“Reparations” have become a political topic in recent elections. Read Numbers 5:5-10. The topic of reparations has resurfaced in the area of compensating descendants of slaves for the work that their ancestors did. Economist Robert Browne stated that the ultimate goal of reparations should be to "restore the black community to the economic position it would have if it had not been subjected to slavery and discrimination." The price tag for this would be somewhere between $2-4 trillion. If we take a step back from today’s politics, let’s ask, “What does it really mean and where does it come from?” Reparations are one way of making wrong things right, and the idea of reparations goes all the way back to Moses. One of the Ten Commandments is “Do not steal.” After Moses shared the Ten Commandments with the Hebrew people, he went on to write what to do when the commandments were broken. Let’s apply the Mosaic Law to a modern-day example. If you steal $100 from someone and are guilty, reparations will include admitting you are wrong, asking forgiveness, and then returning the money plus 20%. In this case, that would be $120. The goal of making wrong things right in a community is to repair relationships and build trust. Building trust happens by doing the right thing after we have done the wrong thing. 

Holy God, give me the humility I need to look honestly at my actions and determine what I have done to hurt others. Give me the determination to make wrong things right through my confession and willingness to repair broken relationships. Amen.