She stands atop courthouses across the country, a woman with a blindfold holding a pair of scales in her hands. This is justice, a statement that the facts are weighed and the truth is discovered with complete objectivity. There is no room for favoritism, or persecution. Justice is blind, and can only weigh the facts one against the other to arrive at a clear, reasonable decision.
It seems like a good idea, but I have come to disagree with this perception of justice. God’s justice is far from blind. It sees everything more clearly than is humanly possible. It is clear-eyed justice that better serves the needs of mankind.
Jesus has a lot of famous moments, but one that really sticks out is the image of the adulteress and the crowd ready to stone her. Then Jesus says, let the person without sin cast the first stone. One by one the jury and executioners leave, because they all know that they have sinned. Jesus, who had not sinned, also left without throwing a stone.
Is this justice? According to the legal system of the time, it was not. The woman escaped the prescribed punishment for her crime.
Yet God is Just, and Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus’ action toward the woman must also be just. But how? I believe Jesus was showing us a new kind of justice, true justice that sees clearly instead of blindly weighing facts. Yet somehow, two thousand years later, “Christian” nations still adhere to the old blind fallback because they cannot face the truth of justice.
Justice does what is best for all, it balances the scales to make the world right after wrong has been done. True justice is not about proportional retaliation or making sure that the wrong-doer is appropriately punished. In fact, justice has nothing to do with punishment. Justice sets things right.
This is why Jesus told us to love our enemies, to repay hatred with love, and to go further than is necessary in completing your tasks. Because he saw clearly what is needed to make the world right, and it is not punishment or proportional retaliation. These are our twisted attempt at justice, based on our blind stumbling through the dark. We need to lift the blindfold and see clearly.
The father of the prodigal son saw clearly that his son needed welcoming arms, not a lecture. He could have turned his prodigal son away and called it justice for the son turning his back on his father. Yet that would not have set things right; in fact, it would only have made things worse, and sent the son away to wander the world bitter and lonely and more likely to commit violent crime.
Most people, when they drag someone to the courthouse to face charges, are not truly seeking justice. They are seeking punishment, retribution, revenge disguised as a blind woman with scales. They have bought into the idea that punishment is justice, and that will set the world right.
But when we look through un-obscured eyes, like Jesus did, we see a different picture. We see men holding stones who need to admit their own faults. We see a woman, scared and sorry, get a second chance. We see a son, ready to return, welcomed with open arms. The only people Jesus yelled at, the only people he was harsh with, were the people who couldn’t see that what they were doing was wrong.
People need to see what they have done wrong, and acknowledge that it is wrong so that they can change. Whatever brings them to this point and this change is true justice. In order to execute justice and provide this change, we must see the person clearly, see what will shake them, shape them, remake them. This is how Jesus sees us, this is what God does for his children. He leads us in right paths, rebuking when necessary, forgiving when repentance is true.
This is justice, not to administer the prescribed punishment for the crime committed, but to offer that which is necessary to make things right again and to bring about change and healing.
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