Vince Deagler

hi everyone.  unless you have spent the last month in the wilderness, you know there was a huge trial taking place in florida regarding the death of a 2 year old little girl.  the mom was the accused.  the verdict came back today.  not guilty.  i bring it up because we are working our way through the book of ecclesiastes in our sunday morning worship services.  i have been working ahead and today as the verdict was announced was studying ecclesiastes 3:16-22 where solomon writes “and i saw something else under the sun:  in the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.  i thought in my heart, god will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked…”.  what a timely passage.  hence the question:  does the bible have anything to say about justice.  obviously the answer is yes.  let’s look at some of what this text says.

the phrase under the sun refers to solomon’s worldview at the moment of this experience.  it was not a god centered worldview at this point, rather this was a humanistic perspective.  and in that frame of reference solomon concludes there is no justice.  i would concur.  here is why.  justice requires a moral authority and a moral absolute that is perfect.  in a broken world as we now have, neither is available.  this is perfectly illustrated today in the casey anthony case.  for some, justice was served by a not guilty verdict.  for others, a gross injustice was done.  what you should realize is justice is in the eye of the beholder.  i have a sense of right and wrong, so do you, so does everyone else.  our perception of justice/injustice is filtered through that bias.  the result is injustice…or justice…depending on who you are.  i have my thoughts on this case, so do you, that’s not my point in writing.  my point is, if you expect life will be fair and right in the here and now, you will spend a lot of your life disappointed. 

it can be no other way in a world where the moral authority is imperfect and the moral absolutes are whatever i determine them to be for me…but that would not necessarily apply to you.  so, as you process all the cultural chatter that comes with a media event like this.  please recognize, no matter if you feel the jury was right or wrong, justice was not served.  it could not be.  the innocent are found guilty sometimes, and the guilty are sometimes declared not guilty.  but solomon points out that there is a day coming when god will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked.  and in light of that day i would suggest…instead of focusing on oj or casey anthony or some other media suspect…you focus on you.

god knows who we are, what were up to, and what justice is.  he has given us his son so that we who are sinners by nature and choice can be declared righteous.  he has given us his spirit and word so we can live a life worthy of his praise.  so as we get all excited as a culture about this case, take a moment, think about the day you will be judged, and do what you need to do to be ready.  just a thought.  thanks for reading.  blessings, vince.