How to Get What You Want: Justice

We all have a longing for justice. We want to be treated fairly, and we want to see fairness and equal treatment for others. Where do we go with this longing for justice? Sometimes we go to social justice groups, protests, politics, and advocacy efforts to find our meaning and purpose. There is a place for advocacy, but it will not satisfy the thirst in your soul for things to be put right. Ultimately justice belongs to the Lord. He expressed his love and justice on the cross. Justice is found in Jesus.

Transcript

Sep 28 2025 How to Get What You Want, Justice Luke 18:1-8 

Is this world thirsty for justice? Yes, it is. Are you? Yeah, me too. Some of these topics we have to make a little bit of an argument, like last week with purity. You might say, “I’m not sure people even want purity.” People want justice. In this series, How to Get What You Want, today we ask, what about justice? People want Justice. Usually when we say “justice” we are thinking “retribution.” “I hope that guy gets what’s coming to him.” If you did an awful thing you had better get a punishment to fit the crime. Take the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We rely on a justice system, the Department of Justice, because we want a punishment to fit the crime. But it’s worse than one crime. We see people celebrating the murder on social media. There was a State Representative killed along with her husband last month in Minnesota, a killing at an ICE facility in Dallas, and on and on. Now what do we want? It’s more than just crime and punishment, retribution, getting what’s coming. I want a different world. I want a society that knows evil when it sees it. I want a world where political violence is out, where murder is intolerable, where young men are not sucked into dark pits of nihilism and anarchy, crawling out on a roof with a rifle. There is so much we want, isn’t there? Justice. Charlie Kirk’s wife, Erika, stood on stage in front of 100,000 mourners a week ago and forgave her husband’s killer. Maybe that moves us closer.  

Justice is more than a Christian thing. Everybody wants justice. Yale did puppet show studies on babies. The babies watched a puppet show with two rabbits and a tiger passing a ball. One rabbit with an orange shirt helped the tiger when he dropped his ball. The rabbit with a green shirt took the ball and ran off the stage with it! The babies watched this puppet show ten times. Then they put the two puppets in front of the babies to see which one they would pick, the mean bunny or the nice bunny. 80% of the babies reached out for the nice bunny. One baby smacked the mean bunny on the nose! We are born looking for justice. True crimes is an entertainment category. 84% of us watch true crimes shows weekly on television, YouTube or podcasts. Why? We are all looking for justice. We are justice-thirsty beings made in the image of a justice-bringing God. 

Jesus told a parable about a woman looking for justice. “He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’” (Luke 18:2-3) There was an unjust judge and a woman seeking justice. “Imagine that,” Jesus said. It’s not hard to imagine. She said, “Give me justice. Let me get what is right from the one who only wants to give me wrong, let me experience what is fair from my enemy. Put it right.” Jesus doesn’t go into it any deeper. We don’t know what the issue was. What does she mean by justice? What does she want?  

People mean all kinds of things when they use that word. Retribution. Getting even. Equal application of the law. A lot of times they mean, “I want it to bend my way. I want things the way I want them. I want it fair, as I see it. Fair as I see fair.” Fundamental worldview questions come into play. What is fair? Who decides? Is there a God in heaven, or are we playing the game without a referee? If there is no God, “justice” is nothing but a word to describe me getting what I want. It’s a power play. Nicky Gumbel says that’s not justice, but “just us.” If it’s just us, we fight it out to get what we want. But justice, true justice, is “just as” God wants it. Justice isn’t “just us” but “just as” God defines. That’s a little clever, but it helps. What did the woman mean when she said, “give me justice”? True justice is God’s justice whether you want it or not. When we don’t get what we want, we squirm and wriggle and the unmet need, the unsatisfied hunger eats at our bones and drives us to desperation. What do you do with this need? I want justice.  

The woman goes to the local magistrate, the local judge, who is famous for being horrible. Where else can she go? But the reason Jesus tells the story is not to share a fable about fairness. Did you see it? It’s what? “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1) That’s what we are learning about. Prayer. Seeking God. Even when it seems like God isn’t answering. Never give up. Pray, wait, and trust. God’s justice, the world just as God intends, is on the way and it will surely come. Pray and never give up. She kept at it, didn’t she? She kept coming. “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think…’” (Luke 18:4) She didn’t give up. She kept pressing, kept praying. Jesus likes that. The road to just as God wants has been laid down and paved. Jesus is leading us down that road. But along the way are some hard turns, difficult hills and valleys, and none of us knows how long the road goes. Keep on, Jesus says. Keep on.  

Finally, the unjust judge does what is just. God can use anyone. God can make a straight lick with a crooked stick. With God, even what was meant for evil can turn for good. The reason the judge changes his mind is so she won’t come and give him a black eye! Our English translations are sanitized. “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” (Luke 18:5) He’s not afraid of being beat up. He’s afraid of looking bad. “What happened to your eye? Roman soldier?” “No, it was Betty Lou. She got fed up and belted me.” Don’t get to that point. It won’t get to that point with God, says Jesus. Who is God? Don’t you know? “And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?’” (Luke 18:6-7) God will bring justice. It is on the way. The order is in. We are just waiting for it to arrive. “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) Quickly is a relative term. We wait. Justice is not here yet, is it? We wait, longing for God to put things right. It will come. 

But, and here’s the point, when it comes, what will Jesus find us doing? What are you doing with your unfulfilled thirst for justice? What happens when you see injustice continue, when evil seems to win, when death seems to make a claim? Jesus told a story so that we would keep praying and never give up. “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) Or will he find that we have given up, that we have lost our faith, that we said at some point, “I don’t think he’s coming.” Like the Israelites, we said, “I don’t think he’s coming down that mountain; let’s do it ourselves; let’s make our own gods; let’s take it up into our own hands. Let’s get revenge.” Cowboy justice. What are we to do? Faith on the earth. Will Jesus find it? Faith that God in charge. Faith that the Kingdom of God is coming. Faith that we can trust that God will act and set all things right in time.  

What do you do with your thirst for justice? It can pitch us into all kinds of frustrated behaviors that only make things worse. Have you ever spilled oil on the side of your car? The more you wipe it the bigger the mess gets. I’ll jump on social media. That will do it. I’ll attack my friends and family with scorching language. I’m not pretending it is easy to discern what is right, but I do know we do a lot that is wrong, and we regret it. What do you do with that thirst for justice? We say, “God, destroy all the evildoers! Let everyone on the face of this earth get what they deserve!” Wait a minute. What does that mean for me?  

What can we do? Jesus says keep praying. Here’s a story about how to pray and never give up. It’s about a woman seeking justice. Keep praying. Keep waiting. Waiting is not nothing. Waiting takes energy and intentionality. God works in the waiting. Keep watching. When you see the Kingdom of God breaking through, jump in and help! Jump in and dig around it and nurture it and cultivate it. Make space for the Kingdom of God to sprout up in your life. And wait, watch and work. Yes, work. The more familiar you get with the vision of the world just as God intends, the coming Kingdom of God Jesus talks about, the more you will recognize when it is being violated. That’s not right. That’s not the Kingdom. This is different from saying, “That’s not fair,” or “That’s not how I prefer it,” or “That’s not how I want it.” This is saying, “That’s not the Kingdom Jesus says is coming.” You might not say that out loud, depending on the circumstance, but you can move with conviction with that vision in front of you. Resolve to live no lies, to traffic in truth. Resolve to share the good news of the Kingdom that is on the way and what Jesus has done to bring it. Resolve to work lovingly in those places of brokenness where the distance between what you see and what is coming is so painfully stark. And resolve to do all these things as a servant of the neighbor in front of you, with gentleness and respect. 

What do you do with injustice? Turn to Jesus. “God, destroy all evil.” How can we have a God who executes wrath on injustice but also forgives? “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26) Jesus became the punishment against injustice, so you and I, who are unjust, could be justified to the Father, forgiven and redeemed. Turn to Jesus.