These days I work as a barber. Today a long-haired customer walked in and asked for a short cut. So we chatted and I snipped. Snip snip. Anyway, suddenly he said “stop!”. I said “what’s wrong?”. He said “it isn’t short enough”. I said “I know, I haven’t finished”. He said “and it’s wet”. I said “yes, I had to wet it to cut it straight, your hair was all ruffled”. He said “this is not good enough, I’m not paying”, stormed out of the shop and slammed the door.
The trouble is, right now, I badly need that revenue.
So here is my dilemma:
From my standpoint in the marketplace I want justice.
I think he is in the wrong and I want to make him pay.
From my standpoint in the church, I wonder if I should exercise grace, and this is why:
Jesus said “… if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also …” [B’rC|NT:Luk6]
Paul said “… why not rather be wronged? why not rather be cheated? …” [B’rC|NT:1Cor6]
So justice or grace?
If grace, then must the perpetrator first be shown his error?
[988:3581]
4 comments:
Yes, arbitration, justice, grace and reconcilliation in that order?
Did Jesus not also say he had come to "set at liberty those who are oppressed"? On the surface justice and grace seem to be in tension with one another. Maybe we should aim for a justice tempered with a mercy that does not yield injustice. Maybe God's justice is on a higher plane than our worldy view?
if you exercise grace, who will pay the wages of the boy who sweeps up the hair from around the chairs? who will pay the overheads of the shop? who will pay "... to Caesar what is Caesar's ..." [NT|B'rC:Luk20]?
I opted to seek justice, so in April I took him to the County court.
I reached the hearing after several months of pushing coins into slots with plaques that read 'solicitor' or 'state'.
During the hearing, the 'judge' did so much huffing and puffing - as he swayed his head to and fro between mine and the defendant's scripts - that I thought I would have done better just spending the money on an inhaler for the poor man instead.
If I'm honest, I did enjoy watching the defendant sweating for an hour in the waiting room before the hearing.
I also enjoyed hearing him being reprimanded by the judge - like a disobedient schoolboy - for not following court instructions.
The judge didn't do a very good job though. He allowed the defendant an accomplice who was never introduced to me by name or role, and he allowed him to use distorted evidence. It was all a bit shambolic really. He should come to my salon sometime and see a real professional at work.
What I enjoyed the most was at the end. The judge told me that he thought I was an intelligent and articulate man. A curious observation. But nice.
He then closed the hearing and turned to me, asking how business was going. I told him that - except for this case - business was going well, to which he smiled kindly and wished me all the very best for the future.
So I didn't win the case, I'm not sure if it's what Jesus would have done, and it won't pay me for all the hard work done by me and the boy who sweeps up the hair, never mind the grinding charges I have to pay to keep my scissors sharp.
But hey, it did make me smile.
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