The Call for Restorative Justice

A Peek from behind the Fig Tree

Workbook and Texts below the summary.

God invites us to align our hearts with His, embodying mercy, justice, and restoration. Jesus’ healing of the bent-over woman exemplifies true Sabbath worship—acts of mercy. St Bartholomew’s life reminds us to be faithful witnesses, aligning our hearts with God’s through integrity, openness, and trust.

• God’s Heart: God desires mercy, justice, and restoration, inviting us to align our hearts with His.
• True Worship: True worship involves breaking oppression, caring for the weak, and showing mercy, as exemplified by Jesus’ healing of the woman on the Sabbath.
• God’s Kingdom: We belong to an unshakable kingdom, prompting us to worship with reverence and gratitude, rooted in trust.
• Mercy’s Power: Jesus’s actions demonstrate that mercy surpasses rigid rules and brings restoration and freedom.
• God’s Mercy in Action: The story of the woman bent over for eighteen years illustrates how God’s mercy lifts us up and restores our dignity.
• Application to Our Lives: We are called to embrace God’s mercy, choosing compassion and freedom over fear and legalism, and to live as instruments of restoration in the world.
• Bartholomew’s Character: Open, honest, and faithful follower of Christ.
• God’s Promise: God will raise a prophet to speak God’s words, fulfilled in Jesus Christ and carried forward by disciples like Bartholomew.
• God’s Presence: God is near to all who call upon Him, as seen in Jesus’ interaction with Nathanael.
• Bartholomew’s Legacy: Bartholomew’s name is inscribed on the foundations of the New Jerusalem, symbolising the enduring impact of his witness.
• Call to Faithful Living: The readings encourage us to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life, even from a place of doubt, and to build our lives on Christ.
• Bartholomew’s Example: Bartholomew’s life exemplifies integrity, openness, and faithful witness, inspiring us to align our hearts with God’s.