Normally the antics of Hollywood stars don’t rate highly on my radar.  In my opinion too many of them are self-absorbed with an unhealthy sense of entitlement.  However, the names of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have been in the news so much lately that my curiosity got the better of me.  It seems that both these Hollywood actors walked away from their previous partners and married each other in 2015 but a year later Heard filed for divorce and applied for a restraining order.  In 2018 Heard wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which she mentioned speaking out against sexual abuse.  She refers to herself as a public figure representing domestic violence.  Depp is suing Heard for $50 million in damages and Heard is counter-suing for $100 million.

So why do I bother commenting on this case of two people – who I assume, as film stars, are not particularly poor – and who are trying to get money out of each other?  Well, because, hypothetically at least, it’s not about money, it’s about justice.  Domestic violence and sexual abuse are justice issues.  Alleged public slander in a newspaper is a justice issue.

Justice ought to be important to all of us.  Let me remind you that justice is a vitally important concept in the Bible.  It’s first mentioned in the book of Genesis when Jacob makes some prophetic predications about the tribes that will arise from his twelve sons.  The tribe of Dan is going to provide justice for the nation.  That predication came to pass when Samson, from the tribe of Dan, judged the nation at the time of the Judges.

The Mosaic Law warns repeatedly about perverting justice.  Israel’s prophets constantly rebuke the nation’s rulers for not maintaining justice.  In the Psalms God is praised often for being a God who upholds justice.  In the prophecies of Isaiah the coming Messiah is spoken of as one who will establish justice in the earth.  Justice is important.

The dictionary reminds us that justice is the quality of being just or fair and therefore punishing crime and criminals.  In comics the super-heroes fight for justice because they want everything to be fair and not let the bad guys win.  So in Western Society we have a court system to maintain justice so that we can continue to live in a fair and just society.

It goes without saying that in a fallen and broken world administering justice is rarely easy.  That’s true even in simple cases.  Witnesses have to be called; juries need to be appointed; barristers and judges get involved.  Prosecutors have to draw up cases and defence attorneys have to ensure the alleged criminal has a fair trial.  Often small fortunes are spent on legal representation.

In the case of domestic violence and sexual abuse justice can become even more problematic.  There are rarely witnesses to what happens behind bedroom doors.  So often the case degenerates into a ‘he-said, she-said’ kind of argument.  In the case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard it is becoming apparent that there was violence and abuse on both sides.  As so often happens, all the couple’s dirty laundry has been aired before a sensation-hungry public.  If any justice comes out of this case it will have been at a huge cost – financially and morally.

One concern is that sometimes there is a fine line between justice and revenge.  Someone drew attention to that recently when speaking about the present-day culture wars in which the so-called “cancel culture” claims to be fighting for justice with regard to historical forms of abuse – often arising from the way colonial powers treated people in subjugated countries.  This person said, “They talk about justice but it sounds an awful lot like revenge.”

That reminded me of a lady in our church who, as a girl, had been abused by a clergyman.  When the abuse of the pastor was finally discovered many decades later and he was stood down, she candidly expressed approval.  She was glad that others had the courage to do what she couldn’t do: to speak out for justice for the abused.  Did she want to take the matter further herself?  No!  God in His great mercy had given her the ability to process the abuse and lead a productive and fulfilled life.  She felt that any further action on her part now would be too much like revenge and she knew the Bible’s teaching that revenge is something we need to leave with God for that day when perfect justice takes place before His judgment seat.

John Westendorp