Proverbs 20:26 (NKJV)
26 A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the
threshing wheel over them.
Deuteronomy 19:11–13 (NKJV)
11 “But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for
him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees
to [a city of refuge], 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him
from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he
may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of
innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
This
past week national attention has been focused upon the tragic bombing in Boston
during the marathon. Three killed and hundreds wounded. Two men sought in a
city wide manhunt – one killed in a shoot out with the police and the other
apprehended later. At such times it is fitting to consider what the Word of God
has to say about justice and the punishment of crime.
Shortly
after the second bomber was arrested the Boston police tweeted, "CAPTURED!!!
The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won.
Suspect in custody." This was indeed good news – and worthy of
celebration. But the police department should have known better than to call their
arrest the triumph of justice. For as we all are often reminded, the mere
arrest of a suspect is far from the accomplishment of justice.
In
ancient Israel accused criminals would flee to cities of refuge – the
equivalent of our jails – in order to await a fair trial and avoid the blood
lust common in such tense times. But confinement to the city of refuge was not
justice. In order for justice to be
served the individual must not only be arrested but tried swiftly and, if found
guilty, punished in accordance with the severity of his crime. And it is this
execution of justice that God declared would “put away the guilt of innocent blood in Israel that it may go well
with you.” God’s blessing follows societies that practice justice.
But
it is this that proves so difficult in our current legal system. As anyone who
has found himself embroiled in our current legal system knows, justice is
rarely served. Our legal system is in many respects broken and victims
frequently suffer much while criminals escape justice. This is a blight on our
national character and a sin for which the Lord on High will hold us accountable
as a people.
It
is the frustration of dealing with our defunct legal system that has led
Senator Lindsey Graham to suggest that the Boston bomber be tried by a special
court. Graham knows how frequently justice is foiled in our legal system and so
has suggested some alternative. But is this not to confess that the whole
system is broken and that we must, as a people, repent of the injustice of our
legal system and begin to hold criminals accountable for their actions?
Solomon
reminds us today, A wise
king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them. The
reason that we are witnessing increasing crime in our streets is because of the
failure of our legal system to administer justice. Justice administered quickly
deters crime. But our judges have failed us – and, here’s the critical part, they
have failed us because we ouselves have failed. We have sought to avoid
justice; we have sought and are seeking to avoid accountability for our
transgressions.
How often do we and our countrymen complain about God’s
justice? We dispute the righteousness of His law; we grumble at his judgments;
we take him to task for the judgment of hell; we demand why bad things happen
to good people; we fancy ourselves upright and just and that God is the one who
must answer for the problems in the world. In all these ways we adjudge
ourselves unworthy to receive just decrees from our courts. We don’t want
justice and so God has handed us over to unjust courts. And this reminds us
that as a people we need to confess our sin to the Lord and seek His
forgiveness in Christ petitioning him to restore justice to the land.
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