JUSTICE, JESUS AND REFUGEES

Bob* lines up outside Katekhaki Asylum offices on the outskirts of central Athens. It’s 5am but the line is already long and the chances of getting in are slim. Bob, though, is full of hope! He received that coveted email from the Greek asylum service saying that his case had been approved and that he could now come and pick up his ID card and travel document. Years of waiting were finally about to pay off. Better yet, he actually manages to get into the office and queues up inside. After another several hours of waiting in an un-air-conditioned decrepit building he approaches the counter, gives his information and receives his cards. For a second he feels nothing but euphoria! But his eye catches something on his ID card. Bob is a fifty year old stocky, bearded man. His ID card however states he is a woman… He quickly turns back to the clerk behind the counter and notifies them in broken Greek and English of the error. Without any hint of remorse or sympathy, the clerk simply informs him that he will have to start the process over, give his fingerprints at the office again and wait the undetermined amount of time before he can once again come and pick up the corrected cards. 

Stories like Bob’s were almost a daily occurrence during our time in Greece. 

People seeking asylum and those with refugee status face a myriad of forms of injustice in their daily lives. Whether it be corrupt, rude government offices, dishonest translators, getting kicked out of their housing with little notice, violence and rioting by racist uninformed thugs or many other events like these, injustice is everywhere for the person seeking asylum. It exists, systemically, locally and informally through communities and families where, based on gender, clan of origin or age, you face varying kinds of severe oppression. 

I wish I could recall where I read a quote that read something like this: ‘to be offended by the justice of God is a luxury’. What does this mean? It means that those who have a problem with the justice of God are usually people who have not faced much injustice in their lives. They therefore do not have much of a thirst for revenge or justice to be restored.

For people seeking asylum however the opposite is true. They have usually faced horrendous injustice in their home nations and are then faced with injustice again in their host nations.  The injustices faced will often not be reversed and therefore there is little relief. 

The promises of perfect justice being restored by a perfectly just judge are therefore not offensive but a sweet promise on which to hang all hope. 

Jesus faced unimaginable injustice throughout his life. And yet on the cross and in His resurrection He brought about the beginning of a Kingdom where asylum applications, corrupt government officials, oppression and every other kind of injustice will be gone. 

He suffered all injustice to put all injustice to death. 

However the hope of perfect justice in heaven is not all that Jesus offers to those suffering injustice. Hear these words of His from the sermon on the mount:

“10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:10-12

He provides the hope of future justice, but He also provides a mechanism to deal with the injustice of today! How?

When talking of justice from a Biblical perspective it is essential to recognise that while systemic injustice experienced by oppressed people groups is an issue to be addressed by christians because Jesus talks about it, Scripture is also clear that no one is just: “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). 

A person seeking asylum dealing with terrible injustice is not only a victim of injustice. Just like every other person ever created, they are also a culprit in need of mercy and grace because of the injustice they have committed. 

Why is this so important to communicate? Is this not a little harsh? Do people seeking asylum not just need the comforting truths of systemic justice restored in heaven? Why should those serving people seeking asylum communicate the hard truth that none of us is innocent when it comes to justice?

Because when a person, including a person seeking asylum, accepts that they are not the just ones being oppressed by the unjust but that Christ is the only just one and was oppressed by each one of us unjust creatures, they can live out the words of Jesus above. We can bless those who persecute us because Christ blesses us. We can pray for those who cause us to suffer injustice because Christ intercedes for us, the ones who caused him to suffer infinite injustice.

Yes, perfect justice will be restored and it begins by being restored within the hearts of every single follower of Jesus.