Matthew 14:8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
Injustice isn’t supposed to happen. God never created the world to be rife with it. He loves justice (Isaiah 61:8). All his works are just; not even a trace of injustice can be found in him (Deuteronomy 32:4). He is the perfect balance of love and justice (Psalm 101:1). Injustice is man’s doing. And there’s a lot of folks “doing injustice” these days. It’s downright depressing.
When I witness injustice, I’m like a moth headed to a flame. I find it hard to pull away from its draw. In situations where I can do nothing to stop it, I sit and stew until it almost becomes an obsession. It locks me into the moment and makes me forget God created the world to run on justice. Injustice is an aberration.
The Bible reports numerous accounts of injustice. One of the most disheartening occurs in Matthew 14, which describes how John the Baptist became one of its victims. Angry with John’s confrontation of her and her husband, Herod, Herodias exacted revenge by calling for John’s head to be presented on a platter. John courageously told the truth, and for this, the sword of injustice took his life.
So how should we respond when injustice wins? Or seems to win?
Although John’s death was detestable, in the end, neither Herod nor Herodias won. The man who said, He must increase, but I must decrease knew the time would come when Jesus would take over the work. John the Baptist completed his purpose on the earth. His beheading ushered in the beginning of the end of injustice’s power.
The God who is just turns the most devious of plans into redemption. When Jesus uttered those three magnificent words on the cross—it is finished—the greatest injustice in the world stopped dead in its tracks. Although it didn’t look like victory at the time, three days later the empty tomb proclaimed loudly and clearly that victory it was. Injustice would never again be the final word.
Today, when facing injustice, we don’t have to let it consume us. Instead, we can choose to trust in the God who loves justice and who loves people. Take heart, friend, a day is coming when every wrong will be made right.
Every injustice undone.