“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God.”–Micah 6:7
One day ten years ago, I was only a few miles from my brother’s home in Raleigh when blue lights appeared behind me. I was driving from Pennsylvania to officiate at my aunt’s funeral. When the lights started flashing, I thought the officer wanted to pass so I pulled into the emergency lane. He came in behind me. I had no idea why he was doing so, but secured my registration and insurance card even so. Upon reaching my window the officer said, “I clocked you going 15 miles an hour over the speed limit.” The posted speed was 55. I had my cruise control set and was not going 70 mph. Thus, without thinking, I replied “Officer, you must be mistaken!”
You can guess how well that went over. Still, he was very professional in replying “You can tell that to the judge” as he took my paperwork. A few minutes later, he returned with a citation. “Since you were driving more than 15 miles over the speed limit,” he now declared, “you will have to return for an appearance at the Wake County Courthouse.” He handed me the document showing the prescribed date and time, requiring a return trip of 444 miles two months later. I was hot, but knew better than to say anything more and instead silently took the paper. After he returned to his car, I put on my blinker and slowly returned to the highway.
The next week, I secured an attorney from Wake County to help me with next steps. He reached me at home one day and said he had first called the church. “I told whoever answered the phone that I was looking for hardened criminal John Willingham.” He then asked, “What’s your position at the church?” When I told him, he laughed. “I thought that might be the case,” and offered to help at no charge beyond court costs. “We Christians need to stick together!” he said. Weeks later, I received word that everything was resolved, but the episode continued to linger in my mind.
I do not claim to have never driven above the speed limit in my 52 years behind the wheel, but on that June day, I was not going 71 miles an hour. Thus, I drove away with the suspicion that the real reason I had been pulled over and given the citation was that I had shown the audacity to drive a car through one stretch of Wake County with out-of-state license plates.
I can’t prove that suspicion, of course, but found myself wishing I could have shared my North Carolina credentials with that officer. Born and baptized in Greensboro, NC, graduated from college in Davidson, NC, full-time jobs in Gastonia and Shelby, NC, a pastorate in Matthews, NC, a mother who was born in Goldsboro, NC, and siblings who lived in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Waynesville, NC. Such a defense would have made no difference as the officer would have never acknowledged pulling me over for reasons that had nothing to do with my driving speed. Yet once I cooled down, it occurred to me I had experienced something that persons of a different race and ethnicity than my own have faced far too many times in our land, of being cited or arrested for questionable reasons.
The character trait we are exploring this week is justice. Earlier in the summer we reflected on fairness as a desired attribute for students and adults alike. The two traits are related, but not identical. Fairness is about treating everyone equally, without bias. Justice is focused on what someone deserves based on rules, laws, or moral principles. It’s possible to be just, but unfair; such as giving all students the same grade on a shared project even though one person did most of the work. Still, justice in this world is not solely dependent upon the work of judges and juries. Rather, it is a task that belongs to all of us.
The book of Micah makes that point clear. The Old Testament work bearing his name contains both words of judgment and promise. In the first section, God speaks of calamity that will come upon ancient Jerusalem because of corrupt kings and religious leaders. Yet the book goes on to share words we often hear in December regarding a promised messiah from Bethlehem. “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,” God promised, “in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.” (5:4)
Before that joyful day, however, the book tells of destruction and exile. Thus, the prophet asks “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high?” (6:6). He names all kinds of possible offerings that might assuage the divine wrath: thousands of rams, rivers of oil, even his firstborn before answering his own question. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” In other words, Micah already knew. In many cases, we do as well.
Justice is following the rules, yet as people of faith it is also to be tempered by kindness and a dose of humility. In our pledge to the American flag, we speak of a shared commitment to “liberty and justice for all.” Such a promise is often complicated by our humanity and ultimately will only be perfectly enacted by the One who is always just. Still, on this side of heaven, such work falls to you and me, whether we have a badge or not.
Source of perfect justice, you have shown me the way. Help me always to make that work my own. Amen.
8 responses to “Lessons from a Speeding Ticket”
I’ve often thought that it was extremely difficult to speak about justice to Christians who are also Americans. Americans have a justice based on laws, and the “rule of law.” God speaks in scripture about justice which a bias towards the poor, widow and orphan. More often than not, the two uses of “justice” appear to be parallel rather than intersecting.
That’s a helpful perspective, Dedie. Thanks for sharing it!
I probably shared my South Carolina story with you – profiled; assumed DUI (wasn’t); jailed in county jail; treated like the lowest of the low; and when the guys in my cell block heard I was from Pennsylvania, they told me I was “really in trouble,” although they used much more succinct and colorful language. I was the officiant leaving a wedding party – not one of the wedding partiers. I reflected on the same thing as you – that I was SO fortunate that this was my ONLY experience of being profiled, and how difficult life must be when that is a daily possibility. I have appreciated this series, John! Hope you’re having a great summer.
I do remember that horrific story, Don. I have a sibling who lives in that same community and the last time I visited I was especially careful to drive below the speed limit. What a nightmare!
I’ve been stopped twice. I was probably guilty both times. But it sure helps to be o old enough to be both officers’ grandmother.
It strikes me that so much injustice occurs because of prejudice. I hear you saying, “well, of course–that’s the very meaning of the word.” But indeed, if the officer that stopped you took the time to hear your story, it’s highly unlikely you’d have suffered that injustice. My own experience, which is not remotely comparable to the injustices suffered daily by people in the margins, occurred on our recent trip to Italy. We spent nearly a week living in the community of Vietri sul Mare. It’s a stunningly beautiful place on the Amalfi coast. It’s economy is wholly dependent on tourists like me. And yet the number of sneers and angry stares we encountered, simply because it was clear we “didn’t belong,” was astounding. Had they tired of enduring disrespectful tourists and assumed I and my family were of the same cloth? Were they angry that their community depended on people like us to remain economically viable? Or did they fear that their homes would be replaced by Hilton hotels as tourists swept in from around the world? Whatever the case, it was one waiter at one restaurant I remember most. He took the time to ask our story. And we his. And each time we saw him or he us throughout our week, we smiled and waved. How much richer would all of our lives be if we simply did that? Ask, listen, and the rest (loving kindness and walking humbly with God) is really the only way to respond!
What a wonderful story and testimony, Steve. I appreciated your honest reflection on what might cause the kind of reactions you received from many of the locals. Sadly, there are too many accounts of the Ugly American traveling overseas to deny the possibility of that being a root cause. Yet what your account goes on to reveal is the difference it makes when we stop to hear the story of another and they our own. Too often, persons get labeled by the perception others hold that may or may not be true. What a gift it turned out to be that the waiter took the time to hear the account of you and your family; an opening that you then reciprocated creating a new community. Thanks so much for sharing that account and your conclusions from it!
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