Scripture verses that caught my attention today: Exodus 21:35-36 If someone’s ox hurts the ox of another, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead animal they shall also divide. 36 But if it was known that the ox was accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not restrained it, the owner shall restore ox for ox, but keep the dead animal.
Observation: The Lord is concerned with justice.
Application: Granted, there’s some oddity in some of the justice prescribed in these two chapters. The verse I picked above probably makes as much sense as any. Other verses are a bit more peculiar. No matter, clearly people understood, even from early times, that the Lord cares about justice. Sometimes it’s a bit of a challenge for us to figure out what the most appropriate justice might be.
I know someone who’s spouse was killed and young daughter seriously injured in a car accident. The culprit was a known diabetic who had run a red light at roughly 65 mph because he was having a hypoglycemic episode. The widow, who is both a strong Christian and a physician, realizes that no amount of punishment will bring the spouse back to life or miraculously heal the daughter. Most likely the legal system will tender the offender with 9 months in prison. While some might consider that too short, the widow would simply prefer another form of justice—his driver’s license revoked for life since, in her words, “he has proven he cannot responsibly drive and manage his disease -- he should have pulled over when he became symptomatic -- and I want to know he can never do to another family what he has done to mine.”
Whether the widow’s idea of justice is more appropriate than the legal system’s I do not know, nor is that the point of my post. Rather, I’m simply observing that as fallible human beings it’s no surprise that we are also fallible when it comes to determining how best to address the fallibility of others! True, sometimes the Biblical witness helps in this regard, but other times not so much. Still, we do our best to fix what we can fix or, more often, somehow try to make peace with situations that are flat-out unfair and perhaps even maddening.
Prayer: Lord, we do long for the day when you will make all things right and new. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(readings today included: Exodus 21-22, Psalm 12, Acts 4)
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