Justice

Warning! Soapbox ahead. :)

(and ha - it's not from preaching this morning, either. ;) it's from watching protesters on the street in Seattle and seeing all the "God talk" going on around the issue, with everybody claiming God for their side of the debate.)

Justice is a term that is used quite a bit in religious circles these days to emphasize God's concern for the poor and oppressed. There's even classes for it, to help people know practical ways to do justice right where they live.

Common Bible verses cited for this mandate are: Deuteronomy 24:17 "Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge", Psalm 140:12 "I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy", and Micah 6:8 "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Justice is also a major theme in the prophet Isaiah, both in scolding the people of God when they don't do justice

Isaiah 1:15-17

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;

16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,

17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.



and in the example that God will set when sending the Messiah:

Isaiah 42

1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope."




So, okay. You get the picture. God is a God of justice, and expects the same from us.

The problem is that Justice cuts both ways. It is NOT biased, it is even-handed, sometimes even negative.

Check these verses out:

Leviticus 19:15 "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly."

2 Thessalonians 1:5-8 "This is proof that God is right in his judgment. He wants you to be counted worthy of his kingdom for which you are suffering. God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those who trouble you. And he will give rest to you who are troubled and to us also when the Lord Jesus appears with burning fire from heaven with his powerful angels. Then he will punish those who do not know God and who do not obey the Good News about our Lord Jesus Christ."

And of course there's all those verses about the last being first and the first last. God's justice is not partial. Sometimes it's counter-intuitive. He balances things out... His way.

Oh, we prefer to have God be "just", all right, but ONLY IN THE WAYS we want justice to be done.

Watching the protesters in Seattle (both sides!) use the Bible to justify their view of what's just, it made me think:

Some God-followers believe that God executes justice only like this:

condemnation
casting away
destruction
punishment
retribution
anger
exclusivity

Some God-followers believe that God provides justice only like this:

forgiveness

caring for

salvation

mercy

comfort

love

acceptance

In the Bible, both sets of descriptors are true. Except we don't like it like that. We prefer one set over the other. We want God's justice to be like our preferred version.

Like Mark Twain said: "It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me - it's the parts that I DO understand."

When we appeal to the Bible for justice, we really should appeal to ALL of what's said about it, not read selectively from one perspective or the other to suit ourselves.

God is not in the business of accommodating our preferences for a supreme being. God is who God is. We really have nothing to say.

God's justice is positive AND negative. It is:

love AND anger

mercy AND vengeance

comfort AND retribution

salvation AND destruction

caring for AND casting away

forgiveness AND condemnation

open acceptance AND jealous exclusivity

the revealing of truth AND the sending of deception

comforting the oppressed AND punishing the oppressor

There is plenty of Biblical support for all of these. There's just not a taste for all of it in us.

And the protesters on both sides of Proposition 8 showed it. I have this uncomfortable feeling that if God had chosen to intervene that day, what I would have seen was both sides of the street covered with people prostrate and hiding their faces, hearing God say

"Be silent! You call this a cry for justice? None of you are truly eager for justice, though you claim to be. You want to be proven right, and your enemies to be proven wrong. Your cries for justice are hollow and full of self. Listen! Let Me tell you what justice is..."

And someday, that's indeed what we will hear. We will hear God tell us about justice. Only it will be when our lives are in review, with God looking to see what kind of justice we really did... when we were given the chance. (Matthew 25:31-46)

God help us be just... like You.