Chapel Homily – Feb. 15, 2011
Prof. David Western
A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans
Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be
wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of
all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
The Word of the Lord
A Homily on Justice
“Justice” is a virtue that, of course, the Bible encourages, and I think we can assume that justice
is a good thing. So, for many people, I think, when we hear the word “justice” we immediately feel
something agreeable. The word “Justice” has a sound to it that reminds us of everything being put right,
and who wouldn’t want that. For most of us, we hear the word “justice” and we think immediately of an
unalloyed good, and something that we really should pursue.
That said, I want to take a different look at Justice today. I want to talk about how the sound of
the word “Justice” can actually terrify me – and I don’t mean terrify in the proper sense of being in awe
of God’s power and righteousness. I mean terrify the way a lunatic running at you with a knife or a gun
should terrify you.
By why would something as obviously good as “justice” terrify me? Well, in truth, it’s not justice
per se that terrifies me. If God was coming down from Heaven every second minute and adjudicating all
of our conflicts for us so that we could be sure in every case that what we said was justice actually was
just… well, then I’d have no fear. But of course that’s not how it happens.
So, what terrifies me is that the human desire for justice often exceeds our wisdom to know
what justice really is. Paul tells us in today’s reading to not claim to be wiser than we are, but when it
comes to our desires for justice – when it comes to our beliefs that we know what right and wrong is – I
find human beings very often imagine ourselves wiser than we actually are.
For example, I play soccer, and every now and then on the soccer pitch I completely loose my
cool. Now, at my age, I almost never loose my cool anymore, over anything. And it doesn’t happen too
often in soccer, but it does still happen – far more than I would like. Every now and then in the middle of
a soccer game I’ll suddenly start to do things that are completely out of my character. I’ll start swearing
and saying things to make others feel bad. I’ll start shoving people, getting really aggressive, and even
violent, purposely kicking and hitting people.
Now, I’m not the only person to get mad like this playing soccer. It happens all the time, and it
happens to different people for different reasons. Some get mad because they’re loosing and they’re
really playing to win. Some get mad because they don’t like the people on the other team. Some just get
carried away with adrenaline. But in my case it’s not selfish reasons at all that rile me up. It’s ostensibly
noble reasons. I get mad on a soccer field when I think players or referees are being unfair – when I
think somebody’s cheating. I get mad when I think the integrity of the game of soccer is being offended.
That is to say, the only thing that gets me mad is when my “justice radar” goes off.
And now here’s the thing. Because my anger is attached to a sense of justice – and because I
believe that justice is a good thing, and something worth fighting for – I believe, in my mind, that my
anger isn’t just mere anger. It’s righteous indignation. And I believe I am in the right to start reacting the
way I do. But whenever I get like this the outcome of my actions is never something like “justice.” It’s
just something really unwise. My teammates get mad at me. I often get kicked off the field and cost my
team at least a goal. At the end of the game, people don’t like me. I don’t like myself. All it really does is
further spoil things for everyone.
But that is just a small example, and hardly a terrifying one. Here’s another example that really
does terrify me. As a scholar I’ve been studying violent conflicts in the world for the last few years, and
this is what I’ve noticed. The very same impulse – to believe our anger is righteous because it is attached
to a sense of justice – is the most potent fuel in every conflict I can think of. That is to say, people in
conflict are driven by all sorts of very human motives, but none perpetuate conflicts more certainly, and
are harder to alleviate, than the feeling of righteous indignation.
Of course, many of us would want to say, simply, that one side is just and the other in unjust,
and so the unjust side is just wrong in their feelings of righteous indignation. But in reality the world,
complicated as it is, just doesn’t work that way. In Northern Ireland, the conflict I know best, both sides,
Catholics and Protestants, had very real claims of justice against the other side. Both had equally just
claims for ownership of that land. So too in Israel/Palestine, where Israelis and Palestinians have both
suffered very real injustices, and both have equally compelling claims to the land. In Northern Ireland, it
was only when they stopped speaking in terms of justice and started speaking in more humble terms of
working with each other that they could find some degree of peace, and in Israel/Palestine continued
claims for justice against the other side remain bitter stumbling blocks to peace.
In summation, then, I should ask myself what it is that I am implying here. Am I implying that we
should stop trying to seek justice in the world, because we cannot trust that our sense for justice, our
human desire for justice, is calibrated well enough that it will actually lead to justice?
Well… no, I’m obviously not suggesting we do away with the virtue of justice, but I am
suggesting we need to be wary of our own selves in our pursuit of justice.
Writing about transitional justice in postconflict societies an author named Martha Minnow
titled her book Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, and noted that different societies, in their pursuit
of justice, have fallen upon different places on that spectrum, their efforts at justice leaning in some
cases towards vengeance, in others towards forgiveness. When I read the Bible, or think of Christians
thinkers I admire, I see all sorts of admonishments against justice as vengeance, and all sorts of
encouragement to treat justice as essentially another manifestation of love. Paul tells us in today’s
reading to leave vengeance to God, and in this passage Paul is referencing Leviticus. “You shall not hate
in your heart anyone of your kin… You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your
people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Love is one of the
pinnacle parts of the Christian faith. There is another side called justice, and justice is really love in
calculation.” Dr. King also wrote, “Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against
love.” And of course, the idea that vengeful justice belongs to God while human justice – that is, the sort
of justice we, as mere human beings, should seek from each other – must be a loving justice is implicit
throughout the message of Jesus Christ himself: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged… Why do
you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?” “You have heard
that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.
But if anyone strikes you on the right check, turn the other also and if anyone wants to sue you and take
your coat, give your cloak as well.” “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and
hate you enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you
may be children of your Father in heaven…”