We sing, “Let justice roll like a river and wash all oppression away.”
But what does that mean? What is justice? It is not an easy concept to describe. I remember, as a lawyer, that every time my client would win a case, his opponent would claim that there had been an injustice. And if we lost, it was deemed an injustice for us.
Let me take you to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The wonderful play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, is based upon the true story of one John Proctor.
Witchcraft is suspected. The Salem church leaders ask the state to put on trial people whom they assert had conspired with evil forces. Twenty people are put to death. John Proctor is wrongly named as a witch but if he confesses, his life will be spared. He chooses to go to the gallows because his honour as a truthful man is more important than his life. It is magnificent writing, designed by Arthur Miller as a way of condemning the unjust McCarthy ‘witch hunts’ that had been initiated against suspected communists in the USA in the early 1950s.
The Salem church was seeking justice but the more ‘justice’ they meted out in the name of their beliefs, the more the injustices unfolded.
Incidentally, that’s the ‘justice’ approach taken by the leaders in Iran today. Religious people are interpreting God’s justice in a way that justifies their killings.
Historians tell us that many injustices have been carried out in the name of, or with the blessing of, religious fervour.
Here are a couple of examples from France in the Middle Ages.
The Cathars of Languedoc were branded heretics by Rome in 1209. The Legate goes to Béziers, France, but finds that the 500 renegades have been infiltrated into the city. He asks for instructions. The reply from Rome was simple: “Kill them all. The Lord will know his own.” The Crusaders were sent to carry out the order. The entire city of 10,000 was killed.
We also have the horrors of Montségur. As a haven for Cathars, the Château de Montségur gained symbolic and strategic importance in the resistance fight against the Catholic Church. Starting in May 1243, French royal forces held a nine-month siege of the chateau. After the castle surrendered, about 200 unrepentant Cathars were burned alive in a massive bonfire on 16 March 1244.
Lest you think that these are historical anomalies, these killings in the name of religious ‘justice’ are not too dissimilar from what was carried out by a gunman in two Christchurch mosques in 2019, nor by Hamas in October, 2023, nor by Israel in their bombings over the next 24 months in an attempt to destroy Hamas in Gaza, nor by the horror of December 14 last year in Bondi.
The Hebrew Testament and New Testament scriptures have admonitions that could quite easily have been the justification for these atrocities:
Deuteronomy 7:2. “When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.”
Matthew 13: 41. “The Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things and they will throw them into the fiery furnace where they will cry and grind their teeth.”
But I choose a different sort of justice, one that is guided not by hatred and cruelty but by mercy and love.
Hosea 11: 9 “God is merciful, compassionate and patient. He will not come in anger.”
Leviticus 19: 18 “Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him but love your neighbour as you love yourself.”
Matthew 5:38-42, “Turn the other cheek”; “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may become the sons of your father in heaven.”
Romans 12:17, “If someone has done you wrong, do not repay him with a wrong … do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.”
These same sentiments are found in the words of the wordsmith genius William Shakespeare over 400 years ago in The Merchant of Venice. There’s some gendered language, as expected, but it’s intriguing that these words are uttered by a woman (Portia) who has been legally trained. That’s pretty good for a play written in 1598.
For the purposes of this exercise, I equate ‘mercy’ with ‘justice.’
The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, the attribute to awe and majesty, wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptred sway. It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself.
How blessed we are in this country to have a constitution and a justice system that is devoid of fear and scaremongering. Canadian PM Mark Carney, too, reminded the world earlier this month in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos of the importance of rule-based justice and mercy to world peace. “It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown,” Shakespeare might have said.
The enmity in the Middle East continues, Ukraine remains a shocking stalemated battle ground. Iran’s government oppresses those who would challenge them. In China, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen people live in constant fear of surviving the next day. In Sudan’s El Fasher there was, throughout 2025, a widespread killing spree that defies belief. American policies, too, defy logic, including the forced and chaotic deportation of undocumented migrants and the killing of peaceful protestors who stand to protect them.
To challenge this madness, Christians are called upon to live our faith boldly and compassionately. How do we do that? It is straightforward. We must ensure that our communities are motivated by justice that is employed …
not by power, but by our concern for the powerless;
not by wealth, but by how we treat the poor;
not by our ability to be invulnerable, but when we care for the vulnerable;
not by when we sit on earthly thrones, but when we criticise corrupted power.
To my mind it comes down to a question of choice. We find such a choice in Deuteronomy, the 5th book of the Hebrew Testament, in a verse common to all three of the great monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Verse 30: 19 reminds us: “I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life. Love the Lord your God, obey him and be faithful to him …”
I can say it no better than that.
Rick Sarre