Gotcha!!! Justice

Human beings are wired to pursue justice and to pursue it passionately for self and for all one identifies with self.  The behavior of toddlers makes this abundantly evident as does the behavior of adults before the Supreme Court.

Within the nature of man is an insatiable thirst for justice: “...let justice roll down like waters/ And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24 NASB). In addition to the felt open-ended dimension of justice, this scripture also recognizes an additional key component of the justice drive--its association with our perception of the ultimately and absolutely right--the way things compelling should--even MUST--be.

It is little wonder then that the pursuit of justice within the diversity of human experiences, interests, and values is often accompanied by violence.  Hostile pursuits can perversely enmesh even the strong and victorious within Pyrrhic legacies of spiritual defeat.  We must be cautious, then, that some twisted pursuit of justice does not headlong morph us into monsters.  Extracted from countless centuries of very real blood and tears is the hard lesson that single-minded drives for justice are traitorous even of ourselves unless alloyed with empathy--a moderating force allowing room for the shared mystery of diversity and the unrelentingly universal character of unjustified pain--with mercy, with grace, and--especially for our own good--with forgiveness.

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