In the Hebrews reading among today’s Lecionary selections, there is a restatement of the law of Moses. It only takes 2-3 witnesses to establish someone’s guilt.

This was innovative in its day because it went beyond a single accusation to establish guilt. Still, and exemplified epically in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, all it required was some level of payoff for this number of witnesses to step forward and accuse falsely. A weaponized justice system has ancient roots!

An independent judiciary, monitored for accountability, is a more recent innovation in human history. It was intended to be embedded in the separated powers of the USA government. In the last half of the 2020s, we are experiencing a new level of weaponized justice.

Under such corruption, the author of Hebrews offers these words to us:

…recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

-from Hebrews chapter 10.

Remarkable here is that those in prison are not criminals, but those unjustly imprisoned, those innocent souls with whom hospitality has been shared, and whose sufferings and loss mirror our own.

These are words to take to heart.