It is almost next to impossible these days to turn on the television or whatever device you may use for your news and entertainment, without hearing the call for justice in one form or another. The call for justice can be heard from the streets of the cities across our nation and yes, even the world. It can be heard from protestors who feel their rights have been abused by a system that refuses to acknowledge their pain, and it can be heard from those who have felt the brunt of the recent riots that have brought about the destruction of their businesses, and yes, all in the name of justice. One has to wonder whose idea of justice are we looking to find.
About two years ago I read a book that has been of great benefit to me, especially recently, as our nation and even our church attempt to navigate their way through this current crisis of racial unrest. The title of the book is, “Is Justice Possible?: The Elusive Pursuit of What Is Right by J. Paul Nyquist.The author begins where anyone who is sincerely in search of justice should begin, and that is by asking the all-important question, “Where does one begin in the search for justice? Nyquist believes that the correct starting point for the pursuit of justice should not begin with man but with God. Why? Because according to Nyquist, “Without a righteous standard of measurement, we can believe certain actions are straight when they are crooked.” Justice is merely the application of God’s righteous standards in our dealings with one another, according to Nyquist. So if justice is what I’m in search of, then it means I first must look to what God views as being just and right and good.
Recently a friend shared with me an incident that took place with their son who is away attending one of our Adventist colleges. At a campus worship event that must have been live-streamed, their son was wearing a t-shirt, which read, “We want justice!” Someone who viewed the event and saw my friend’s son was highly upset, because they couldn’t understand why he would wear a political shirt to an event that was designed for the worship of God.
I share this story because when it comes to the call for justice, sadly the church at times appears to be deaf. How can a Christian, one who believes in upholding the righteous standards of God, ever be misconstrued as being “political”? What is political about wanting to have God’s righteous standards carried in our world and in the lives of those created in his image? Could this line of reasoning be why the church seems most times to show up late whenever there is a call for justice throughout our land? If justice is truly about the carrying out of God’s righteous standard in our world, shouldn’t the church be leading the charge to begin with and not be the ones tagging along at the last minute? And if we’re not willing to lead the charge, what does this say about the church, the instrument that God placed on this earth to be his vehicle of righteousness? What then should we do with Jesus’ words from the Lord’s Prayer, which admonish us to seek first the kingdom of God and his “righteousness?”
So back to my original question, is justice really possible? I have to say yes. And by saying yes, I’m not of the belief that one day there will be a utopian society as the result of the many calls for justice throughout our land. I do believe that there are lives that are in desperate need of God’s righteousness to be poured into them and that God expects his church to be the catalyst. But if the church isn’t willing to be the catalyst or the conduit of this justice, then we will never know…will we?