Living the Message

What does justice look like? Today, Pastor Amy read Luke 4:14-30. In the synagogue, Jesus read from the Scripture in Isaiah 61 where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Jesus then said that this Scripture has been fulfilled today: Isaiah 61 has been put into motion with Jesus' coming. Where we can see this is in examples of restorative justice where wrongdoers are given opportunities to not only be accountable for their wrong but to make amends for what they have done and address the underlying conditions which caused this harm. Pastor Amy gave us the wonderful example of her friend's mom.

A few years ago, I participated in sidewalk counseling outside of an abortion clinic. In many instances where women would come back for their post-abortion check-ups, they would feel great remorse for what they had done. We would be able to pray with them, listen to them, or offer them support groups where they could experience the healing of Jesus Christ. There are so many in our community that work so hard to bring healing to these women who for whatever reason have come to the terrible decision to end the life of their unborn babies.