Jesus comforted the afflicted, and afflicted the comfortable.
Compassion for the Afflicted or for Evildoers?
When, through your silence or denial, the afflicted pay the price to maintain your comfort zones – in your personal life, your church, your community or your nation – watch out!
Justice, in its most basic terms, is making sure that evildoers – rather than their victims – bear the cost of their evil.
Injustice is when we impose those costs on the victims, often because we are unwilling to be discomforted by admitting to – or dealing with – the evil among us.
Jesus, because He is love, is also about justice.
And so, even today, He comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
~ Jim Wright
Crossroad Junction 
This is such an important post. I was a victim of clergy sexual misconduct, and because it was an uncomfortable “inconvenience” for the church, I was re-victimized by its silence. After attending a new church in a new denomination for just over a year, the pastor resigned due to clergy sexual abuse of an adult female member. No one wants to talk about the victim; in fact, people are questioning that term when referring to her.
Jesus is about justice. And I believe He empowers us to bring it about.
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This is serious stuff. Those who sponsor evil, while using Jesus to justify themselves, risk hell itself.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” ~ Jesus (Matthew 7:21-23)
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Thank you for your post Jim ………. I’ve been through this too – and “made to feel” an identity which I know was not me……
Anyway, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger …….. your post has helped to affirm my validity and the misunderstandings surrounding the other other side.
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God is truly concerned with cleaning His House,Let the cleansing continue,His house should be a house of restoration and healing, Let thy will be done…so the church can be all, God intended it to be.
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church is like a hospital, it is full of sick folk, and sick folk need healing. It should not be, but even the leadership can be sick, stumble and fall – they too need restoration and healing. As mentioned above, justice for the poor and marginalized is a vital part of our expression of faith. We need to ensure that those in postions of authority are held to account – as per James – an even higher standard, thus those that are wounded by the leadership should have an advocate to ensure justice.
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