Thursday after Laetare, 3/29/01

Exodus 23:2,3 Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. --NIV

In the name of the One Who commands justice, amen.

"Oh those big bad corporations, they should pay! After all they can afford it. That poor person should be able to get something out of them. They won't even miss it." Do these words sound vaguely familiar? In our society many people assume that big corporations are automatically at fault just because they are big, powerful, and have a lot of money. A favorite plot for movies is the poor person winning against the powerful, rich corporation. But there are cases of lawsuits where millions of dollars were awarded and companies went out of business, only to find out later that there was no negligence. A fairly recent case happened with silicone breast implants. After the manufacturer went out of business, studies found that the incidence of cancer was the same as the general population.

But God tells us not to side with the poor against the rich and pervert justice. When we side with the poor against the rich even though the rich are innocent, we reveal that we covet what the rich have. We are to go by what is right and just, and not play God. If a large corporation is innocent, it should not be punished. In fact, it should be assumed to be innocent the same as a poor individual is assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. This is the kind of perfect justice our Lord demands from us. It is the kind of justice that he provides in order to protect everyone, because once justice is lost, it is lost for everyone. Amen.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the perfect justice You demand, and the incredible forgiveness you give us in Jesus Christ. Forgive us for the times when we have perverted justice. Help us to stand for what is right in all things, amen.

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