Human Trafficking
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim... freedom for the prisoners and to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19
In Isaiah 58, God’s people ask Him, “Why have we fasted and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?”
They are fasting, but they’re not “seeing results,” we might say.
In response, God has some rather strong words for His people:
“Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.”
As if they were a nation that does what is right.... Ouch.
Why isn’t the fasting of the Israelites pleasing to God? He tells them plainly:
“On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
God tells us here that he cares deeply about the oppressed. Who are the oppressed among us? One of the primary populations experiencing oppression today are the victims of human trafficking. But most of us are not law enforcement, social workers, therapists, or lawyers. We certainly don't consider ourselves oppressors. So how do we engage this biblical challenge? We suggest that we can be agitators for the sake of prevention.
“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters.
The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle.”
Frederick Douglass, formerly enslaved person
Human trafficking happens all over the world, including throughout North America. The yokes and chains borne by victims of human trafficking are almost impossibly painful for us to imagine, and yet God calls us not only to imagine, but to be part of breaking those yokes of oppression and setting the captives free.
This is the kind of fasting God has chosen. This kind of fasting is part of our calling and part of our identity as God’s people. He deeply loves the oppressed, and he deeply loves those who are being trafficked, who are alone in their pain and grief and fear. God asks us to loose their chains, and to do what we can to set the victims of human trafficking free.
We can participate in doing the ordinary, not-flashy, simple work of showing up for those who would be vulnerable to being trafficked before such horrors happen. We will consider some of the facts and factors tomorrow.
It is estimated that 50 million people are held in slavery today around the world.
How do we face these unsettling realities without giving in to the weight of heaviness and despair, or becoming overwhelmed, numb, and indifferent?
Our theology will shape our response.
We believe God’s heart is grieved and angry at the
exploitation of His people, who are made in His image.
We trust that He is hot in the pursuit of their freedom
and in carrying out justice on their behalf.
We know that He draws near to those who are broken, hurting, and crying out for rescue. He hears the cry of the oppressed.
God implores us into this fight for the freedom of every human life, every soul that possesses eternal value, everybody created in his image, every person made to be cared for and valued, not exploited and discarded.
The end of slavery begins with prayer, education, and advocacy. We must educate ourselves and spread the word to those who may not know what is happening right under our noses.