By Mallory Mattingly
Former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson explained how his understanding of God’s righteousness and justice inspires his fight against human trafficking.
“You know, all throughout Scripture, Proverbs, you see justice and God being a God of justice. The gospel is justice,” Watson said on an episode of the “Sports Spectrum” podcast. “In the Gospel, we see how the just punishment for our sin, which is death, was paid for by Christ before a holy God that has to judge sin. So there was justice there. God’s justice was satisfied there.”
“And His righteous standards at the same time, like simply put, when we, when I, have these conversations, it’s like, ‘What is justice?’ Well, in Scripture…there’s two Hebrew words that you know mean justice and righteousness, and one aspect of it is punishing those that deserve punishment. That’s one aspect of justice. The other one is protecting those that deserve protection. That’s justice.”
“But then this other word for justice and righteousness has this idea of a daily walk of treating people equitably and fairly in everyday life,” the former NFL player explained.
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The two Hebrew words Watson is referring to are mishpat and tzedakah.
Mishpat “is retributive justice, referring to the rule of law accepted by society and binding for all members,” according to Dr. Renita Reed-Thomson from the Institute of Faith, Work, & Economics.
Tzedakah, on the other hand, refers to the righteousness of God. It means “distributive justice. This looks at equality as it relates to wealth, employment, environment, housing, and so on. The Bible is full of tzedakah, the forgiving of debts (Jubilee), the gleaning of fields, the tithes for the poor, and so on.”
The Bible refers to these two words in several passages of Scripture. For example, Amos 5:24 reads, “But let justice roll down like water, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Psalm 33:5 says, “the Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.”
Finally, Psalm 106:3: “Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!”
Watson is especially passionate about this topic as he fights against human trafficking.
The former tight end, who is an advocate through the International Justice Mission, told Sports Illustrated that he cares about this topic, in part, because he is a “descendant of trafficked human beings, like I’m a descendant.”
“My kids are descendants of people who are trafficked across an ocean and also within this country, right? And so that that issue is important to me because of that…50 million people that are living in modern day slavery,” he added.
Watson and his wife Kirsten have worked with IJM since 2015.
“We were the first couple to lead a team of athletes on the field to go see their work out of the country,” Watson explained. “So we took a team of a few couples down to Dominican Republic back in 2015 just to see their work in the field. And for us, the on ramp was just protecting vulnerable people and just an understanding that people are made in the image of God, that we all have inherent value.”
Though atrocities like human trafficking continue, we can trust that ultimately God’s justice and righteousness will triumph.
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