Jesus and injustice

Events in our country, like failures of our justice system, heighten people's sense of injustice. Because the human condition is oriented towards fairness and rights, justice violations create outrage in most people. Also, because it is natural for the human condition to seek justice over most all virtues, reactions of Christians are put under the microscope. The world wants to know if the people who put their faith in Christ will rise to the occasion and be superheroes of justice.

The problem is, that is not why Jesus came for us. Bringing justice to the land and stamping out all injustice is not what Jesus is about until He comes again. Oswald Chambers writes in his daily devotionals, "Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him.... We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it."

So, why is it that Christians and the church fall into this trap? Why is it that the witness of a Christian is supposed to be about justice when that is not what Jesus called us to?

The first part of the answer I have already alluded to. The human assumption is that the world we live in right now, the one we experience with our physical senses (our physical life) is the end game. Jesus came to invite us into a new and amazing life, an eternal one abiding in the Heavenlies. This is not only a future realm we live in but a present reality made possible to us by Jesus.

The second part of the answer is looking more closely at how Jesus viewed injustice.  

 

Paul tells us that Jesus "emptied Himself of the privilege of being equal to God." That doesn't seem fair. Why would He choose to do that? Why would He give up full time residency in the Heavenlies for you and me? The short answer is love. But, what did this love require of Him?

 That He suffer injustice

Wait a minute, Jesus endured injustice? Why didn't He fix the system so people would treat Him properly?


Not only did Jesus willfully give up His number one right to be forever dwelling in Heaven with God, He subjected Himself to many injustices while here in this realm called earth. He was run out of every place He preformed miracles and announced who He was by the authorities. On His final day the Jewish and Roman justice system failed Him by violating many of the rules and laws they are supposed to be guided by.

Jesus experienced injustice as a dominate theme of His life. In fact, God's grace behind the crucifixion isn't justice. It doesn't seem to me that ridding the world of injustice is what had Jesus' attention. This should be no surprise since He told everyone right off the bat that He was not here this time to be a purveyor of justice, but rather to provide a pathway for us back to our original purpose. God intended for His creation to be in proper fellowship with Him. But, none of us had a way to do that until Jesus arrives in a full array of injustice.

So, if Christians are the witness to the world who Jesus is and why He came, it seems like we should be dealing with injustice like Jesus. If we are to show everyone who God is, it may be by how we deal with injustice rather than how we produce justice. As I study His greatest sermon to His disciples, that seems to be what He is wanting us to know. The notion that Jesus "suffered" injustice means that Jesus' deepest emotion when facing injustice glorified God. 

It appears to me that "partaking in His sufferings" simply means that expressing the deepest emotions we have in the midst of injustice like Jesus is our Christian witness and what glorifies our Father.

Maybe that is the lesson we should ponder when it comes to JESUS AND INJUSTICE ....