Reading: Community - Living Out Justice and Love

Hosea 12:6

But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice and wait for your God always.

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Romans 12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

See also Zechariah 7:8-10; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 6:1, 2

Reflection

Justice and love are qualities in God’s nature. They are integral to who God is and what God does. God is just and loving, so he acts justly and lovingly in the world and in our lives.

Because God is one, justice and love come together in the unity of God’s being and actions. Therefore, we cannot say that there is true justice without love, nor that there is true love without justice. Justice and love are not opposed to each other or even completely distinct from each other. In God’s nature and purposes, both justice and love serve the well-being of people and relationships.

In turn, human existence ought to mirror God’s nature and purposes. When things are well in the lives of individuals and communities, justice and love will characterize that well-being. When things are not well in the lives of individuals and communities, justice and love together should seek to achieve or restore well-being.

In this lesson, we will focus on ways in which communities can seek justice and love for those who hurt and those who injure. Not only do individuals suffer when victims go untended and offenders go uncorrected and unchanged, communities suffer. Therefore, communities have responsibilities to deal with the specific individuals involved and with the broader social effects.

The challenge is how to live out justice and love in ways that mirror God’s nature and achieve God’s purposes in our fallen world. Two important principles should be kept in mind. First, in the cross of Jesus we find that seeking true justice and love, necessarily involves suffering. This is not suffering without hope but suffering to bring an end to evil and a beginning to salvation.

Second, justice cannot be merely dispassionate, abstract, impersonal, punitive, or vengeful. Love cannot be naïve and sentimental. God’s justice and love go through the cross even as they lead to resurrection or restoration.

In what specific and concrete ways, then, can communities live out God’s justice and love? They can do this through prevention, by offering support to victims, by use of restorative and non-custodial measures for offenders, by provision of faith-based assistance, and by efforts to reintegrate the offender into society.

Communities can and should try first to prevent wrongdoing and crime. Communities, as well as families, should be sources of opportunity, hope, and care for people of all ages, perhaps especially those on the margins, such as children and youth. This hope has to be expressed tangibly through the provision of services.

When wrongdoing and crime occur, communities can and should provide support services for those who hurt, for victims. These services are needed from the time of the crime, through the criminal justice processes, and sometimes on a long-term basis. They may include emotional, medical, and financial assistance; crime scene clean-up; liaison with the criminal justice system; advocacy in the legislature or community organizations; alternative housing; mediation; reconciliation; and more.

Communities can and should find means to hold offenders accountable in ways that are as restorative as possible. In general this would involve diverting many offenders now sent to prison to non-custodial sentences such as community service, fines, restitution, treatment (for drug, alcohol, or mental problems), conditional discharges, and close supervision. In most countries this would require transformation of public attitudes.

As for those offenders given over to custodial sentences, communities should insist that conditions are humane and restorative. In some countries organizations are testing and running programs that provide complete correctional services from a faith basis within a section of a state-run institution. Communities could explore this option. Alternatively, faith-based and community-based organizations may provide specific programs to inmates, such as literacy development and improvement, structured dialogue with victims, life skills, Bible studies, correspondence, assistance to families on the outside, and the like.

Then communities can and should seek to reintegrate offenders into society. Possible means include the following: community contacts and support services for individuals after they are charged and for their families; community sentencing; housing and employment following completion of sentence; structured victim-offender dialogue; and more.

The immediate goal for a community in its response to wrongdoing may be to restore order and safety. (An example might be a neighborhood watch program.) This goal is good. Yet, the deeper, long-term goal for a community is to achieve justice and love for victims, offenders, and the community itself.

For we can confidently say that the God who gave his only Son on the cross to reconcile and restore all things in heaven and earth to himself will be satisfied with nothing less than true justice and love such as only he gives. Therein shall God’s shalom flourish for people and communities.

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