Day Sixteen – Administering Justice

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5:24

I have the privilege to be married to a Justice of the Peace, aka a magistrate or even a ‘beak’! Roughly one day a fortnight my husband treks into Oxford Magistrate’s Court to administer justice. I went once to watch him in action and needed to stifle a laugh when the whole court had to stand whenever he and his fellow JPs entered or left the court room – all those law degrees showing respect to my hubby! But justice and respect go hand in hand.

We need to respect others, including those who make the laws, ourselves, and, of course, God. Because when that respect exists, we should be able to accept when we have done wrong.

My first thought on justice was Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (NIV). My second thought was “everyone will think of that”! Yet I did turn to Amos. That pre-exilic prophet was Always Moaning Over Something and often that something was injustice. Apart from the frequently quoted verse above, in chapter five, Amos mostly linked justice to the legal system. In Amos 5:10 we read: “There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth” (NIV). Linking this to a modern-day magistrate’s court, the Justice of the Peace is hated and the witnesses are loathed too.

When we visited Malawi earlier this century, we saw a court setting – although not in action. The head man of the village sat on a bench with two other benches forming an open quadrangle. He was paid for his time out of the fine he imposed on the guilty one – if the fine was three chickens, he took one for himself and gave two to the aggrieved party. (Magistrates in this country are not paid although they do still sit on a bench.) I suspect that the court Amos was referring to was closer to the Malawi model than our current set-up.

But the physical system is not important – the principle is paramount. Amos 5:7 warns that “there are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground”. This shows disrespect for both the law of the land and God’s law.

The Cambridge online dictionary defines justice as “fairness in the way people are dealt with”. Because we are made in God’s image, we yearn for that fairness, not only in court settings but in everything. But while we strive for justice, only God can truly provide it. We just have to take Amos’ advice and “hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts” (5:15 NIV).

Gracious God, we see injustice all around us. Help us not to be overwhelmed but give us the strength to tackle just one thing that we perceive to be wrong. We cannot all be magistrates, but we can all hate evil and love good. Show us your way, Lord, Amen.

Elaine Kinchin