3
2009
Justice is a Challenge
Justice is a challenge. Often when I propose justice as I understand it within the Christian and biblical framework I use in any given situation, I face the inevitable kick-back that what I am aiming towards is something that is simply nice and ignores the harsh reality of the world and what needs to be done. The assumption is that I am giving some sort of gloss to what is happening.
Allow me to state that I don’t believe that a sense of justice that focuses on restoration, reconciliation and making things right is either nice or easy. Where I see justice being inclusive of things such as forgiveness and letting go is not an easy road. It is never easy for the abused to forgive the abuser. It is never easy for an abuser to look their victim in the eye and hear the words “I forgive you.” It is never easy to restore and reconcile. Often these are long arduous processes that take generations. Sometimes the cost is counted in very personal terms and even in the loss of many lives.
The easy option for abuse is violent revenge. For this reason we see conflict after conflict, with all perpetrators offering some sort of justification for their violence. The road to a deep living out of true justice stands in opposition to the violent nature of humanity and it often carries a great personal cost.
When I propose justice through peace-making, through forgiveness, through reconciliation and restoration, through absorbing violence, I am proposing a long, hard, narrow road that is not for the faint hearted or for those who simply wish to placate the violent desires and natural impulses of human nature, but it is the only path that can end cycles of violence and brokenness. It is a path that is often offensive to human nature and in the protection of our nature, even we Christians are guilty of ignoring or sidelining it and finding justifications to play out our violent desires.
This path to justice is expressed well in the following song and its associated story:
Revenge
My personal revenge will be your children’s
right to schooling and flowers.
My personal revenge will be this song
bursting for you with no more fears.My personal revenge will be to make you see
the goodness in my people’s eyes,
implacable in combat always
generous in victory.My personal revenge will be to greet you
‘Good morning!’ in streets with no beggars,
When instead of locking you inside
They say, ‘Don’t look so sad.’
When you, the torturer,
daren’t lift your head,
my personal revenge will be to give you
these hands you once ill-treated
with all their tenderness intact.Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy
Translated from the Spanish by Dinah Livingstone.
I found this song in the May 2007 issue of New Internationalist. They explained the story behind the song:
Nicaraguan singer/songwriter Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy wrote this song, using the words of the Sandinista freedom fighter Tomas Borge.
People like Borge gave the lie to Washington’s propaganda of the Sandinistas as militant despots. Borge underwent seven years of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Somoza dictatorship’s National Guard; his wife was also tortured, sexually abused and eventually died at the hands of her tormentors.
After the Sandinista Revolution in 1979 Tomas Borge became Nicaragua’s Justice Minister. Many of the former National Guard were now prisoners for whom he was responsible. Under Borge’s direction the prison system was completely overhauled. Prisoners received progressively more humane treatment for good behaviour until they could visit their home at weekends and guard themselves. The story goes that Borge came face to face with his torturer and responded by saying: ‘For your punishment, I forgive you.’ When the man was freed, he went to Miami and became a leader of the counter revolutionary contras. Borge reflected that the man didn’t understand forgiveness.
On a larger scale, the Sandinistas’ ‘revenge’ was a vision of an inclusive, humane society for a country they all too briefly governed. In 2006, the Sandinistas again achieved power in Nicaragua when Daniel Ortega was re-elected President with nearly 40 percent of the vote.
No matter what one thinks of the example, including the ideologies and actions of the Sandinista movement, the point is that whilst there may arguably be a place for armed struggle (this post does not assume to affirm or negate such activity), if true justice – restoring things and making things right – is to be pursued then at some point someone must lay down their arms and/or their sense of justified violent response and walk the hard and often lonely road of forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration and they must be willing to pay the price to live those things out.
True justice is not an easy road, but it is the road humanity must pursue. For me, the best example of justice embodied is Jesus himself.
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An article by






Why not just follow the bible?
God’s advice for personal disputes:
Luke 12
57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”
God’s requirements for governmental justice are introduced in the 10 Commandments and summed up by the “Golden Rule”:
Matthew 19
17b …if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,” ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
God’s authority is with governments to execute justice:
Romans 13
Submit to Government
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
But when the justice of men fails, God will have the final say:
2 Thessalonians 1
God’s Final Judgment and Glory
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
1. If you have a dispute with a neighbour, settle it yourself!
2. If there is a matter of criminal behaviour the government is obliged to judge according to God’s standards.
3. When the government fails we must endure and leave final justice to God.
1,2,3. Simple.
Grant, thank you for your thought.