Injustice from the Bottom Up

I read this article and I was angered.

The news surrounds the sentencing of a ‘drugs lord’ who had been trafficking drugs and being a menace to some in an area of Jamaica.

I was not angered by the sentencing.  I was angered by the levels of corruption and injustice that can be seen at all levels when you consider the story.  First, look at those who supported the man because of his ‘good deeds’ in the community.  It’s not the first time that a drugs baron has been seen as a hero in the community.  It’s not the first we’ve heard of a man who commits some fairly terrible crimes, is also linked with seeking to help the down and out in the community – a community that is indeed severely impoverished.

What kind of society allows such tragic things to happen?

Yet, that’s not the only injustice taking place.  Consider the economic conditions and the role of international pressures that put the man in a position to be a hero to some as well as a villain to many.  Look at how countries like Jamaica appear to be in perpetual debt because of international pressures.  As a result the social as well as economic infrastructure of a country is severely affected and where the help should be channeled it doesn’t reach there.  Successive government prioritise the things the taskmasters say they should prioritise and people in the slums are given the ‘dream’ of making it big and having loads of money but the only routes of getting there are getting a break in education and pushing on from there, or resorting to crime.

Governments and their officials are compromised between their conscience and their financial obligations.  Poor families are subdued and forced to support a criminal organisation that strikes fear through violence.  There appears to be little to break the vicious cycle from the local, to the national to the international.

In the midst of all this, the gospel message and its implications take on an interesting dimension.  Is the offer in the gospel something to divert us from these injustices?  Is the offer meant to act as a kind of a relief so that we endure these injustices at a local, national and global scale, because we know one day Jesus will come and it will all be fine?  Are we meant to reassure ourselves that we do ‘good deeds’ and we’re not ‘bad people’, and leave it at that?

I was angered, as I said, when I read the report.  I was sad for the area, I was sad for the country, I was sad for the man himself, because of what he thought of himself in the light of what he’s been found guilty of.

I pray that the implications of Kingdom Living will convict me to live like it means, and have a heart of compassion for victims of systems and structures that defy God and His Kingdom.  I pray that not only will I have that heart, but be motivated by the heart to do the things that those who are pure in heart, those who are merciful and those who are peacemakers would do.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd