How does it feel to be wrongly accused? Probably because I find it so personally frustrating I am also frustrated by how our justice system still fails so many. There are the high profile cases such as Canadians David Milgaard or Donald Marshall, and Hollywood has brought the story of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to screen and public attention. But we know many others suffer the same fate anonymously. And, of course, with every wrongful conviction we have of necessity somebody “getting away with it.” In spite of all our progress we still live in a very unjust world.
This Sunday Pastor Andrew will be teaching from the later part of Ecclesiastes 3 and the book’s Teacher is wrestling with the injustice of the world, just as we still do today. He writes:
“I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. (Eccl 3:16)”
The world we live in often leaves us confused and frustrated. We hate it when someone “gets away with it.” However, the Teacher also tells us that actually nobody gets away with it. The great radio storyteller, Paul Harvey, illustrated this point when he told the story of a man named Gary Tindle, who was charged and tried for robbery. Whilst in the California courtroom of Judge Armando Rodriguez, Tindle asked permission to go to the bathroom. He was then escorted upstairs to the bathroom and, after entering alone, the hallway was guarded. But Tindle had a plan; he climbed up the plumbing and through a ceiling panel into a crawl space. Bit by bit he slithered along until he had gone some 30 feet. Suddenly, a panel gave way and he fell through the ceiling to the floor below – right back into Judge Rodriguez’s courtroom!
When we see the guilty escaping judgment, or even prospering, it is only for a short crawl. They will find themselves before the Judge once again in time. The Teacher writes in v17: “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” Sooner or later, God righteous judgment will right every wrong, and settle every injustice.
In the meantime, proper self-reflection should lead us to a place of humility in this life before God. We may think to ourselves ‘wouldn’t it be great to see immediate justice’; to see the guy who cuts us off on the highway get a speeding ticket minutes later! Yet what of the many ways we need, and expect, mercy? What if for every lie your nose grew, and for every bit of gossip your tongue turned green? God’s patient forbearance is a blessing – even to us! God himself was most famously and most utterly wrongly accused; he bore the sin of all mankind on the cross. That forms the basis of our dealing with injustice today, from a place of thankful humility for God’s grace and truth.
Much love,
Pastor Gary