Reading: Justice

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

Hosea 2:18-20

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground.

Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

Reflection on justice

In the passages from Isaiah and Hosea we see a picture of justice. Rich in imagery and meaning, the passages piece together a mosaic of justice using terms such as peace, security, rest, confidence, love, compassion, commitment, faithfulness, and fruitfulness. Justice is connected with right relationships among people and in all of creation. It provides a strong foundation for overcoming adversity and conflict.

Compare Isaiah and Hosea with the commonly accepted notion that justice means each person gets his or her due. For example, honest work and responsible living merit appropriate rewards in terms of standard of living and place in the community. Wrongful behaviours deserve punishment in proportion to how bad they were as defined by social codes, rules, or laws. In either case, justice means a person ought to receive what is due based on the kind or amount of good or bad he or she has done.

In other words, conversations about justice today typically emphasize the following:

• Enforcement of laws

• The role of the state or civil officials

• Unbiased and impartial judges

• Individual actions, and what is due and proportionate in response to them (i.e., fairness and equity of response in terms of what individual actions deserve or merit)

• A backward-looking perspective to settle accounts from past wrongs

As important as those are, Biblical passages such as Isaiah 32, Hosea 2, and others, provide a much larger vision of justice. That vision focuses on people, on individual and social well-being – specifically, on people in right relationship with God and with each other. Biblical justice is fundamentally personal and relational. Moreover, it envisions a fullness of life for all.

Thus Biblical justice emphasizes the following:

• People and relationships

• The well-being of people and relationships

• Repair of harm to people and relationships

• A forward-looking perspective to restore people and relationships in both present and future states

  The Biblical conception of justice is rooted in and stems from the vision of shalom. Shalom in the Bible is a richly textured idea. Generally translated as peace, shalom means more than a lack of conflict. It envisions people in active, right, fruitful relationships with each other, with God and with creation. Peace in this sense not only reduces or prevents conflict but it also fosters individual and social well-being. It yields a fullness of life for all.

  Justice then, Biblically understood, seeks shalom. When wrongdoing occurs between people, shalom suffers and it is unjust to leave unresolved both the wrongdoing and the resulting harm. Practicing justice rebuilds and increases shalom for the affected individuals and society.

  In a similar way, restorative justice is an attempt to respond to wrong-doers and to the harm they have caused so that relationships within the community are strengthened, injuries are resolved, community values are upheld, and victims are protected.

  Used by permission - www.restorativejustice.org - a ministry of Prison Fellowship International