Have you ever needed someone to speak up for you? It could have been informally in a social setting or even in a family. Perhaps you’ve needed it in a formal setting of a work tribunal or law court? It is important to have someone who understands the issues, can use the required language and has the credibility to represent you. Unless an advocate will be listened to and cares enough to intervene on your behalf for a better outcome he or she is of little value to you. When there is no one to defend you, then you are defenceless and vulnerable. Most of us have been there and know the anxiety of being powerless. This is a time when there are many who need advocacy – the poor, homeless, migrants and any number of minority groups. So long as there is no one willing to be an advocate, they remain marginalised and powerless.
- ‘All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy’ – Samantha Power
- ‘I’m passionate about people. I’ve spent my life in advocacy. People matter – whether or not we agree on the issue, people matter’ – Ann Marie Buerkle
- ‘If you believe you can make a difference, not just in politics, in public service, in advocacy around all these important issues, then you have to be prepared to accept that you are not going to get 100 % approval’ – Hillary Clinton
Take a moment to reflect on when your own position was helped because you had an advocate – who was that person? Hopefully their example has inspired you to recognise those around you who need an advocate and to realise that you might be that person for them. Advocacy is not reserved for politicians, union officials or legal professionals alone – many of them have good motives and they receive their financial reward. Sometimes advocacy changes things not just for an individual but also brings about cultural change and a shift in society. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, William Wilberforce and Antony Ashley Cooper (Lord Shaftesbury) brought about such changes with civil rights and the abolition of slavery. Shaftesbury was born into great wealth but it was the kindness of a lowly maid named Maria Millis in the 1820s that led to him becoming a follower of The Great Advocate, Jesus Christ. Following that step, he felt God call him ‘to devote whatever advantages he might have bestowed in the cause of the weak, the helpless, both man and beast and those who had none to help them’.
Advocacy on behalf of the vulnerable matters to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Old Testament, you can see God’s intervention for the poor, orphans and widows. It was God who sent Jonah to rescue the people of Nineveh and it was He who led the Israelites out of humiliating slavery in Egypt. In the New Testament, you find Jesus coming to the rescue of a woman about to be stoned for adultery. Time and again, Jesus brings healing to people in need, food for the hungry and ultimately gives his life up to save others. God the Holy Spirit stirs up the Old Testament prophets like Amos and Hosea to speak out against social injustice and is described by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament as intervening for mercy on our behalf.
- ‘He (God) defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing’ – Deuteronomy 10:18
- ‘Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them’ – Hebrews 7:25
- ‘The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair’ – Isaiah 61:1-3
Jesus began his public ministry by reading this passage from Isaiah 61. In doing so, he was declaring himself to be The Advocate for everyone in need which is affirmed by the Apostle John: ‘.. if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One’ (1 John 2:1). This three-fold involvement of the Holy Trinity to jointly advocate for us is clearly stated in Romans 8:
- ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ – v 31
- ‘Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us’ – v 34
- ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans’ – v 26
Perhaps you already know this – if you do, don’t let it be an over-familiar truth that is discarded. Instead, let it be a catalyst for inspiration to be an advocate for others. Jesus declared a blessing for those who will when he said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9). To bring peace to another person may be through encouragement, some intervention or a smile – any of those will honour God. Do you realise that Jesus has passed on the role of advocacy to you?
- ‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light’ – 1 Peter 2:9
- ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation’ – 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
- ‘And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God’ – Isaiah 61:6
You don’t need a wig and gown to be an advocate! If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, advocacy needs to be part of your thinking and lifestyle.