Seeking Justice

I heard the story once of a judge who was about to pass sentence. The convicted felon loudly shouted and said, ” Judge, I want justice. I want justice. I want justice.” The judge responded. “ Sir, you are receiving justice…what you should be asking for is mercy. “
The desire for justice is certainly a key element of our common sharing of life together. Justice assumes respect for one another. Justice assumes a valuing of all that is good and right and fair. Justice is conscious of matters of physical or mental incapacity, but it does not ignore patterns of behavior that are destructive to persons and community. The imposing figure of Justice depicted in many courtrooms shows Justice as blind in respect to those elements of external differences that might otherwise divide loyalties, or create partialities or partisan decisions as persons seek remedy for grievances. At the same time, Justice listens. Justice seeks truth. Justice hears witnesses to address the circumstances and events involved.
The context of Justice however is community. Community is seldom blind to persons and personalities, actions and behaviors. At the same time community has the capacity to inspire justice or to subvert it. Community defines acceptable parameters of behavior and activities deemed appropriate for the shared marketplace or in respect to human behaviors, precluding private acts of violence or destructiveness that endanger or threaten. Community determines the effectiveness of Justice in her efforts to provide a level of righteousness that allows for peaceful coexistence, while at the same time injecting the elements of mercy and grace that allow us to be redemptive in our flawed human imperfection.
Our flaws lie largely in what the Apostle Paul referred to as “the sin, which so easily besets us.” Sin undermines our pursuit of justice and our ability to uphold it socially. The nature of our times seems to have adopted a “lowest common denominator” definition of what is acceptable and the bar keeps falling. Not until we aspire to the calling of God and comprehend the righteousness of his providing will we know the experience of justice in its truest blessing and at the same time experience mercy as only God has offered us.
The next time you are in the mood for Justice, perhaps you should think again and turn to God and pray: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That kind of praying could not only remedy Justice’s blindness, but could open the windows of heaven to allow you to see the light of God’s love through Jesus Christ. That experience could change you forever.