A Ribbon River of Justice

A Ribbon River of Justice

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the Lord,

   make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

   and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

   and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” ’

Luke 3:1-6

As I painted this painting, the verse that struck me in deep thought was Amos 5:24 - when God says I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. 

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

In the verses leading up to that one, you can hear God saying, I don't want your fakeness, your falseness, your religious hoo ha. 

In our Aboriginal community, we have a word for this falseness and it's the word ‘gammon’. Gammon means lies or pretence. In this verse, God doesn't want to see our gammon, and says 'I don't want any pretending. I want to know that you're a true fella, true in your heart, true in your actions and true in your behaviours'.

God wants to see our true heart and our true actions, that they would be this amazing flood of justice, where things are made right, where we work together as a community, and justice pours out of us. 

What an incredible image: a ribbon river of justice so powerful and so life-giving, a mighty surge that you can’t hold back!  

Just like John, preparing the way for Jesus, so our lives should collectively proclaim God’s justice that overflows with love and compassion. Where right living, goodness and flourishing is just so abundant because we're all on board.

So in this painting, I've made this incredible river that comes from so many different directions, meeting together, and then just gushing in this forward direction. There's so many curves, there's so many turns, it’s so organic and intuitive. And then surrounding this river there are blooming blasts of life: gum leaves, campfires, communities, grass, animals footprints - all of creation flourishing because we are working towards justice. 

We are the flood waters of justice, and that's what our Creator wants to see from us. Nothing gammon, instead something completely true, bringing remarkable change together.

Safina Stewart is a proud Wuthathi and Mabuiag Island woman who grew up cross culturally in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Safina is passionate about culture, education, the arts, justice and faith. Safina lives in the Victorian coastal town of Wonthaggi on Bunurong Country.

This devotional is part of a series of daily email devotionals for Advent 2024 reflecting on the life-giving, thirst quenching justice of Jesus we long to see flow across these lands. A justice overflowing with love and compassion, bringing forth hope, healing, nourishment and flourishing for all.

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