Scripture:

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6.8)

Reflection:

Justice? In a world where so much seems unfair, where people do terrible things?

We all seem to be born with an inbuilt moral sense of what is fair, of the way in which others ought to behave towards us. How should we deal with those who break the code? Low-level infringements may be cleared up with apologies and simple reparations, but at the other extreme some offences seem unforgiveable.

The prophet Micah gets to the heart of the message of the Bible, and Jesus dramatically lived it out – kindness, mercy, love go hand-in-hand with justice. Justice may require punishment, but we will fail ourselves, our principles and our God if we cannot combine that with compassion.

David Harmsworth