The Fall

           Vera Czermak lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She found out her husband was having an affair. She became enraged. She thought about committing both murder and suicide.

            Finally, she chose to kill herself. Impetuously, she jumped out the window-located on the third floor of her house.

            Vera was fortunate–she suffered only minor injuries. Her husband, however—not so much.

            Vera landed on him, an act that killed him. Reflecting upon the event, someone wrote, “Sometimes, in this life, there is justice.”

            Perhaps so, but that are better ways to pursue it than by counting on God to kill our enemy when we throw ourselves out the window.

Source: THE 7 SINS OF HIGHLY DEFECTIVE PEOPLE by Rick Ezell

Justice and the Biker

            I will be preaching on justice Sunday week. One of my favorite stories is a humorous one concerning justice. It is about a man who appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates:

"Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asked.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the man offered. "Once, on a trip to the Black Hills out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of high-testosterone bikers, who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So, I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker and smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground." I yelled, " Now, back off! Or you'll answer to me!"

St. Peter was impressed: "When did this happen?"

"Just a couple minutes ago."

            Unfortunately, the pursuit of justice DOES often come at great cost—even for those who seek it in a non-violent way. See Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. … and Jesus.

            Remember, it was God who said, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24.) NIV 1984

       

Vigilantes

            Last week, it seemed that all the media wanted to talk about was the tragic situation of child abuse regarding Penn State. Certainly this story needed to be discussed in our public dialogue. However, any time the press becomes focused so much on one story, I concern myself with the thought they might take an extreme position that was before unthinkable.

            Recently, I heard talk that sounded an awful lot like vigilantism. A vigilante is an individual who takes the law into his own hands, specifically through enforcing the law without any legal authority.

            This occurred often in the old west. Sometimes, a group of citizens would seek to bring a criminal to justice in a logical and organized way. Occasionally, though, the group would turn into a mob and apply force in unjust way.

            A publication* once told of a grave located in Boot Hill Cemetery in the state of Arizona. The gravestone contains these words, “Lynched by mistake.”

            Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully, (Prov. 28:5.)

            May we always, without prejudice or favoritism, truly seek justice in a proper way.

·     * Today in the Word, November 19, 1995, p. 26.

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Never Ask For Justice

            Legend has it a maiden approached Napoleon begging that he spare the life of her father, who had been a deserter and had been condemned for execution.             

             Napoleon frowned and answered, “He has already twice deserted and do you ask for his life?”

            “Sir,” she replied, “I do not ask for justice but, for mercy.”

            Napoleon granted her plea.

            Who are we to ask God for justice?