Minutes of Meetings with God
and with Myself

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Off to the Judge ...

The courtroom looked nothing much like the ones most often seen on television. At first, I couldn't even find a seat, because it was so small. The "bench" for the judge was tucked away in the corner. Crowded against the bench was the court clerk and court reporter's workspaces.

On one side a narrow aisle separated the bench from table and chairs where the defense and prosecution attorneys were to sit. Another narrow aisle separated the bench from a cramped jury box. The witness stand was packed in along side the back edge of the bench and the clerk's workspace. Unlike the television courtroom dramas, where everything is neat and unrushed and focused on the case at hand so that everything gets done in an hour show, it quickly became evident that most of what would happen in that room would have nothing to do with the person for whom I'd come to lend moral support. And, it became clear that there wouldn't be resolution in an hour or two, but maybe in weeks or months.

Yes, there was tension in the room. Yes, there was drama. But, mostly everything proved anti-climatic. There was a frenzy of activity, but no great strides toward resolution. The day would produce only small steps in the maze of the legal process.

The judge was hearing a number of cases, about four within about half an hour. There was trucker who wanted to exercise his right to a trial for a traffic violation; there was a person charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; there was a situation dealing with a person who had been served a bench warrant for failure to appear in court that morning; then there was the person for whom I had come to support whose charge was much more serious than then rest. Numerous attorneys, court staff, assistant prosecutors and defendants made their way into and out of the room.

The judge struggled to handle a full docket for his day. Most people see the judge's primary job as that of deciding cases, the who's right and who's wrong, who's guilty and who's innocent, or who is to blame and who is the victim. However, judges spend most of their time simply maintaining order, both order in the courtroom and order in the legal process. The judge, as smoothly as possible, juggled paperwork and people. He explained processes, options, and consequences. He handled objections and points of order. He was in and out of the courtroom a number of times, each of his entrances accompanied by the instruction "All rise!"

Before the judge re-entered the courtroom each time, there were negotiations between attorneys and prosecutors, between attorneys and their own clients, between attorneys and prosecutors and the court clerk, all geared to moving the process along. Every case, no matter what precipitated it, rapidly became complex, and the struggle in the courtroom became keeping things manageable so that important issues didn't get obscured. In every instance, the person and what the person had done or failed to do became a secondary matter overshadowed by the demands of the law and the judicial process. Almost nothing was allowed to be simple.

In the case of the person whom I'd come to support, thankfully, his attorney understands how the legal system tends to work. The attorney had made key contacts with the Prosecutor's office, had discovered information that threw important light on his client's actions, and both got the person released on bail and got the trial delayed. The attorney had done hours of work to effectively influence the outcome of about 10 minutes in the courtroom.

People end up in court for all sorts of reasons. Mostly it's because somehow or someway they were involved in something that got out of hand and the legal authorities were called to sort it out. Sometimes, it's really easy for a judge to say: this is the finding of the court and then the person either walks away, pays a fine or goes to jail.

Mostly, once a person is involved in a judicial process (either criminal or civil) things get ever more complicated. Once in the system, it is all too easy to make it work against a person rather than for a person. There is always the prospect that a person can get lost in the legal system, not because of a miscarriage of justice or malicious intent of the system or of anyone in the system but because the system is so vast and labyrinthine. Even a person who is right, or who has not done wrong can be exhausted and consumed by the machinations of "the system."

A person can become very alone and lonely as they move through the judicial process. I was pleased that not only had I, but about two dozen other friends, neighbors and relatives had all come to the courtroom in a show of support for the same person.

Christians don't talk about it much, but Jesus knew the dangers of the courts. Jesus told people of his day to avoid the courts as much as possible. With astute insight he said: "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison." (Luke 12:57-58)

The law and legal system are built on the ideas of order and reason. However, Life easily slips beyond order and reason into politics and paradox. The dilemma the courts often face has to do with dealing with politics and paradox by means of order and reason in an effort to accomplish justice. It is a slow and tedious task. On the political side, how does a judge decide how far a person can go in protecting and being protected by their "rights" before that person becomes wrong? In terms of paradox, how does a judge decide a case when someone has done something that is "absolutely right" but at the same time did something that is equally wrong?

Jesus, himself, became a victim of the legal system of his day. In his struggle against evil, he found him-self in the situation he had so strongly encouraged others to avoid. He was literally dragged before a judge, who delivered him to the officer and then, the officer took him not only to jail but to his death.

Basically, Jesus was abandoned to the legal system of his day. Every one of his friends deserted him at his arrest. Peter, who followed Jesus to his trial in order to see what would happen, refused to be associated with him (remember the 3 denials).

Jesus, the one who would become all humanity's advocate with God, had no one to be his advocate with the legal system. Neither was Jesus allowed, nor did he attempt any legal defense. He stood mute. His trial had nothing to do with who he was or what he had done. Jesus was convicted and punished as a matter of political expediency (see John 11:47-53). The one who came with the Good News of God's peace, joy and justice was denied all of them.

The legal system of that day could not rightly handle the paradox that life had brought them. God was with them in the guise of a man, a carpenter. They killed the man. They lost God. Hopefully we will not make the same sort of mistakes, today.