Justice

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The U.S. Department of Justice Building (now called the Robert F. Kennedy Building) was completed in 1935. Eighteen paintings by Canadian-American artist Broadmo0r Robinson decorate the stairway leading to the building’s two-story Great Hall. One of those paintings depicts Jesus.

Painting of Jesus by Broadmoor Robinson. Courtesy Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Justice was one of the reasons Jesus came to earth. The gospel of Matthew tells that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy from Isaiah:

Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not quarrel, nor cry out;
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
A battered reed He will not break off,
And a smoldering wick He will not put out,
Until He leads justice to victory.
And in His name the Gentiles will hope.
Matthew 12:18-21

Solomon understood the need to give young people instruction in justice. Among the subjects he lists as purposes of the book of Proverbs, he included:

To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity;
Proverbs 1:3

Bible study is an obvious way to learn about justice. The first mention of justice is in Genesis 18 when God talks about informing Abraham about the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God says this about Abraham:

I have chosen him,
so that he may command his children
and his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord
by doing righteousness and justice,
Genesis 18:19

Proverbs teaches that:

The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous,
But is terror to the workers of iniquity.
Proverbs 21:15

Jesus strongly condemned those who did not practice justice. He said:

But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe
of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb,
and yet disregard justice and the love of God;
but these are the things you should have done
without neglecting the others.
Luke 11:42

Homeschooling parents can also find many opportunities to discuss justice with their children while they study literature and history. Reading aloud is a wonderful way to talk about justice, simply by applying God’s principles of justice to real events in history and to fictional people and events in literature.

The world tries to separate justice and the absolutes of God’s teachings, but Proverbs teaches:

Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the Lord understand all things.
Proverbs 28:5

Ultimately, true justice recognizes the sovereignty of God:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

Praise be to God that He has mercy for us and that He decided that:

He would be just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:26

 

 

 

 

 

 

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