An Image of Justice?

My Image of Justice

How?

     Justice in current definition means, “fairness” or “equality”, and Jesus was the ultimate form of fairness and equality. In John 4, Jesus, an upright Jew, shows this Justice and reaches out to a poor Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman was corrupt, disgusting, and unclean in the Jewish culture, but Jesus saw through that and realized she was just broken.

#1 Jesus as Justice

John 8:3-5,7, 11:

“3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’… 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’…11 “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”

Why would Jesus still Love Her?

Jesus not only understands all the things this woman has done sinfully in her life, but he looks past it and forgives her. As the others looked at her, and wished to kill her, Jesus wishes to complete her and change her life. The most important phrase is in verse 11, as Jesus tells her to leave her sin behind. All those times of missing the mark and falling short, he says stop sinning.d Jesus knows that being sinless is not possible without him, and eventually this adulterous woman understands and acts on her faith in Christ. In this section of John, Jesus doesn’t discriminate or judge her because of her life story. He shows love for her, as her struggles are just like how we struggle.

Similarly, Christ did not just get on the cross for the rich people, the successful, the “holy”, the poor, the lame, the men, the woman, or the broken. Instead, Jesus got on the cross for all of them, and he saw each one of them as incomplete or broken. When he was on earth, he described this level of equality and fairness in John 3:16 perfectly. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” In this verse, all of humanity is lumped together as “whoever” and asked, “Will you believe?” 

#2 Jesus as Justice

Christ came for those who will give everything to him, and hold nothing back. In Luke 23:39-43, another amazing example of Christ’s forgiveness and equality to all people.

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’”

Have a great day, I hope this encourages your day, as Christ never discriminated! He came for every broken person on this planet!

Comment if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments!