“Suffering Injustice with Grace”

A woman sits down for the first time in silent prayer in front of an abortion mill in Fargo, North Dakota, and gets nine months in the Bismarck State Penitentiary for peacefully trying to save the lives of unborn children.

The CEO and other members of the board of a gigantic energy corporation in Texas encourage their employees to buy company stock, while at the very same time they’re selling off their own stock as fast as they can – making millions – before the company goes bankrupt.

A man who’s faithfully labored for the same company for 20 years discovers that the upper management has involved the company in several financial improprieties and is immediately fired when he reports his findings to his superior.

A teenage girl confides in her best friend that her math teacher made inappropriate advances towards her. But the next day she hears the rumors now flying all over school that she tried to up her grade in math by throwing herself at her teacher.

Stories like these rankle us to our core, don’t they? I don’t think there is anything that gets our dander up more than when we hear of someone experiencing terrible hurt for doing the right thing, while the people inflicting the hurt benefit as a result. The only thing, perhaps, that riles us more is when it happens to us.

Injustice makes us mad. And the dominant attitude even among us Christians is: if I’ve been mistreated or hurt or betrayed then I’m justified – I have a right – to be angry, to be critical, to be bitter. The wrongs that have been done to me justify my desire to see the other guy get his pay back, and therefore I have a right to lash out. I have a right to return curse for curse, to threaten, to hold a grudge, to make sure that “justice” is done. And you know what? No one in the world would think badly of us - actually, they’d probably not even notice – if that’s the way we acted when we experienced unjust suffering. In our incredibly litigious culture it’s exactly what we’re expected to do. After all, isn’t it the natural thing to do?

But what the world will take notice of is if, when we Christians suffer some injustice, we say instead, “Yes, I have been wronged; I have been mistreated or hurt unjustly; and yes, the people who’ve wronged me do deserve to brought to justice. But no, I will not be bitter, I will not retaliate with curses and threats, I will not criticize or slander. I will return good for evil, and blessing for cursing.” That’s something people will stand up and take notice of precisely because it is so unnatural. Actually, I’d say it is supernatural. It is beyond what any of us can do except by the miracle of grace in our lives. But as those who have been made new creatures in Christ, as those who have experienced the miracle of new birth and sanctification in the Spirit, we are called to live as those who have been raised above our “natural” fallen humanity to the supernatural life of a Christian.

God says to us in his Holy Word today that if we are truly believers in Jesus Christ, if we haveve truly been born again in Him, then we will live our lives in this world from a radically different perspective, from a radically different set of values and priorities, than the rest of the world. And one practical working out of this is that being Christians will make a difference in how we react to unjust suffering. As a Christian, there is new dynamic factor that enters into the equation beyond just me and the injustice. And that other factor, simply put, is the consciousness of God’s presence in my life.

We heard St. Peter say this morning in our Epistle Lesson: “For this is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.” The Greek literally reads, “For this is grace,” which could mean either, “This is living by grace,” or, “This is graceful or pleasing to God,” if, because you have God in your thoughts, you patiently endure the mental and emotional grief of unjust suffering.

Notice, first, that this in no Christian Science mumbo jumbo about denying the reality of suffering. The pain and sorrow of unjust suffering are real. And what is graceful before God, and what is due only to God’s grace in us, is not that we try to deny the reality of our suffering, but that we patiently bear it “for the sake of conscience toward God.” We don’t bear the suffering because Christians are wimps or because we are afraid of the world. We bear it because God is the unseen dynamic factor in our lives. We look to Him and not to our circumstances. Our thoughts are about how we might please Him, not how we might be satisfied of our rights. For it is to this supernatural behavior that He has called us.

So Peter goes on to say, “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God” (NASB). “For to this you were called” (NKJV).

Let that sink in for a moment. As a Christian it is your calling – it’s your holy vocation – to patiently bear up under criticism, and misunderstanding, and slander, and hurt for doing what is right. To receive unfair treatment without bitterness or revenge, without returning hurt for hurt. “For this finds favor with God.” “This is commendable before God.” Literally, again, “this is grace with God.” “Because” – there’s the key word (verse 21) – “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.”

When we meditate through the passion and death of the Lord, I think there are two things that stand out most in our minds. One: the incredible injustice of it all. Anytime we think we’re suffering the grief of unjust suffering, all we need to do is go back in our minds to that last night before his death, to get a proper perspective on things. Betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends. Misunderstood by everyone. Criticized for not being who they wanted Him to be, and slandered for being who He was not. Deprived of his right to a fair trail. Mocked and beaten by the religious authorities. Given over to the will of the mob by the civil authority. Robbed, reviled, spit upon, and sent to die the most inhuman form of execution ever devised.

But the second thing that stands out in our minds is how graciously he bore it all – He, who if anyone ever had a right cry foul, to demand justice, to threaten vengeance, it was Him. For “He committed no sin” He’d never done anything wrong to another person His entire life. “Nor was deceit found in His mouth.” He’d only ever told the truth, but now He was cursed for a devil and mocked as a mad man.

And yet, “being reviled, he did not revile in return; while suffering, he uttered no threats. But committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Actually the word “Himself” is added by the editors. He committed it – the whole situation, His unjust suffering, the mockery, the abuse, His innocence, His righteousness – to the One who judges justly.

Here is one of the most important keys to how we can patiently endure unjust suffering for the sake of conscience toward God (or because God is in our thoughts). When we bear up under unjust suffering, it’s not because we’re saying that justice doesn’t matter; it’s not because we’re saying that suffering isn’t real. What we’re saying is that, because we have been made in the image of God and renewed in the image of Christ, God has been offended more than we have. And therefore God has a greater right than we have to see justice done. “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord, “I will repay.” God is the final judge and He will settle all accounts justly. He’ll have the last word, so we don’t have to.

This is grace. This is living by grace, and this is living with grace before God. It is our calling as Christians, because we are to live as Christ in this world.

It all boils down to this: Remember God. Be conscious of God in all your circumstances. He will remember you and reward you for every good forgotten by others. He will judge justly every injustice you’ve suffered is this world. So hand it over to Him. Give Him the last word. Give Him the glory. And so may the God of grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.