Justice: It Felt Good Punching You In The Face

(somber music plays) I know what it looks like. Homecoming, bloody nose, suit and tie. I bet you think I got in a fight protecting my date. But that's the thing. She punched me. (punch lands) Dang. Are you kidding me? You have to ask me, don't just kiss me. (guys laugh) Bro. Consent, consent, consent. How many times I gotta tell you? I thought I was being a nice guy, like in the movies. It's so confusing being a man. I-I don't. I mean, how come she can punch me, but I can't kiss her? It's not fair. (low dance music plays) All my life I've had questions about my faith. About God, and about religion. (music drops) But now I'm gonna tell you my questions, my struggles, my doubts. I hope you can handle the truth. (air reverberates) Homecoming is so messed up, seriously. So much crazy stuff goes down. Look around. It puts a magnifying glass on how unfair the world is. Just tonight, a guy tries to kiss me without asking. Another girl had to sneak her boyfriend in because her dad wouldn't let her date someone who goes to the "wrong" school. And this one girl in a pink dress hooked up with a guy in the bathroom and just randomly the most Christian girl at school is also wearing a pink dress. And now everyone is on Snapchat trolling about how it was her who did it. (phone vibrates) Ugh. Looks like she just got canceled. (girl sobs) That's messed up. Another fight, always fights. (dance music plays) We glimpse at a world where everything works. Where societies function fairly. Where we not only know what we ought to do, we actually do it. We know there's something called justice but we can't quite get to it. These are the words of NT Wright. His real name is Tom and Tom is right. Go to any school playground where the children are old enough to talk to each other. Pretty soon, one child will say, "That's not fair!" We don't need to teach children about fairness. A sense of justice comes with being human. We know about it and deep in our bones we want it. And yet justice seems to slip through our fingers. The innocent get convicted, the guilty get let off and janitors are underpaid. It's strange that all humans, share a passion for justice and yet after millennia of struggle and arguing, we can't seem to get much closer to it. We have a liquid clean up in the gymnasium. Liquid cleanup in the gymnasium. Somebody rescue me from these kids! They're killing me! Oh. It's over. I'm dead. I'm sure it will blow over. People will forget about it. It has almost 400,000 views. (camera clicks) What am I supposed to do? I didn't even do anything. I've been basically perfect. I'm a Virgin okay? And now on the night, that's supposed to be one of the most perfect nights of my life, my reputation. (girl cries) Gone. (camera clicks) I'm gonna make sure everyone knows who actually did this. I am going to plaster her face all over the school. I almost wore a pink dress tonight. Glad I dodged that bullet. (teens yelling) The Bible tells us, all humans are unique. One of a kind created in God's image. Equally valuable, to be treated with dignity and fairness no matter who we are. It would be nice if everyone acted like that in real life. But in reality, from the start, humans have pushed others down to get ahead and benefited from oppression and unequal treatment of others. Sin and its resulting brokenness are the root of injustice, from our relationships, to our communities. Social norms, laws and government we put in place to manage 'em are also infected. Sin has raised this ugly head, and the brokenness in us produces the brokenness around us. Now we gotta clean up in the boys' locker room. Janitor to the boys' locker room. And we participate in injustice actively, passively, even unintentionally. Janitor to the boys' locker room. (dance music plays) What in the literal.. Respect? See, this is what's wrong with the world. My girl's folks are scared to see- (dryer blows) They're scared of seeing they daughter out with someone like me. My dad's a pastor, I'm kind, respectful. Got a job, got good credit, but no. I gotta hunch and make myself look small. "Don't use your deep voice, it scares her mom." "Don't walk like that, it intimidates her dad." That's why I stay away from girls named Amy. But I love her man. I really, really do. She's my first girlfriend ever. That's life. That's life. It wasn't us. True justice goes beyond merely ensuring that people get what they earn. Sin and brokenness cause inequality. Which means certain people have an unfair advantage over others, in this game of life. God calls out to us and tells us to turn around, look around us to assist our brothers and sisters who are struggling, realizing everyone doesn't start at the same place in life. Remember, Jesus was born to a poor family. He lived among the marginalized and outcast. His trial was a miscarriage of justice. He died violently, naked, innocent, and penniless. It is only through Jesus that we see, God literally identifies with the poor and oppressed. If we look to Jesus as an example, as I do, there are times we have to stop what we are doing, and radically and generously give of ourselves for the sake of others. Wow. That is a lot of poop. (Janitor inhales) Ugh, my nose hurts I've been crying so much. Me too. I don't think that means what you think it means. Hey, can we talk, someplace else? (somber music plays) Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of them. Uh, okay. Well it felt really good punching you in the face, but just because I could doesn't mean I should. I just didn't want you to get away with that. Do you know what you did hurt me? I do now. I'm sorry. I was naive. I was just trying to impress the guys. It was selfish. I'm sorry. I forgive you. (dance music playing) (punch lands) Ow Camilla! Dang girl. (guy laughs) (hip hop music plays)