Justice for us has always been a relative matter. When we claim it, it’s usually because we think that the facts are in our favor. And in that case, if we don’t get it, then it is unfair.

Photo credit: s_falkow (Creative Commons)

I love sports. My favorite ones are coletive sports, like soccer, volleyball and baseball. And I’ve seen many times the referree making a wrong call in favor of my team’s opponent. Then I get mad, complain that it is not fair, and depending on the importance of the game and how my team was affected, I talk about it with my friends for days.

But sometimes, the referree makes a wrong call in favor of my team. Although I still think it is not fair, I don’t complain about it, at all.

It is not about justice, it is about winning.

Have you ever watched a movie or TV show that shows legal trials? Many of them show how lawyers manipulate the facts in order to get a veridict in their favor. And although I have no contact with the legal system nor here in Brazil neither anywhere else, I can see how those fiction shows are not far from what happens in real life.

It is not about justice, it is about winning.

The major danger is when we get used to this reality of “relative justice”, and we start thinking that we can do the same thing with God. If God is good, one might say, He won’t allow people to go to hell. If God is good, other one might add, He will forgive me in the end.

We can’t forget that God is good and just, He is loving and fair, He is merciful and righteous. There is no way that God can deny any of His characteristics over another.

In order to allow us to be saved and not have to die ourselves for our sin, He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to die for us. So justice was satisfied and we have salvation at the same time. One doesn’t deny the other.

Jesus is the only way to God. With Jesus, we are spared of what we really deserved and yet justice is fulfilled, because Jesus paid the price for our sins.

If you think that Jesus came to override justice, think again:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope. (Matthew 12:18-22, emphasis added by me)

For God, it is about winning: winning our souls, saving us from our sins. And it is about justice too, about being the perfect and fair judge to everyone. And going through the unimaginable to offer us mercy and grace and still be just.

This post is part of the “One Word at a Time Blog Carnival” hosted by Peter Pollock. Check out his blog for links to other posts that were written based on the word “justice”.