Seek justice Isaiah 1:17

 I have a real problem with the word justice. There are many biblical admonitions to seek justice and to do justice, yet the connotations of that word make me cringe when I read it or hear it. Many people use it in public discourse, yet I hear overtones in their words and see evidence in their attitudes toward the people involved that let me know that justice is a cover word, a code word, for revenge, payback, or retribution. These concepts are completely alien to the meaning of justice yet they have come to be closely associated with the word and usually find expression in the word fair. People do not want a “just” solution to social problems; they want a “fair” solutions, and fairness demands payback. We see this notion work out daily in monstrous settlements to lawsuits. The recompense for error may be small, but the recompense for the “insult” (the settlement amount that pays the plaintiff back for the insult of it all) may be in the millions of dollars. The very fact that such settlements must be so huge tells us all that the settlement will not end the wound inflicted by the “insult” and the “fair” solution will not end the problem.

The word “justice” as used in public discourse reeks of political agendas. We hear the word when black people today want to punish white people today for slavery. This objective is pursued despite the fact that white people today are not slaveowners, and black people today are not slaves. I hear it in the conversations about issues between employer and employee, union boss versus capitalist boss, lender versus borrower, and so forth. The word justice is used in public discourse with a pejorative edge toward some real or alleged wrongdoing now or in the past.

God clearly wants justice on the earth, but I think it is evident that, in God’s eyes, justice takes a poor second to mercy and love, grace and forgiveness. When something is broken it is likely possible to craft an equitable fix. However, the just solution won’t stop the demand for “fairness,” because the wounds have not been healed.

Justice alone heals nothing.

When slavery ended in the USA as a consequence of the Civil War, justice was served. The slaves were free. The slaveowners had to find some other way to get the work done. Unfortunately, the people who were no longer slaves were not healed of their righteous resentment of the generations of cruel oppression wrought against them and their ancestors. Slaveowners were not healed of their attitudes that made them believe that black people were less than human.

Because slaveowners (and people who had never had slaves but shared the attitude) were not healed, segregation replaced slavery, and vigilante enforcement of segregation took the form of egregious acts against black people. Because black people were not healed, either, they responded as one would expect. Riots and violence erupted between black and white human beings. Because no one was healed, the country suffered as much from segregation as from slavery.

When segregation ended with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, justice was served, but nobody was healed. Many white people still felt that black people were inherently inferior, and they behaved accordingly. The government could grant civil rights, but it could not change hearts. Black people still had neither money, power nor prestige, and they still resented the attitudes that no law could ever repair. The wounds inflicted by evil attitudes growing out of loveless relationships still bled, festered, burned with fever in both black and white hearts.

Jesus did not die on the cross to bring about justice. He died to bring forgiveness, grace and mercy because of God’s love. He died to bring healing and reconciliation.

People pursue justice in the name of Jesus, and that is good, as long as the pursuit does not use weapons of venomous language coupled with demands for retribution. The pursuit of justice to right the wrongs of today between black and white, or between “boss” and “worker,” or between lender and borrower, or any other wrong-doing is a pursuit of an equitable solution that brings about and equitable, just, legal footing for future relationships. The past is history. It is not possible to punish or reward people long dead. To require that as part of an “equitable” solution is not justice. It is revenge.

Revenge never heals anything. Those who pursue revenge always expect to feel better once they achieve it, but it never happens. The recipient of retribution quickly discovers that the heart wound that started the whole process is still miserably painful. Money is not a balm to a wounded spirit.

Justice will not heal a broken world. In fact, it is not unreasonable to say that justice may only exacerbate the brokenness as the wounded unite in a cry, “That’s not enough! You need to do more!”

What the world needs is healing. When relationships are healed and combatants are reconciled, then justice has a chance to work for good. To imagine, however, that justice will end evil is to engage in fantasy. Evil is present in each of us. It works through the SELF enthroned in our hearts, ceaselessly whispering that we deserve more and somebody else got our fair share. SELF insists that things would be more pleasant and more comfortable “if only….” Justice cannot root out evil or topple SELF. If that were possible, we would no longer need either police or regulatory agencies.

Therefore, let us pursue justice and temper our expectations with love for one another. Let black and white, boss and employer, lender and borrower, all bear one another’s burdens with love, grace, forgiveness and mercy. No matter what we say about justice, it is healing that we want. We want the pain to go away. The only balm for that pain is flowing in the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for all people.

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