Are Societies Better With Justice?

“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. [Deuteronomy 21.18-21]

I have written on this topic before. As I retuned to that post from 2018, I am reminded that justice serves a purpose far beyond just 'punishment.' Societies are better with justice.

One thing that stands out today however is that the parents of the wayward son have to be more fully committed to justice for their society than to their emotional attachment to their son. 

If left to 'emotions' alone, most everyone would conclude the punishment prescribed in the passage above is excessive. But, when one considers a broader world-view than just their own personal emotions, it becomes clear that the course of action laid out by Deuteronomy 21.18-21 is, in fact, the only solution to remedy the growth and spread of rebellion for the society.

"For God so loved the world..." needs to be our centering factor in all we do. If we lose sight of the fact that God's will is that all are saved and understand the truth, then we disqualify ourselves from rightly discerning the justice promoted in Deuteronomy 21.18-21.

Now, here is an interesting twist on what is said up to this point... When Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep we see a different approach, don't we? Instead of writing off the wayward sheep as "lost" and focusing on the 99 compliant sheep, the man makes every effort to recover the lost sheep. Hmm.

So, here is my question today: are societies better with justice then or forgiveness? And, if we answer "forgiveness" are we promoting a society of complete chaos?

Father, I realize that Jesus totally presented a different perspective for us. Help us all to be so well-acquainted with Jesus that we intimately understand both justice and forgiveness!