Who is Just?

From all their distress, the Lord rescues the just.

Over the past couple of years, my thoughts on “justice” and “the just” have been shaken. Life is like that sometimes, teasing us with absolutes only to remind with cold, hard intensity that humans are human, and humans are flawed. 

So as I read today’s response, something in my gut tightens a bit. Who is this just that God will rescue? One thing I have come to believe, it is not for me to claim righteousness. And frankly, I’ve become quite leery of those who profess their own. Justice is not spoken from a pulpit or pounded from a podium. It is not elected, ordained, or professed.

Justice is quiet. It falls in the tears of those who weep while comforting a friend. It is wiped from the brow of those who feed and clothe the weary and lost. The just are young and old, men and women. They do not seek reward or feel compelled to have their labors recognized or their merits counted.

A thought to leave you with as you contemplate justice and righteousness this Lenten season. . .

From Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch woman who was imprisoned in a concentration camp at the height of Nazi power, come some powerful words for anyone who has contemplated whether or not they were worthy enough for God’s call.

Jesus called, “Come.” He didn’t say it softly, so that only the people close to Him could hear it. He said it loudly so that they all could hear it, and He is saying it to you too, through the radio, “Come.” 

“Oh,” you may say, “that could be something for others, for my respectable neighbor, who goes to church so regularly and is so decent, but it’s not for me, because I am too sinful. No, I wouldn’t dare to. Oh, no, becoming religious is not for me; I am much too bad for that.” Look, if you say that now, Jesus is precisely what is needed. 

There was only one sort of person whom the Lord Jesus did not accept when He said, “Come.” They are the ones who said to Him, “Yes, here I am, Jesus, and I’m very good and very virtuous.” Some of them were called Pharisees. To them the Lord Jesus said, “Are you very virtuous? Then I am sorry, but I can’t help you.” 

If such a Pharisee were to say, “In other people’s eyes I am virtuous, but there is sin in my heart,” then the Lord Jesus would say, “Then come to me, I’m going to help you.” If you now say, “I am too bad to come to Jesus,” then you are exactly the person he wants to help and is able to help. So just come!       

~Corrie Ten Boom  I Stand at the Door and Knock

From all their distress, the Lord rescues the just.