The Image of Justice
I came across a friend’s post of a photograph that served as a reminder of a time when a state’s laws prohibited the education of black people. The photograph gave me pause to reflect and ponder the depiction of what is inarguably an injustice. But what makes it an injustice? What is the foundation of the injustice demonstrated in that photo – no - of any and all injustice? For those of us who claim belief in an almighty God, and as part of that belief, what separates us from all of God’s other creations, is that we are unique in the aspect that we are created in the image of God. Everyone of us as human beings, yes as God’s very children, are a unique reflection of our Heavenly Father. Based on that belief, for any one of us to treat another human being as inferior, as less than, as irrelevant, or as unworthy, is to treat God in like manner. Interestingly, Jesus said “what you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” The concept that makes that statement so profound is that Jesus also proclaimed that the greatest in His Father’s Kingdom is the one who conducts himself as the least here on earth. This is the precise definition of humility. Any notion of justice that is absent the condition that injustice exists because any person feels entitled to treat another child of God as inferior or subject to their relative views of morality – serves to actually perpetuate injustice. Without an absolute understanding of moral authority that flows from an absolute God – then all morality becomes relative. And by that very definition, moral relativity embraced by any society or culture, becomes the very death knell of morality. Martin Luther King, Jr, in his speeches and his writings recognized this distinction, and the essential truth of it. That is why so many of his words refer back to the authority of Scripture: Dr. King was basically stating no one can claim to have a relationship with a Heavenly Father and in their own hearts, harbor any animosity toward any of God’s children. Dr. King was making the case that God’s standing as our Heavenly Father and the Creator of each of us in His very image, made such harboring of animosity irreconcilable to God’s law, and more importantly, irreconcilable to God’s love. Jesus made it very simple for all of us: He, who is love, commanded that we love one another as He loves us. That is the very heart of social justice, political justice, religious justice, any justice as qualified by any word one may choose. It is the ability to perceive one another in a vision that enables each of us to look at a fellow human being, and see the very image of God, and to see Justice’s beautiful face.
