seek justice [forgiveness]

"learn to do right! seek justice, encourage the oppresses. defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

isaiah 1:17

what does it mean to seek justice? 

i have been asking myself that question a lot lately...mostly because within the last two weeks or so...i have seen so many acts of injustice than i really can count.  

masiphumeleleh is a place filled with those who are oppressed...fatherless...widowed. it is a place plagued with injustice.  just recently one of the men who i have become friends with...d...a zimbabwean man confided in jeremiah and i that he had not been paid for the work that he had done completing a brick wall for a man in nearby fishhoek.  he was to be paid 1400 rand...the equivalent to $170...for a week's worth of work.  the man who contracted dennis to do the work also lives in fishhoek and promised to pay d his money upon completing the job...which he did. 

but he was not being paid.

so in living in obedience to this passage...d, jeremiah and i went to this man in masi and for nearly two and a half hours...we sought justice for d.  we reasoned with the man...he was shown to be lying...and yet...refused to pay d his money...which was rightly his...even after d suggested the man only pay him 800...then 600...then 400.

and the whole time the man refused...until d finally told the man that he would forgive him of his debt to him...that it was over...that d was finished seeking his payment...

and so he walked away...which is a big deal for d...

you see d is here in cape town away from his wife and infant daughter who are still in zimbabwe. he is here trying to beat the injustice that is overwhelming his home country right now...injustice that is resulting in thousands fleeing the country, going hungry...and even being killed. and so he is here trying to ear a simple man's wages here (minimum wage is less than $2 here) so that he can continue to care for his starving family.  

and yet...trying to escape one act of injustice has brought him face to face with yet another act of injustice here in south africa.

and i could tell story upon story like this...which is sad and sickening...and just plain wrong.

so i have been puzzled by what it really means to seek justice.  it is easy to give examples of how to encourage...how to defend and plead one's case...but how does one seek justice when it seems that the grip of injustice does not seem to even allow room for breakthrough.  is seeking justice simply shine light upon the lies of the man who refused to pay d and thus show his lack of integrity for others to see...or is it to declare d's honor through the way he speaks with his debtor?

or would it be the full payment of what is owed to d...to actually have the cash in hand?

i'm not sure i can fully answer that question...

but i can deduce something from this one example among many...and it comes in the truth of what follows this passage of scripture...in the passage that immediately follows...

"'come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD. 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'" (isaiah 1:18)

you see...part of seeking justice...part of encouraging and defending and pleading is first recognizing that we are all recipients of these things first before we are able to actually follow suit...

for in our own acts of injustice through our sinfulness...Jesus is the one who sought justice...the one who took our acts of injustice upon himself...he was the one pleading for us...or our lives...he covered our sinfulness...taking the scarlet red of sin and making it white as snow.  it is only through christ that we are even able to follow suit...seeking justice...encouraging...defending...and pleading.

and i know d knows this...which is why he was able to walk away...saying i am done...it is finshed...i have forgiven you your debt...

because he too has been forgiven his debt...

d has experienced forgiveness and through that forgiveness he was also able to seek justice...and jeremiah and i alongside of him...and show the face of Jesus in the midst of it...and i believe that that is the first step.  we must not lose heart and as a result lose the face of Christ...for justice would be lost in the process.

But Christ was made famous in that two and a half hour conversation...made famous by a man who knows the debt that was paid for him...the injustice that was wiped clean from his slate...the forgiveness he has received...and was able to forgive as well.

and so i think that is so much of what it is all about...

it's not about seeking justice for our own sake...or even for the sake of justice...and it certainly isn't about letting one's self be steam-rolled...

but it is about making Jesus look good...making him famous amongst those who are not only experiencing the injustice but also amongst those who are bringing the injustice.

so while i know that i still don't completely understand what it means...i will heed to the commands given to us in the best way that i can...

that Christ himself might bring true justice to the hearts of those who need it...

and be made famous as his kingdom grows.