Hope Now: 27 Days to Peace, Healing, and Justiceਨਮੂਨਾ

Justice in the first century

Justice was rare for mistreated individuals in the first century. In Graeco-Roman society, the infant mortality rate was high, women didn’t have many rights, unwanted babies were commonly thrown into the trash heap, slaves were considered objects by their owners, wives were considered strangers in the family and on the periphery until and only when they bore a son, and the poor were commonly mistreated.

Jesus lived in our world and saw the level of injustice taking place in the communities where he lived. Jesus understands the basic expectations God has for his people: to behave justly, to love the mercy of God and to live a humble life. Jesus carried these ideals deeply in his heart, in his words, and through his actions.

He even confronted the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees by calling them hypocrites. He was willing to confront the religious leaders of his day publicly when it came to justice.

The biblical text lists four dimensions of justice: deliverance of the poor and powerless from an injustice that they regularly experience; lifting the foot of the domineering power off the neck of the dominated and oppressed; stopping violence and establishing peace; and restoring outcasts, the excluded, the Gentiles, the exiles and the refugees to community.

The theme of justice was prevalent in the teaching of the prophets in the Old Testament. Justice was a big deal to Jesus. Should it also matter to us today?