{"id":23660,"date":"2019-07-15T18:46:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T18:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/?p=23660"},"modified":"2023-08-01T15:20:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T15:20:28","slug":"reflection-judgment-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/reflection-judgment-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection: Judgment and Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22.3″ transparent_background=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”750px” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”on” custom_width_px=”750px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/?page_id=3027″ button_text=”Return to Reflections” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”3.16″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14″ button_text_color=”#e09900″ button_border_color=”#e09900″ button_use_icon=”default” background_layout=”dark” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”on” button_letter_spacing__hover=”0″ button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”][\/et_pb_button][et_pb_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.87″ parallax_effect=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_divider show_divider=”off” disabled_on=”on|on|off” _builder_version=”3.23.4″ height=”4px” hide_on_mobile=”on”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.25.4″ header_font=”|on|||” header_font_size=”66px” header_line_height=”1.7em” text_orientation=”justified” max_width=”750px” use_border_color=”off”]<\/p>\n

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\u201cI myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.\u201d\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Acts 9:16 <\/em>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There are many reasons that we humans fall into discord and disagreement.\u00a0 Sometimes this happens simply because the same word means different things in our minds, but we assume we all think the same thing.\u00a0 Personally, I believe this is a big problem with the word \u201cchurch.\u201d\u00a0 When I used to do a lot of church transformation consulting, I would talk about the act of \u201cdiscovering\u201d the church\u2019s vision.\u00a0 An important part of this discovering is the realization that everyone has a vision of what church is supposed to be and do, but they often don\u2019t articulate it and aren\u2019t even aware that their visions differ\u2014so people regularly run up against each other\u2019s unspoken visions.\u00a0 So an important part of the visioning process is to \u201cun\u201d-cover, or \u201cdis\u201d-cover, our particular visions of church, and come to a shared understanding so we can all move in a more coordinated direction.<\/p>\n

Every once in a while I am reminded that we run into similar pitfalls with the word \u201cjustice.\u201d\u00a0 I believe that one way people differ theologically is based on how we understand God\u2019s justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I think of \u201cjustice,\u201d I think of three different forms (this is not an academic paper, so please forgive this amateur\u2019s thoughts on the subject):<\/p>\n

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  1. Retributive justice, which requires punishment and restitution to neutralize the guilt of the offender.\u00a0 When Christians talk about the crucifixion of Jesus as \u201cbuying\u201d our freedom, it means that God\u2019s retributive justice against the sinfulness of humankind had to be satisfied with punishment that Jesus took upon himself, for our sake.<\/li>\n
  2. Distributive justice, which seeks to allocate resources more evenly across all people.\u00a0 This was described multiple times in the account of the Acts church, where \u201cthey would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.\u201d (Acts 2:45)\u00a0 Note that the distribution is not measured by who deserves more or less; it is just based on need.\u00a0 (In fact, the judgment was directed against those who attempted to withhold personal wealth from the community.)\u00a0 When you think of the early church members giving their all to a community that came to include ex-slaves and slave masters, Jews and Gentiles, women and men, the radical nature of this vision of distributive justice is pretty amazing\u2014our efforts at multiculturalism has nothing on our early church ancestors!<\/li>\n
  3. Restorative justice, as I mentioned in my column on May 28th<\/sup>, attempts to provide healing for both victim and perpetrator by bringing them together for a facilitated conversation that enables them to speak their truth and come to see each other as people who can forgive, accept forgiveness, and reconcile.\u00a0 I am most inspired and challenged by this work, which is so often carried out by Christians who are seeking to forgive, as Jesus forgives us, and as Jesus commands us\u2014and in this forgiving, other children of God are given healing mercy that is the manifestation of the grace of Jesus Christ.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This probably reflects my personal bias, but I believe that the mistake we make is our focus on retributive justice.\u00a0 Worse, we may think it is our job to mete out retributive justice.\u00a0 However, my reading of the Bible says that it is only God who should choose to enact retributive justice\u2014and that sometimes God chooses NOT to, often to the dismay of God\u2019s vengeance-seeking children.\u00a0 The words in Acts 9:16 come from Jesus, who directed the believer Ananias to receive and heal the stricken Saul, whom Ananias knew to be a persecutor of Christians.\u00a0 Ananias initially resisted the order to open his home to this murderer, but retribution is the sole responsibility of the Lord, not of Ananias.<\/p>\n

    Frankly, it would be easy and even satisfying (in a broken human way) for us to practice our form of retributive justice\u2014which may be why God wants to keep that to the judgment of Jesus Christ, \u201cwho has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me.\u201d\u00a0 (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 52).<\/p>\n

    Instead, we are told repeatedly that our job is to practice distributive and restorative justice, as God has shown to us.\u00a0 The prophets through the millenia, Jesus in feeding the five thousand and reaching out to the outcast, the calls for mercy to the widow, the orphan, and the least of these point to our call to offer mercy and tangible help to all, especially those in need. \u00a0And perhaps the most effective witness of Jesus\u2019 claim on our hearts is the ability to forgive, which is the foundation of restorative justice.\u00a0 We know restorative justice is possible because of the world-changing willingness of Nelson Mandela to reconcile with members of the Apartheid government in South Africa that imprisoned him for 27 years, and more locally we remember the Amish families of schoolgirls killed at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and survivors of the saints killed in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.\u00a0 The forgiveness offered by those who have faced evil unleashed on the innocent\u2014but also countless other, more personal, acts of forgiveness and reconciliation\u2014help to make visible God\u2019s kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n

    Even as we continue to call out injustice in our world, and seek to prevent the abuse of the most vulnerable in our midst, let us seek to practice distributive and restorative justice, as we live as bearers of Christ\u2019s mercy for this broken world.\u00a0 What an awesome responsibility, and a most amazing opportunity to reflect God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n

    In Christ,<\/p>\n

    Wendy<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

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    \u201cI myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.\u201d\u00a0 Acts 9:16 \u00a0 There are many reasons that we humans fall into discord and disagreement.\u00a0 Sometimes this happens simply because the same word means different things in our minds, but we assume we all think the same thing.\u00a0 Personally, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27710,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23660\/revisions\/27710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sangabpres.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}