And Justice for All…

Posted by Christian St John in Faithblogs | 0 comments

For the past couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about justice and what it means for me as a Christian, and for the church in general. Here in North America I think we have a fairly good law system compared to some places in the world, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Far from it, as there are times when the system is just plain wrong or fails, and then what?

Last week I wrote about a ministry called Street Church in Calgary, Alberta, that has been undergoing persecution (blog here). And they are not alone. I was speaking to a good friend about two weeks ago who told me that a woman he knew in Toronto, who is a trained family counselor, who had been arrested for standing outside an abortion clinic and offering to speak to the women who were going there to have an abortion. She wasn’t trespassing, as she was standing on the public sidewalk. She wasn’t shouting or even raising her voice. She was simply asking the girls and women if they would like to talk about their decision. She was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace and trying to solicit business without a street vendors license, even though she never charges for her time, instead offering herself as a friend, someone who these girls and women can talk to.

Another friend, who lives in Florida and works with homeless people, mainly underage runaways, told me about the time when he watched as developers came and bulldozed a building where homeless people were living, while the homeless people were still in the building. The worst part was that the authorities stood by and watched as people ran for their lives with walls crashing down around them.

Yet another friend of mine, along with a group of women from her church, were arrested last year in California and charged with prostitution – their real “crime”? Reaching out to downtown prostitutes, many of them just girls, with the love of God.

As far back as we care to look there are times when the system fails. Justice for all, we cry, after all justice is supposed to be blind. And yet many times the guilty go free while the innocent are condemned.

I was recently watching an episode of the BBC drama series Robin Hood in which Robin returns from the Holy Land after being wounded defending his king. However, the England he returns to is not the England he left only a couple of years earlier. In the king’s absence greedy, evil men have set themselves up as Lord’s over the land and are taxing the people to to the point of poverty, and beyond, to finance their over indulgent lives and wicked schemes.

In one scene, four men from the town of Locksley are to be hanged, and as Robin is the Lord of Locksley, he is forced by the Sheriff of Nottingham to read the charges bought against them – stealing food to feed their starving families. In a tense scene, the stools that these men are standing on are kicked out from under them and they are left to hang, slowly being suffocated to death. Then in an act of defiance, Robin grabs a bow and arrow and shouts, “I will not stand and watch as good men are murdered for stealing bread.” And with that he fires arrows at the ropes, breaking them and setting the men free.

Thinking further on this, isn’t this what all good men and women who have made a difference said? Didn’t Martin Luther say, “I will not stand by and watch as people are conned by the church to pay indulgences.” Didn’t Mother Teressa of Calcutta say, “I will not stand by and watch as people starve to death on the streets.” Didn’t Martin Luther King Jr. say, “I will not allow racism claim another victim.” And what about those who stand opposed to the wholesale murder of thousands upon thousands of innocent little babies, haven’t they said, “We will not stand idly by and watch as this happens.”

Justice. It affects us all, from the weakest to the strongest, the youngest to the oldest. So, when it’s our turn to feed the hungry, set the prisoners free, or stand up for those who don’t have a voice, what will we say and do to stand for justice in the Name of Jesus? Because one day, maybe even soon, we will all stand before the Judge who will demand Justice For All!

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
March, 2009

Picture by Sigurd Decroos