It is a curse: the ability to overhear conversations in a coffee shop. Have you ever noticed that? You go to a coffee shop either because you want some peace or because you want to connect with someone. You do not go to listen to other people, yet in such a public atmosphere, it is impossible to avoid it.
This afternoon, I found myself at one such establishment. At the adjacent table: some sort of church youth small group.
They were apparently going through some exercise where they had to write down attributes of God that corresponded to each letter of the alphabet. (To me, a rather lame exercise, but whatever.)
My favorite was X. "Xavier?" one girl asked. "I don't know," said another. "I think Xavier is a university, but I'm not sure if it's in the Bible." *insert my rolled eyes here*
But the one the really got me was J (the best letter of the alphabet, I might add!). One girl said "just." Then the facilitator said, "You know, I prefer 'joyful.'"
And that got me. Not because I have a problem with joy or even with the idea that God might be joyful. He is, after all, the creator of all things. But how simplistic: to reduce the God of the universe to "joyful." Forget "just." Justice is too harsh of a concept in our world. We want justice (and equate it to "fairness" and "equalness") when we feel that someone in our world is amiss in giving us what we think we deserve. And yet I think that, really, we don't want justice.
We are afraid of what it might require of us. We are unsure of the results of true justice. And we don't know how to "identify" with a God whose fairness scares us, of whom we are unsure.
So we cast aside justice in favor of joyfulness.
2 comments:
Great insight.
I agree completely. You hear a lot of talk about justice in my line of work. But when people talk about justice in a courtroom or about the justice system, they seem to forget about the blindfolded lady with the scales of justice that are completely in balance. What they really want is retribution. Even vengeance. If they wanted true justice and fairness in the court system, they would not be constantly asking me how I can defend "those people." God is truly just. In everything. Justice is more than punishing bad behavior. Justice uses the same scale for everyone. And justice without mercy is not justice.
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