Abuse. Murder. Robbery. Racism. To name a few. Suffering alone. Thoughtlessness. Slander. Hate. Evil. 

It is ingrained in humanity to demand justice when injustice is seen, experienced, heard of, or known. 

What is it about injustice that stirs people to action?

Wrong must be righted. Humans have put judges, presidents, queens, governors….and law enforcement in place for this purpose. And when those systems reveal corruptness, we plea for the systems’ hierarchy to vindicate. Injustice must stand before the judge and account for wrongdoings. 

And in some circumstances, the unjust stand before a judge and are convicted. While in other circumstances, justice is evaded, twisted, or just isn’t possible.

But whether justice is experienced or not, our heart’s cry out for wrong to be righted. Something must be done! Blood must be spilt!

Some may feel this literally. Others metaphorically. Either way, justice must be served.

Where does this come from, this sense of justice? 

When I have experienced and seen injustice, my heart ached for vindication and understanding. And yet, this didn’t always happen. But the pain and injustice needs to go somewhere. It needs to be understood. It needs to be spoken for. It needs to be dealt with. It needs to be paid for. It needs to be vindicated!

Cue Jesus. 

God agrees! He hates evil. God’s Word even tells US to hate what is evil. The death and resurrection of Jesus can be seen or experienced as a place to receive forgiveness and reconciliation for our OWN sins, brokenness, suffering, etc. We are made clean, as he bore our sins on the cross so that we may have eternal life.

But it is also so much more! 

Jesus was an innocent, perfect man without sin, whose blood was spilt to account for all the wrongdoings done to us. Injustice was taken onto the shoulders of a man who knows the depths of injustice. Who experienced the ultimate injustice. He wasn’t just an animal sacrifice to account for the sins/wrongdoings of one person/family, He was sent as God’s perfect Son, God in flesh, to bear the weight, and declared that He bore the weight, on His shoulders for the sins AND INJUSTICES of the world.  

Though this is a past-tense event, it is a present-tense reality.

And so, the injustices we may personally experience or experience in our world, have a place to go!

As we rage and ache for justice to be done, God agrees, grieves with us, and says to put these injustices on Jesus’ shoulders to bear. Jesus will bear the weight. He will spill his blood, so that the injustice you experience can be justified. The wrong done will be paid for. 

This Jesus is not some weak answer to make ourselves feel better about ourselves or give us an “out” in our ideology of the world. This Jesus is the powerful King, Ruler, Judge of this World that sees and agrees that injustice comes with a price. A price that He wants to pay for. 

As some of you may have guessed by now, these thoughts stem from the recent events surrounding the death of George Floyd.

Pastor Patrick PT Ngwolo, who served with Floyd in the projects, connected Floyd’s injustice to the slaughter of Abel by his brother Cain—God’s response? ‘The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground’” (Gen. 4:10). Pastor Ngwolo “is still trying to processes the news, but one theme he keeps going back to is the shedding of innocent blood” (Christianity Today). 

God agrees!

There must be consequences for injustice! There is an innate sense of justice we as humans demand. This sense of justice comes from the God of the Universe, who in the beginning created humans to live in perfect harmony. Adam and Eve committed the first wrongdoing against God. They ate from the forbidden tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were allured to the idea that they could be the judge of what was good and what was evil.

As they ate, pain and brokenness and sin and wrongdoing entered the world. For only God was meant to be the Judge. This knowledge they were tempted toward was the beginning of life experienced apart from the perfect Judge. Then God set up a whole system from the beginning to right wrong-doings through spotless animal sacrifice, so that blood was shed to pay for wrong. 

Blood sacrifice has always been part of the story. 

Pastor Ngwolo continues, “If you fast-forward 2,000 years, there’s another innocent sufferer whose blood spoke of better things than Abel’s…Jesus’ blood says he can redeem us through these dark and perilous times…I have hope because just like Abel is a Christ figure, I see my brother [Floyd] as a Christ figure as well, pointing us to a greater reality. God does hear us. He hears his cry even from the ground now. Vengeance will either happen on the cross or will happen on Judgment Day.”

Do you know this Jesus, the one that can account for the injustice that you know, that you have experienced, or that you see right now that demands justice?

He will pay for this injustice. He will receive the rage, anger, pain, and wailing cries that the innocent must be vindicated.

Pause and consider.

What would it look like, for you, to have Him bear the weight of injustice?

And if you have never known Jesus like this, or heard about this Savior, the invitation is open to you and you will experience vindication.