A Thought For The Week Of January 26, 2015

"There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground." (Amos 5:7) If you read all of Amos 5, you're struck by how many references there are to justice - and, therefore, how important the concept of justice must have seemed to Amos. I've sometimes been among those who have criticized the United Church of Canada for putting too much emphasis on justice - and I do believe that the concept can be used in a negative way to shut down legitimate debate and discussion rather than to further the interests of those who need justice. Still, you really can't deny that justice is a huge issue in the Bible - in Amos, in most of the prophets and for Jesus himself. We might not always be able to agree on what justice is, but we are to seek it. This chapter makes it clear that for God it's more important that his people show justice than that they worship devoutly (although I'd argue that the two complement each other.) I said that we might not be able to agree on what justice is. Maybe not - although, really, it doesn't seem all that complicated to me. To show justice is to treat all people fairly and with dignity. It's to lift up those who are cast down by society, who aren't a part of the in crown and whose voices often go unheard. If we don't do that then we're not doing justice. Tragically, too often we don't do that. Verse 7 seems a key to understanding the concept of justice and how it can be abused. "There are those who turn justice into bitterness." That seems to me to be what happens when we use the concept of "justice" as an excuse merely to punish. When justice is motivated by anger and a sense of revenge then we've misunderstood. Justice always has to be mixed with mercy, because God is a God of mercy. That's not to say that there are to be no consequences for wrongdoing - but mercy must always be a part of the equation. When justice is used only as an excuse to hand out punishment and nothing else, then somehow we've lost our way, and we've lost sight of God's ways.