Justice

I've been wrestling with the concept of Justice heavily for the last two weeks, and ever since I took my stance God has been doing what he does best in the hearts of those who seek him.  In watching the evening news one night, story after story came on of what's become routine violence in our city, and upon seeing the mugshot of one of the violators I made a post on Facebook saying, "Just watching the news...  I think we should bring back public hangings of any convicted violent offender"  Knowing that was a controversial statement, I was expecting to get all kinds of flack from liberals and Christians alike, but instead I received nothing but positive affirmation and some light humor in response.  Boosting my esteem I continued to give the statement clout that week, almost obsessively, like I was writing a thesis paper in my head.  But really, I felt like I needed to defend myself.

You see, I've grown in this hatred for criminals.  This caste in our society that disregards the right to life and to live in peace that the rest of us deserve.  We all have enough trouble in our lives without having to worry about those who'd prey on us.  So I really just want to be done with them.  I want the deterrence that comes from capital punishment, I want the immediate justice that comes from execution, and I deep down really believe that at the point when you've decided to threaten somebody else's life, you've forfeited all rights to your own.  A philosophy that explains why all's fair in war, I guess.

But then came Easter.  Our church kicked off a new series that began Easter weekend and continues through mid-May.  The series title - Neighbor.  Its a play off the Coexist bumper stickers, but you'd need to see the graphic to get it.  The point of the series is that to coexist in tolerance is not wrong, but its not enough.  Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself is the single most important thing in life, second only to loving God.  And by the cross Jesus showed us first hand what it means to forgive your enemies.  It takes only a mild understanding of the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan to see that our enemies are among the neighbors Jesus speaks of.

So in giving the Easter sermon, Dan began by talking about the word 'Revenge' as the catchphrase that most of us have slapped across our hearts.  That if we were to boil down our individual attitudes toward the rest of the world and condense it into a one word slogan, a bumper sticker for our lives, Revenge would pretty much sum it up.  There were a thousand words he could have used.  But, he said revenge.  And Revenge was my word.  Not as in, "Yeah, Dan you're right.  That's what my bumper sticker would say."  But from that internal dialog I'd been having all week, Revenge was my word.  It may sound dark and I'm not saying its right, but I knew that revenge is what I wanted for that caste mentioned above.  That they've done wrong, and so they should pay.  So, needless to say, God had my attention.  Later in the service a testimony was played by a man named Darryl Burton, a man who spent 24 years in prison for a homicide that he did not commit.  Wrongfully accused with zero evidence but a corrupt eye witness testimony, he served the time and by the grace of Jesus grew to "love" the evil system and people he was supposed to hate.  So for me, through many other conversations and devotional times God has continued to address this subject and how it works on my heart.

So I think Osama Bin Laden's death is rather timely.  Was I really supposed to love him?  Am I now off the hook?  What is love?  If I'd ran into him last week, was I supposed to bring him home and feed him (until the Feds arrived, of course!) and tell him how deeply I regret his actions, but that there's nothing I want more than to extend grace and forgiveness?  What about for the rest of the criminals in my city?  The Samaritans, Jesus would say.  I really don't know.  I think Jesus' parable of the weeds found in Mathew 13:24 is clear as daylight though.  Jesus says God will send the harvesters to do his business.  But what I know, for now, is I'm glad to be living in the United States, I'm glad we do have a justice system and a military, and I absolutely believe they hold authority under God.  Stealing from Aaron Parish Black's input on a heated wall debate, our nation and society have a duty to act in ways that we as individuals cannot.

Pray with me as I ask God that his heart would continue to work in mine, that I would learn to love the way he loves, that I'd recognize my neighbor, forgiving those who've wronged me and that my heart would break and I'd be the Good Samaritan to the victimized.