WARNING: Meandering Melodrama

I think I mentioned some time ago I was struggling with the idea of the great Islamo-Christian War having the effect of purging the church of its imperial Christian taint. It's hard to not think like that. I mean the identification in the West of Christianity with wealth, hairspray and power does need to end, but I don't think it is to be done with violence. It's that last part I need to keep away from me. It's as bad as those voices saying Katrina is a victory for Christians (you know, Muslim militants are saying the same thing). It seems natural and in line with some vague conception of justice wherein bad is punished through violence and those who do wrong are clearly dealt with. Because it comes to us so naturally we should be wary of it. At least I try to be wary of it.

We have a skewed sense of justice if we think Katrina, 9/11, killing bad guys, getting cancer, eating bad fish, allergic reactions, or stubbing your toe are examples of divine justice; that and we're dumb. Every person that died in Katrina was worse than the wealthy who could fly to their vacation homes and avoid the hurricane? Those who stayed behind and are now helping others are morally worse than those who stand by and say they deserved this or they are now better off than they were before. (For you that don't check the links, Barbara Bush offered a "let them eat cake" bit of comfort to the hurricane refugees) .

Remember Scott Peterson? Remember the crowds that cheered when they came back with the death penalty for him?


If it weren’t for the caption you would probably not know that this crowd was cheering the imminent death of a killer. This is typically our sense of justice. This is what we think is right. This is what we're doing if we cheer destruction as God working justice.

These people took time off of work and school to be present. They made their calls, arranged for babysitters and carpools. They woke early, fought for the good spots (near the media), and waited. Some stood in the dark and cold. They made sure they were present for… for what: an announcement; a communal expression that society will not allow this to go unpunished; assent to complicity in Scott Peterson’s death? They came together for the hope for punishment. They hoped for something that looked like justice. They hoped for something that could make right the wrongs so obvious in Scott Peterson’s life. They hoped for some light in the darkness cast by Scott Peterson’s sins, and they cheer the decision made be the jury. I don't think these people would buy tickets to stand on the side lines of New Orleans and cheer death, but they reveal this stripe in them is the same as that in those praising God for the destruction of New Orleans. (If you don't think they're out there, sign up for the Columbia Christians For Life email updates).

Scales are frequently used as symbols for justice. They suggest wrong is made right by applying an equal and opposite force in response to evil or equally applying rule to a decision. One life is taken for another. One who caused suffering incurs an equal degree of suffering. Time is given for money, money is given for pain, a baby is cut in half to satisfy competing claims. We imagine the maintenance of a moral balance in the universe. That makes sense. That seems fair; but it is not satisfying. Justice is not balance. It is not restitution or getting what one deserves. It is not even a fair and even handed decision. If we settle for that understanding we miss what God has done, we miss what God continues to make possible. Justice in light of God has more to do with being made right than being given a fair deal. It is advancing towards wholeness. It is movement towards perfection. It is an advancement that is only possible through Jesus Christ. It is God in Christ making right what seems so wrong in humanity. This crowd cheering the death of a criminal is looking for justice but has settled for revenge. It rejoices at the possibility of Scott Peterson’s death righting sin, but its trust is in despair; it looks forward to death.

I can be a little negative at times, but dig this: this is also a picture of possibility; there is the possibility for hope: not in the faces, not in the cheers for death, not in the demand for retribution, but in the evidence that we yearn for something to make us right. There is the eternal possibility of the divine reaching into despair, the possibility of the blind responding to the light, the possibility of grace restoring what is lost in sin. There is the possibility of God’s love making us right and of us living as a light to the world.

Katrina is not punishment for abortions, transvestites, homosexuality, debauchery, and everything else that happens everywhere else as well as in New Orleans. People don't have to die for justice to be done. God did that.