Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
John’s Repentance and Societal Justice

John’s Repentance and Societal Justice

Last updated on: December 16, 2025 at 11:37 am by Herb Montgomery

John’s Repentance and Societal Justice 2025-12-16T11:37:09-04:00 Herb Montgomery

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

John's Repentance and Societal Justice

Image by Canva

The Hebrew prophets repeatedly explained the tragic crisis their society was facing as the result of social injustice and oppression toward the vulnerable, marginalized, and disenfranchised. Notice how the book of Isaiah begins:

Welcome Readers! Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here.

This is Part 2 of the series Clearing a Path for Justice

(Read this series from its beginning here.)

“When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson.” (Isaiah 1:12-18)

The prophet Isaiah states that more religious rituals, more sacrifices, more prayers, and more religious gatherings won’t fix their society’s sins. What does Isaiah call for instead? Practicing justice and rescuing those presently oppressed. The oppressed people mentioned here specifically are orphans and widows. Why? Because in patriarchal societies, orphans (the fatherless) and widows (the husbandless) are the ones made vulnerable through their disenfranchisement.

The voice of one calling in the wilderness to make our paths straight is defined here as “seeking justice.” And this leads to John the Baptist. In Josephus’ works, we find a description of John that is worth our consideration:

“Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and was a very just punishment for what he did against John called the Baptist. For Herod had him killed, although he was a good man and had urged the Jews to exert themselves to virtue, both as to justice toward one another and reverence towards God . . .” (Antiquities 18.5.2 116-119)

John was known for calling his own society back to practicing justice toward one another as an act of reverence toward God.

In Luke’s gospel we find the same characterization of John. There he calls for systemic change in the social institutions of his day. “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none” He called tax collectors not to “collect any more than you are required to.” And he told soldiers, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely.” (See Luke 3:10-14)

John critiqued the social institutions of his time and called for justice.

Josephus told us that John’s call of renewing reverence for God was tied to the virtue of the people practicing justice with each another. Justice toward one another is social justice. Social justice is merely applying the ethic of loving your neighbor societally.

John the Baptist’s ministry was rooted in a call to repentance, but the repentance he demanded, in contrast to purely a religious practice, was profoundly social and economic at its core. We’ll unpack this characteristic of John’s repentance in Part 3.

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.

General Christian

Politics and Religion

About Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

December 2, 2025

Advent and a Path Toward Justice

Next Post

December 16, 2025 Repairing the Moral Fabric Begins With Justice

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Abolition Advent Anti Semitism Christianity Christmas Climate Justice Criminal Justice Democracy Disability Justice Distributive Justice Easter Economic Justice Environmental Justice Equity Feminism Government Immigration Justice Indigenous Justice Interfaith Law and Order LGBTQ Affirmation Liberation Theology Migrant Justice Myth of Redemptive Suffering Nonviolence Prayer Racial Justice Reparation Resistance Resurrection Social Gospel Social Justice Survival Uncategorized Womanism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group uses the term "synod" for its governing body?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Baptists Lutherans Pentecostals Methodists