“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53.4-6)
Christ’s death was strikingly broad in its application. ‘He died for our sins,’ as sometimes stated, does not cover the scope of what occurred when Christ suffered three hours of darkness, as He gave His life on the cross. Christ was the just dying for the unjust, the perfectly righteous and holy one dying for us who are neither righteous nor holy. He died for our transgressions (ie: wrong-doings) and iniquities (the Hebrew word means crooked, or perverse); and we may be perpetrator or victim. He gave His life for our iniquities, and for all inequity.
During His life, Jesus Christ addressed injustice. He prefigured what would be achieved in the future.
“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. … Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.” (John 8.6, 8)
During the incident of ‘the woman caught in adultery,’ Christ wrote on the ground. John mentions this twice. What did He write? Perhaps an extract from the ten commandments. I think something altogether simpler; a line.
This was a line of justice. Jesus Christ was addressing gross injustice in first century Judea. It was a male-dominated society. Only the woman was brought in for summary execution. Yet the couple were caught ‘in the very act.’ In the male-dominated society the male perpetrator was protected, although equally guilty.
And this was a line of forgiveness, of dealing fully with in-equity, of iniquity, of injustice. The woman was forgiven but sent away, “go now and leave your life of sin.” Christ did not understate nor ignore sin. There had to be repentance. But there was also forgiveness.
No wonder Christ’s words and actions exposed and silenced the accusers.
Jesus addressed another gross injustice when He cleansed the temple. This is first recorded in John 1.12-22.
There was wrong priority; trade where there should have been prayer. Was the trade controlled by the high priest? That is not explicit in the scripture but we understand this from other history.
Jesus’ response was nuanced; turning over the temples of the sellers. But, for those who sold pigeons, for the poor; He spoke strongly, rebuking them. Here is anger but controlled and directed.
At the end of His ministry, He returned, with much stronger words. He accused them of turning the temple area into “a den of robbers” (Matt 21.13). The warning had not been heeded. They apparently hoped He would not return, that they could continue their corruption uninterrupted. No wonder John had prophesied of Christ; “His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor” (Luke 3.17).
“We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet 3.13). In the eternal future which Christ has won for us, there will be no more injustice and no more ‘time & chance.’ Creation itself will share the glorious freedom of the children of God. This future is guaranteed – that is what we describe as hope.
In this broken, fallen world, injustice is endemic. A day will come when that will cease. Hallelujah!