Injustice

 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.  Luke 23:34....."Our sense of justice makes us cry out, 'Somebody ought to pay for that.' Jesus says, 'I paid for it. Let it go.' " Gerald Fry

We live in a fallen world where injustice seems to reign. Horrible injustices have been heaped upon individuals, people groups, and nations. There exists no one who, in some form, has not experienced injustice in their lives. Some terribly so. It's not right. The above exclamation is true. Someone ought to pay. Justice demands that it be so. Someone did. His name is Jesus.

From our 21st century viewpoint, we don't really grasp the horror that crucifixion was in the ancient world. Those being crucified were dehumanized in every way. Stripped naked, beaten almost to death, then brought to the site of their crucifixion to undergo perhaps the most horrific death conceived by humankind. Jesus, perfect man, fully God, without sin, was subjected to torture, ridicule, and all manner of abuse. They mocked Him as He hung on the cross. Laughed at Him. At the foot of the cross, those who carried out the deed gambled for his clothing. As they did so, as all around the cross shouted abuse at Him, He asked His Father to forgive them. Forgive them. Those who did this horror to Him, He asked that they be forgiven. How? How could He do so? Someone did need to pay. I want them to pay. Someone did. Jesus Himself. On the cross, He took the sin of the world, the curse upon the human race, and through His sacrifice, offered life and forgiveness to the very race that murdered Him. As the great hymn goes, "Such love! Such wondrous love!" All who come to Him in faith are offered this forgiveness, this salvation. As a more modern chorus goes, "He was punished, we went free." It's a mystical truth that God's wrath against sin was dealt with through Christ on His cross. We want revenge. He offers grace and healing. It doesn't seem right. Someone should pay. Jesus paid. Jesus paid it all. That is the beauty and the mystery of His work of Atonement for our sin.

I rejoice daily that Jesus paid it all. Paid for all of my sin. Brought me into a new life. Paid the debt I owed but could never pay myself. That the punishment I deserved was taken upon Himself. Justice was served. He was punished. I went free. He breathed forgiveness to His tormentors. Why is it so hard for me to do the same? Why do I, in the face of the injustices I have faced in life, continue to, at least in some part of me, harbor this sense that someone has to pay for it? Someone has to pay for suffering I did nothing to deserve. Insults I bore for no reason. Lies spoken about me. Betrayals heaped upon me, and much more besides. My flesh cries out, "Someone," and in many cases, "that one," needs to pay. Why is it so hard for me, the one who has been forgiven despite my many sins against not just others, but ultimately Him, to forgive what has been done to me? Why is it so hard for you?

The reasons go far deeper than what can be explored here, but I think in the main, we who have been forgiven, little realize the depth of our own sin. What it has done to others, to Him, and ultimately to us. I think too that we understand little of His forgiveness. We take it for granted, feel little gratitude for it, and have little understanding of what it cost Him to give it. We think we're entitled to it. Somehow, we don't think others are entitled to ours. Those ones must pay. They can't be allowed to get away with it, even though His forgiveness to us allowed us to "get away with it." He forgave freely. I, we, rarely do.

I have journeyed far deeper in the process of forgiving. By His grace, He enables me to give grace.  The enemy will always seek to hinder this, bringing to mind what others have done. I have found that whenever this happens, I can overcome it by simply asking Him to bless them and forgive them. When I do so, the devil flees. 

All of us are victims of injustice, but none of us to the degree of Christ. He forgave them all. By His life and grace, we can too. By His wound we were healed, and that healing is extended within us and out of us to others, no more deserving than we are. Justice was served in Christ. If Christ lives within us, let justice and His forgiveness be served through us to those who don't deserve it any more than we did and do, but whom He died and rose for. Just as He did for us. Justice is satisfied in Jesus Christ. So....let it go...to Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor O