Advocacy for the Betrayed

If there’s one thing we can know with assurance, and rest upon, it is the judgment of the wicked; the powerful in this life who betray the trust of the vulnerable will be on the receiving end of Power in eternity. Life will seem irrefutably short to these, and our prayer is that the vulnerable who’ve been betrayed might know some of the Justice that has taken place. So much better then that a semblance of justice might occur before eternity.

We all know of many situations and stories of such betrayal; where persons knowingly or unknowingly placed themselves at the whim of those positioned to either bless or curse them; and cursed them they did.

Stories of abuse, neglect, deprivation and destruction stain the litany of history. These stories we connect with and they anger us. We choose either reprisal or advocacy, for apathy just doesn’t fit our consciences.

Advocacy Is The Only Way

So, there we land, in a two-horse race to make a decision about how we will respond to thoughts of sweeping injustice. We have reprisal or advocacy.

Many go the way of reprisal. ‘An eye for an eye’, they say—citing some biblical imperative, reflecting the Law. Little do they know or care that they are useless to the vulnerable betrayed in seeking reprisal. Even less useful are they to themselves, for they get bitter and twisted. Their best favour is sought in seeking knowledge regarding ‘the why’ of their anger. What of their past is unreconciled or irreconcilable? Why are they so vehement of the abuser or neglecter that they cut off their ability to act for the vulnerable?

In a moment of reason they might look upon the Advocate. The Spirit of God is the perfect model—the Incarnate Son, Jesus, worked tirelessly for the vulnerable and never let reprisal shift his focus from the real goal.

Jesus teaches us advocacy as the only positively cogent form of response. With our anger checked by the love of God, which is enrolled at our acceptance of our offence before God regarding our sin, which has been forgiven, we have control over the further disposal of our emotions regarding fighting for others.

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Advocacy is the only good way to fight for the vulnerable. Reprisal, in any form, works not for the vulnerable, but against them, and even against us as well. The Lord says, ‘Vengeance is mine’. Let it be that way.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.