got justice?
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
(NASB)
What do you think of when you hear the word justice?
Some good definitions I found:
jus·tice –noun
an act of love which seeks to make things right.
in·jus·tice –noun
people with power taking something from people who lack power.
What does this mean for followers of Jesus? What does this look like?
Two ideas/versions of justice:
Contemporary Justice—Justice tested by rules, procedures
“Justice is defined by the process more than by the outcome.... Have the right rules and processes been followed? If so, justice was done.
The appeals process in the U.S.... usually center on whether correct procedures have been followed. An appeals court does not examine the original evidence in itself.”
- H. Zehr, Changing Lenses, p. 78
Biblical Justice—Justice defined by outcome, substance
“The test of justice in the biblical view is not whether the right rules are applied in the right way. Justice is tested by the outcome. The tree is tested by its fruit.... Does the outcome work to make things right? Are things being made right for the poor and the least powerful, the least ‘deserving’? Biblical justice focuses on right relationships, not right rules.”
- H. Zehr, Changing Lenses, p. 140, 153
—Justice based on mercy and love
“Biblical justice grows out of love. Such justice is in fact an act of love which seeks to make things right. Love and justice are not [therefore] opposites, nor are they in conflict. Instead love provides for a justice which seeks first to make right.”
We can trace the theme of justice through the entire Bible.
We find out how central justice is to the life of the Christian.
The justice of God is strongly depicted in God’s concern for the Israelite people when they were in Egypt. In the hold of bondage and slavery, they cried out to God for help. God called to Moses to deliver the Israelite people from slavery:
7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (Exodus 3:7-8)
In the legal tradition of the Old Testament, we find the theme of concern for the oppressed and poor of society:
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)
Concern for the oppressed and the poor was at the core of the Israelite’s calling. This concern was rooted not only in the covenant, but more importantly, in the very nature of God. God is the defender of the oppressed, the One who liberates the captives, the One who feeds hungry people:
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind (Psalm 146:7-8)
Throughout Israel’s history, the prophets reminded Israel to remain faithful to the covenant. Their primary mission was to lead people back to the path of righteousness and justice. The prophets were sent not only to speak God’s word, but also to speak on behalf of those who had no voice.
God complained through the prophets that the people had forgotten who it was that gave them their land and provisions. They, who once were hungry and oppressed, refused to feed the hungry and themselves became the oppressors.
Amos was one of the strongest in calling people back to the way of justice. Israel was at the height of its economic and political power when God sent this poor shepherd Amos to call the people of Israel to repentance.
These people had often transgressed against the covenant. One transgression was that they oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain (Amos 5:11a,TEV). The injustice that the rich engaged in completely negated the value of their worship.
21 "I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-24)
How does that verse stand out to you? What hits you?
Where there is not justice, life is barren and worship of God is a sham.
When we turn to the New Testament, we find these same themes of justice. John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ’s public ministry, exhorted his hearers to change their lives. When the crowd asked him what to do, John replied in clear and certain terms: Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise (Luke 3:7-11).
Jesus characterized his ministry by service to the poor, the outcasts, and the downtrodden. Early in his public ministry, Jesus entered the synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah to describe his ministry: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus announced the coming of God’s reign. But not only did he announce its coming in the power of the Holy Spirit, he embodied it. In his life, in what he said, in what he did, we see what God’s reign is all about.
Paul reminds us that Jesus, though he was rich, … for your sakes … became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jesus is the Poor One among us. He identified himself with poor and hungry people and those who suffer and are in need of help. God in Christ is present in a special way in poor and hungry people: 31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)
How do you see justice in this passage?
Christ represents himself to us in a special way in the hungry, the naked, the sick, the prisoner. He is among us in the outcasts and the oppressed of our age.
Their cry for justice is Christ’s cry for justice.
I read an article by Gary Haugen of the International Justice Mission describing his work freeing slaves from captivity and forced labor in south Asia and young girls sold into the sex trade in other parts of the world. He pointed out the Bible’s cry against injustice, which is not some trivial “getting caught in the 10-items-or-less express line at the store behind someone with 13 items.” But injustice is “people with power taking something from people who lack power.” His combination of Christian passion, a former prosecuting attorney’s eye for evidence, and his legal expertise showed us we don’t need to “sink into the paralysis of despair” over the enormity of the problems, but by putting what we can offer into God’s hands, injustice can be broken.
He concluded with the story of a young girl, taken from her home and forced to work in a Southeast Asia brothel. After collecting the evidence and working with the right authorities, agents of the International Justice Mission were able to free her and return her to her family. On the wall of the room where she had been so unjustly used, the girl had scratched these verses from Psalm 27:
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.
I don't think I'll ever read those verses in the same way again.
I have much to think about, and much to live out. I don't want to just be a talker when it comes to doing justice.