Saturday, February 28
Read: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:4-8; Luke 7:1-10
Everyone loves a good helping of justice. Don’t you just love when people get what they deserve, especially when that person just really has it coming? I remember when I was in high school there was this guy on an opposing team who went around running his mouth about how they were going to beat us and he was going to embarrass me individually. The trash talk eventually got personal and after informing my teammates what was going on, we were locked and loaded! Fast forward to the game: he’s the kickoff returner and decides to return the opening kick. It proved to be a costly mistake as he was hit so hard his helmet rolled from the 15-yard line almost into the endzone! After we get the ball back, we march down the field and my quarterback throws me a jump ball in the endzone, and guess who tries to break up the pass? It wasn’t long after this when he was pulled from the game, not seeing the field for the rest of the night.
To me, that’s a great representation of justice. He started the trash talking and got all that he wanted and more.
Fortunately for all of us, the Lord’s justice works differently than this. The scriptures for today are written over the course of hundreds of years, but they share a common element of the Lord’s justice. Even when we feel alone, overlooked, or just beaten on, these passages remind us that our God sees and reconciles all, even if it isn’t always in the way we may think.
Psalm 121 reminds us that the Lord is on our side, guiding all of our steps, protecting us as we traverse this life. Isaiah 51 highlights the same with supporting themes of God’s sovereignty over not only all the earth, but all creation as well. Both put our problems, skirmishes, and squabbles in an eternal perspective. Luke 7 does the same thing when talking about the Roman officer. Now, the texts say he was a good one, but you can imagine how most Jews felt about most Romans at this time in history. This is an awesome story about Jesus’ healing power and about faith, but I also think we can learn a lot about the justice (and, in turn, mercy) of God.
We all have people we wish God would just smite with fire from Heaven (shoutout Elijah), because “they deserve it.” I’m sure there were people who thought this Roman officer deserved smiting, even though he’s a good guy in this story. Regardless, Jesus showed him grace and mercy. I’m sure we are a little quick to say what God should do because “they deserve it”, but does God give us what we deserve? Even our worst enemies carry pain, burdens, regrets, just like we do. No matter how wrong others may do us, we’ve done God 100x worse.
One of my professors once told us that God’s definition of justice isn’t getting what you deserved but getting what you needed. We all needed a savior, and we were given one in the Lord Jesus. And, despite holding all the power to condemn and smite, He gave us His life! We are called to do the same thing. I don’t know what you carry with you as you read this, but I do know that Christ died so you can live in freedom.
Prayer:
God of mercy, help us be good stewards of the grace you have lent us on behalf of your son Jesus’ blood. We deserve death, yet you still give us life. Thank you, Lord.
Conner Bradford ’24 teaches Elementary Math and Science and serves as an assistant football coach at McKenzie School in McKenzie, Alabama.
