Dignity: where did it go?

Bob Dylan wrote a song called “Dignity” on his album Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Volume 3 in 1994. This song chronicles the author in his search for dignity, asking various characters if they have seen dignity:

“Searchin’ high, searchin’ low
Searchin’ everywhere I know
Askin’ the cops wherever I go
Have you seen dignity?”

Jesus affirmed the dignity of the people he met. It was evident especially when he treated the despised with dignity like prostitutes and tax collectors. He affirmed the dignity of ordinary people like fishermen, housewives, hosts and hostesses, widows and orphans, the sick and the lame. Wherever he went people raised their heads in dignity because of this treatment of them.

When Jesus put his hands on the leper and made them clean, the shame of their condition and the treatment of society toward them changed. When he forgave sins, guilt melted away. When he healed people he demonstrated that they mattered.

When thinking about what I do in working with fellow image bearers in my work in Indigenous ministry I regularly ask, “What is happening with dignity?” To me this is the most important question to think about in ministry. In the Indian Residential School system the dignity of Indigenous children was assaulted, the dignity of Indigenous parents violated, the dignity of Indigenous community ignored, and the dignity of image bearers of God was not even in consideration.

What is even more telling is what people I minister to think about the effect I have on their dignity. If what I do diminishes their dignity in any way I should stop and reevaluate what I am doing and stop or fundamentally change what I do.

Even when Jesus seemed to attack the dignity of the self-important like the religious Pharisees, he was really confronting their assault on the dignity of those they treated with contempt. When a crowd of the self-righteous brought a woman from the bed of adultery for him to condemn and stone to death, he drew attention away from her to his writing on the ground (John 8:2-11).

Jesus showed his disciples how you guard the dignity of someone whose dignity is being assaulted publicly.

Jesus then confronted the accusers by bringing their own actions into the stoplight. He said, “The one without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus was the only one in the crowd who was without sin. He could have tossed a little pebble in her direction and the crowd could have followed the law and stoned her to death. Jesus didn’t do that.

The whole crowd of religious men were convicted in their consciences and drifted away until there was only the woman, Jesus and his followers. Jesus showed his disciples how you guard the dignity of someone whose dignity is being assaulted publicly. He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” I believe Jesus meant for her to not assault her own dignity by giving what was precious to someone who was not valuing her like God did.

Canadian Justice Ministries - Canadian Indigenous Ministries Committee, the Decolonizing Anti Racism Collective, the Committee for Contact with Government, and the staff guided by these committees - have a spiritual mandate from Jesus to advocate for and foster the dignity of fellow image bearers in our work. I for one will advocate for and foster the dignity of Indigenous people who have and still suffer at the hands of callous souls and systems.