The Judge Judged...

This white man has followed with interest the case of retired Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld and his legal proceedings as a result of trying to avoid a $77.00 speeding fine. He lied to the courts in his attempt to wrangle his way out of the fine and ended up with a perjury charge. The end result - a two year custodial prison sentence and the ignomy of being the first Australian judge, retired or serving, to be sentenced to a jail term. In effect, the judge got judged!

Honestly, I find this case of the 69 year-old former judge extremely sad. I find it sad that someone who practiced, interpreted and deliberated law as his day-to-day livelihood would honestly believe that he was above the same law he served. And all for the sake of $77.00! With the retirement package Einfeld is on he could have paid that fine with the spare change floating around in his pocket. That's another point of incredulous sadness in this story - why would he bother to dodge it? Why couldn't he just face the consequences of his actions like most of the rest of society does when they receive traffic infringements? It seems that he really did think he could just manouvere around the law as he wished, even by doing so illegally through what started as a small lie that just grew to inane proportions.

And this white man heard today of a plea by the judge to be treated with clemency accompanied by an apology for what he had done. My suspicion is that the judge perhaps isn't so much sorry in his heart for what he did but perhaps just sorry that he got caught for it! What an irony...the law-giver seeking grace. And at the risk of appearing contradictory and maybe even hypocritical as I, myself am a great advocator of increased grace in a dis-graceful world, I say that Marcus Einfeld should serve every nanosecond of his sentence in jail! I say that because, from a faith view-point I, as a pastor, take on board with the full knowledge and responsibility that I will be judged in my actions at heaven's judgment seat more stringently in matters of faith because I serve as a practitioner of faith. He too, as a long-serving practitioner of law should receive the harshest measure of the law and it be implemented to its full extent.

Therefore may Marcus Einfeld's sorry situation serve as a reminder to everyone that no-one is above the laws of the land. More importantly, may his example cause us all to reflect personally on our own integrity. May we all be honest and sincere in critically appraising the decisions we make and how upright are in how we conduct ourselves in our lives.