There’s nothing wrong with being an only child, but those of us with siblings have an early advantage over those without.  I’m pretty sure people with siblings learn about justice before only children.  Don’t be too quick to congratulate them, though.  They learn about justice through the experience of injustice.

If you grew up in a family with a couple or more kids being raised together then you have known injustice.  You will be able to recall when you were the injured party, with a valid legal claim of mistreatment, but your case was not heard. 

Almost every child learns that parents have a greater interest in peace and quiet than in doing justice.

As I recall, it was particularly galling to be the victim of sibling torment that would have resulted in severe punishment for the wrongdoer, except the wrongdoer was older and more cunning.  The wrongdoer made sure there were no parental eyes to see or ears to hear.

After the fact I tattled like the whiny little brother I was (am), but without a corroborating witness, my case was dismissed as hearsay.

I don’t mean to make light of this common childhood experience of injustice because it really can instill in us a desire for justice.  It ought to make us forever sensitive to the cries of the powerless and the oppressed.

When I read the cries for justice (and retribution) from the victims of violent injustice in the scriptures, I know that I have been lucky.  Like me, few of my readers will have known the violence and terror that the people of Israel experienced.

They did not suffer in silence, nor should we expect them to have done so.  They believed God was the defining source of the concepts of justice and right.  Therefore, they expected God to act to re-establish justice when it was violated.

Psalm 94 gives vivid expression to the complaint of one who has been injured and cries out for justice.  The Psalmist complains that the wicked are getting away with murder – literally – and it seems like they are doing their evil without God’s notice.

But God is not blind or indifferent to evil: “He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?” (Psalm 94:9) 

People like me, who are counting entirely on God’s mercy, had best not lose sight of God’s justice either.  The love of God for those who are oppressed and victimized demands that God see and bring an end to the evil – for the sake of both victim and perpetrator.

Prayer: Holy One, you see the evil and injustice we do on the playground, in the courthouse, on the street, at home, and on the battlefield.  Stir us up.  Don’t let us be satisfied with peace and quiet until there is peace with justice.  Amen.