How do we recognize true justice when we see it? One year removed from the shooting death of Michael Brown, the unarmed teen in Ferguson, MO, local authorities are preparing for a repeat of the violent protests but are hoping for the best. A new African American police chief has been hired, and volunteers have cleaned up and tried to repair a lot of the damage 
done by the looting and rioting associated with the protests a year ago. But does a change in leadership within the police department and the efforts of a few volunteers ensure that justice will prevail? Are we any closer to recognizing as a country that “Black lives matter?”
In a recent post by Dr. Paul Metzger, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”–not those who crave fast food justice, he makes a useful distinction:
Not everyone who proclaims justice operates justly and finds favor with Jesus. And yet, true justice, no matter where it is found, derives from Jesus, even in those places and among those people not explicitly aligned with him. For disciples of Jesus, though, our emphasis on justice derives from our hungering and thirsting for his righteousness to permeate all of our private lives, our personal and social transactions, and the entire world. As we seek to honor Jesus, we don’t make ourselves the arbiters of justice. We don’t try to take matters into our own hands. We understand that our ultimate filling awaits his kingdom’s total realization. Yet, while we don’t take matters into our own hands, we also challenge other surface level, fast food versions of justice. We invite everyone to find their satisfaction in him, for we realize that Jesus’ righteousness and justice is far more nutritious and sticks to the bones.
Then, where does that leave us? Justice can arise from those not aligned with God, but ultimately reflect the values of the Kingdom. Those who claim the name of Jesus cannot also claim to have cornered the market on justice, but can often perpetuate injustice through a blindness to the oppressed and disenfranchised.
I think we have to start by a willingness to admit that true justice will take time. Like the “fast food” analogy that Dr Metzger uses in his post, we can be tempted to something less than true justice simply because it comes faster, cheaper, and with less effort than what a “hunger and thirst for righteousness” will require. Let the church combine faith and deeds in a way that takes seriously the words of James:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 1:22,27; 2:1-4, 8-9)
When we examine our heart’s motivations and resist the urge to distance ourselves from our culpability in injustice, then we have hope of progressing beyond an empty justice that does not address the inequity and unrighteousness of our culture.
