Jesus died for my sins. In giving his life on the cross, he took the punishment for my sin. The forgiveness for me was free. All I had to do was accept it. A genuine commitment to change my ways and move forward into a life better lived is a natural response to the forgiveness. It is what we do when we believe a past action is wrong. It is not something we do to earn the forgiveness. According to tradition, Jesus paid the price for my spiritual salvation. His scars are the receipts.

This may be true. I’m glad for free forgiveness. The idea of trying to pay back a god for a cosmic slight is silly. So, from a spiritual³ standpoint, free forgiveness is a must. I’m glad it’s available.

But it’s also quite convenient. While spiritual healing is one thing, addressing and rectifying the wrongs I’ve done is another altogether.

There is another verse in the Bible I find problematic for this discussion. It is Psalms 51:4.

“Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge⁴.”

It’s the, “against you, you only, have I sinned” part that troubles me. Because while from a spiritual perspective, I may have acted in a way that God considers evil and I need the forgiveness, the sinful actions have an impact on the people around me. I may have only sinned against God, but I most certainly have wronged or hurt people as I did. The forgiveness is free, but my gratitude demands a response, and the response is to make the wrongs I’ve committed right as best I can.

“But, Jeff…” You say, “…you never owned slaves. You don’t need to pay anyone back for slavery.”

Fair point. I never owned another human and forced them to do work which produced wealth for me. If I had, and I determined it was a wrong way to live, I might find wisdom in the example of Zacchaeus, see it as part of the rock foundation of which Jesus speaks, and pay back my formerly enslaved person for the work they earned. Perhaps even 4 times what they made for me.

But as you hypothetically point out, I didn’t own people. So why would I think I have any responsibility when it comes to reparations?

It’s because I live within a societal structure – The United States of America – which accepted slavery at its foundation. Even at the dawn of our country, there were many who predicted slavery would prove to be the sandy mortar of the country’s foundation that would eventually lead to collapse. The years leading up to the Civil War and the war itself would prove those forecasts accurate.

Further, the “nobody alive today enslaved people” position is evidence of another troublesome habit of scores of Christians. We’ve made the entire story about “me” or “you” singular, but not “us” or “you,” plural. At the risk of repeating a point I’ve made time and time again, I will use one particular out-of-context verse as an example.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

You might recognize the above verse. It’s a favorite of people who are facing something stressful in their life. The verse was meant to comfort, for sure.

But it wasn’t meant to comfort singular people. That’s not why the prophet wrote it. It wasn’t written to a person. It was written to an entire nation, an entire generation of people⁵. Consider the previous verse: “This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10)

Seventy. Years.

Some (…Most? …All?) of the people who heard the ancient promise of the Hebrew God wouldn’t be alive to see it fulfilled. Were the following generations exempt, or would they inherit the promise because of their lineage?

If we can see that God has plans for an entire generation of people, I think it’s fair to make the leap and say God would expect an entire group of people to make amends with those they have harmed.

Let’s assume our country had been forgiven the sin of slavery.

True recognition that we have wronged as a collective must lead us to action to repair the harm done. We don’t do it because someone cries out about injustice, though that would be an appropriate response to cries of injustice (Google “Civil Rights Movement”), we do it because the Way of Christ compels us.

This is true on a personal level. It’s what brings healing to a relationship. It’s the proof that we believe the actions we took previously were harmful and wrong. Logic would suggest that if this is true on a personal level then it may be true when it comes to national policy as well.

One final thought. It’s going to take me well beyond the 1500-word limit I was shooting for, but I can’t help it. It’s too important.

As I was editing this piece and about ready to press “publish,” it occurred to me that the “For I know the plans I have for you…” portion of Jeremiah was written (or spoken) to a group of people in bondage in Babylon. I mean, if there’s any people it’s directly applicable to a couple of millennia later, it isn’t me. From an American History standpoint, the parallel is obvious, isn’t it?

If as Christians, we’re to be like Christ, and we’ve made statements about Christ being divine, then isn’t it also appropriate to help one group of people which were once in bondage to prosper? Can’t we follow through on a promise to not harm any more, and to give hope and a future?

I believe so.

Reparations are a Christian mandate.

1. This quote is from Jesus, and is found in Luke Chapter 6, verses 46 and 47 (New International Version). In the next few verses Jesus explains that those who follow his instructions are like builders who build a house on rock. These houses stand firm. Those who do not follow his instruction are like builders who build their homes on a foundation of sand. The sand washes away and the house with it.

2. There are those that would point out the text sometimes says that Zacchaeus climbed the tree to see Jesus, “…for he was a short man.” He could have been referring to Jesus or Zacchaeus. Perhaps, but the discussion is 100% beside the point.

3. Strictly speaking, I know the word “spiritual” is not tied to religion. But in the context of the Christian faith tradition, it works as I’ve used it here. You of course, have no mandate to use identify in the same manner.

4. As with the first quote, this is from the New International Version translation. I typically choose this version because it is what I read growing up. But for the most part, the differences in translation for this verse are minimal and the meaning remains the same between translations.

5. At this point, people who know me or have been reading my stuff for some time are likely rolling their eyes. I’ve beaten on this drum before. It’ll likely happen again.