Justice Whats That Word

What's that word? Justice. Justice is when person gets what they deserve, whether good or bad, whether they like it or not. Sometimes it's easy to understand justice. Like if you get all the answers right on test and you get perfect grade, that's justice because you answered all the questions perfectly and got the grade you deserved. But let's just say you gave the wrong answers to some of the questions. Should you still get perfect grade? Nope. Instead, you'll get the grade you deserve based on how you answered the questions. That's justice, too. Even though it probably wouldn't feel very good and you wouldn't like it very much, we'd still say it's just or that justice was served. Or what if the whole class took test, but the teacher gave everyone zero because one person cheated? Would that be just? No way. The Bible says every person is made in the image of God. And because God made us, we're all equally valuable, special, and loved by God. But that doesn't mean we're all exactly the same. The world would be pretty boring if everyone had the same name, lived in the same home, did their hair the same way, had the same color skin, and were good at all the same things. Instead, we're all different. We have different names, homes, hairstyles, skin colors, talents, abilities, cultures, traditions, ethnicities. And that's exactly the way God wanted it. We're all different reflections of God's image. The problem is we don't always act like every other person is made in God's image. We don't always treat other people justly. We can sometimes focus on our own differences, different skin colors or talents or traditions and then treat people who are similar to us better than we treat people who are different. And because of that, instead of the world being place full of justice where everyone gets exactly what they deserve, the world is full of injustice. Injustice is whenever someone is not treated like human being made in God's image. And like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is threat to justice everywhere." Sometimes it's easy to find injustice and fix it. Like if you saw someone get punished for something they didn't do, you could call that injustice because they're getting punishment that they didn't deserve. You could try and fix that injustice by telling the truth to someone in authority and they could make it right. But sometimes injustice is harder to fix. Like for example, when whole group of people are being treated unfairly because of the color of their skin and they tell the people in authority about it, but the people in authority don't fix the injustice because there's lot of people involved and maybe even whole system that needs to change. It can be really difficult. It can even feel like fighting for justice. The Bible says people who follow God should act with justice by standing up for those who have been treated badly, giving food to the hungry people and setting prisoners free. And the best example of someone fighting for justice was Jesus. Jesus said, "Anything you do for one of the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me." Jesus healed people who were sick and blind. And he taught his followers to feed people who are hungry, take care of people who are sick, and include people who are ignored, even visiting people who were put into prison. But Jesus also stood up for those who didn't have any power. Jesus stood up for people who were being mistreated. He respected women and children, even though most people at that time didn't. And when he saw powerful leaders hurt people, Jesus spoke up about it. He told his followers to stand up for the people who didn't receive justice. Jesus not only showed us it was possible to fight for justice, he showed us that it's what we're supposed to do.