Give me Justice or give me death!

By Vanessa Shepherd

I love justice.  A casual perusing of my DVR would suggest that I have a strange obsession with it really. Criminal Minds, Chicago PD, Blue Bloods, CSI, Law and Oder, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Law and Order SVU; these are just some of the shows that make up my list.  It is in fact so bad that my first son would be comforted by the beginning “don-don” sound of L&O as an infant when it would start to play.  Because I had in fact watched marathons of the show while figuring out my many crazy emotions as a new mom.  

Michael @ 8 months old

And for this reason- the side of me that would like nothing more than the world to live with all wrongs righted- the phrase “give me justice or give me death” would be a great phrase to go on my coffee cup so I could stare at it as I settle down to watch one of my many favorite shows.

Knowing all of this about me would make it plainly clear, and should be of no surprise, that my heart would start to race while reading of any injustice being done… anywhere.  And this week I ran across such a story.  Actually I ran across a few stories as I am sure so have you, but this one stuck with me.  It was a story about three siblings.  It started out like most dysfunctional family stories but took a dark disturbing turn south… and quick!  You know it isn’t going to end well when a brother starts losing weight because he is in fact infatuated with the beauty of his younger sister. 

The first brother took advice from a friend (let’s just pause to acknowledge the importance of picking friends… SO VERY IMPORTANT… ok, moving on), and decided to trap his sister in his room and have his way with her.  Put down the gun, Vanessa.

As if what happened wasn’t bad enough, but reading on in the story you find that their father was told of the incident and DID NOTHING.  In this particular country rape, a crime punishable by death was not something that could be so easily pushed under the rug.  Rightfully so!!! Infuriated the younger brother plotted against his older brother and put a hit out on his head.  To sum it up, the older brother dies and the younger brother is exiled to live in another country.  Excuse me, what?

Why in the world was he punished for doing exactly what the law demanded to be done?????

If I were to put myself in this story I would be the younger brother.  I would be the one to pick up the injustice done to my sister and see to it that the offender got what he deserved.  I would be furious with those who would only stand by and allow these things to happen.  I would be a voice to the ones who felt they had no voice.  I have no idea whose eyes you chose to read this story through- whether the victim or the vigilante- but I have no loss for your position.  Justice was served and a hero was punished for it. 

I DON’T LIKE IT. It seems cruel and unfair.  It seems cowardly to just sit back and do nothing instead of what was actually done.  To speak when no one would.  To carry out a FAIR sentence for a great injustice done.  Especially when family is concerned… siblings are most definitely OFF LIMITS.  I. Do. Not. Like. It. 

However (and unfortunately) I do not have to like something for it to be right. 

This story found in 2 Samuel 13 paints a troubling picture of justice for me as Absolom (the younger son) is exiled for what I would consider to be “right”.  I cannot grasp it with my head and have been praying for clarity.  Asking God why it was this way… why the right thing was so wrong… and as I waited, fist clenched, He led me to a passage a few chapters after.

2 Samuel 15:2-4 ^“Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, ‘What city are you from?’ And he would say, ‘Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.’ Then Absalom would say to him, ‘Look, your case is good and right; but there is no deputy of the king to hear you.’ Moreover Absalom would say, ‘Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.’”

Here’s what we can gather from these verses.  Absalom stationed himself in the path of those seeking the king for justice and would tell them that he would fight on their behalf, seeing as the king had no time for them.  Naturally people fell in love with him.  He would fight for them!  He would give them justice!  BUT HE WAS NOT THE KING.  HE WAS NOT THE JUDGE.  What he was doing was not pursuing righteousness but instead taking matters into his own hands and acting out for the victim in vengeance.  It was not his place.  It was not his right.  It was revenge, not justice and that is why it was wrong!

This has brought on a lot of reflection for me. 

Have I been trying to take place of the King?  Have I stopped people short of their reliance on God in a need to “fix” their situation?  Have I allowed others to get in my way and prevent me from truly seeking resolution in Him?  Has my need for justice and others to be held accountable for wrongs done to me clouded my judgment of my place? 

I may have.  I might have.  I have.

I have wanted people to pay for the hurt they’ve caused and have made my case known to a few on my way to my “prayer closet”.  I have been so infuriated that despite my best efforts of doing right, I was still being wronged, and would let my offense fester unresolved inside of me calling my emotions justified, and have allowed them to stay far beyond their welcome.  I have harbored discontent toward others who have wronged a family member or friend and called the downfall of their life justice, when in reality it was only sugar-coated hatred. 

I have been guilty of my fair share of wrongs that on the outside seem quite right.  For this, for all of this, I am truly sorry.  It is not my place.  It is not my right.

I still love justice… that much has not changed… but my deciding what that is, and who should get it has.  So despite the offenses that may rise, may my heart and motives be kept pure.  May I learn how to protest (in word and action) injustices that are done without shrinking to the belief that I myself can take the place of judge or jury.  That my opinions of what justice would look like would be silenced by the greater truth that I am no less a sinner than any other who is in dyer need of mercy.  May I not replace the person with their actions and see others as He sees them.  Let justice lie with the judge and “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” (John 8:7).  

And if God leads you to fight against any injustice (of which there will never be a shortage of)... fight the issue and not the person (or people group). "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12)!

Ephesians 2:1-6 MSG

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Ephesians 2:4-5 AMP

But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).