Justice cont.

What is justice?

Justice concerns the proper ordering of things and persons within a society.

We are to bring this proper order.We are to be bringers of justice

This is active!

It is possible that we are unjust without realising it.

I have just watched a movie called “Black Gold”. It is a documentary that explores the injustice created by the coffee industry. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind oil. Despite the demand for coffee, the large coffee corporations ensure they pay as little as possible to coffee growers. They do this generally by keeping knowledge of trading practices from the growers and giving them no options but to sell at a price that keeps farmers in poverty.
Black Gold looks closely at the coffee industry in Ethiopia, and is well worth you watching (or even buying and giving to friends to watch). It chronicles the stories of farmers who are in generational poverty – poverty that could be reversed if the coffee cartels offered a fair price for the coffee. I think I worked out that it would cost us about an extra 50 cents a cup (at a cafe) to enable these farmers to have a reasonable level of income that enabled them to give an education to their children and sufficient food to eat. However, in order to maximise profits, these cartels keep many of these farmers in poverty.

This is where fair trade coffee comes in. Fair trade coffee is bought at a fair price that enables farmers to attain a reasonable standard of living. I have notice that generally it is no more expensive than coffee that is purchased at a price that literally destroys lives.

What can we do? Buy fair trade coffee. Ask your local cafe to stock fair trade coffee.

For all those smug non-coffee drinkers, this concept of fair trade does not just apply to coffee. Chocolate as well as many other products we buy can create injustice. The challenge to me and perhaps for you as well is to become aware of where what I buy comes from and who it affects.

But will it affect our wallet? Maybe.
Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.

Justice

I have been pondering on concepts of Justice lately. One catalyst for this has been a movie called Black Gold about the injustice we can be part of unkowlingly through the coffee we buy. More about that later. Here are some thoughts from the Bible:

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

Caring for the poor, the weak and the marginalized is central to the life of the Scriptures and its prophets.

God loves justice!

Psalms 33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Psalms 82:3-4
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy:
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Micah 6:8 8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Jesus was focussed on Justice

Matt 12:18-21
Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.

Jesus also taught on it.

Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

We are charged to be justice-fighters for those who are unable to set things right on their own. Do we believe in these verses, not simply as words but rather a way of life?

My Girl