Ever since I was a child, I have known that my calling is closely tied to justice. I find the justice system of America to be lacking far too often to meet the standards I and so many other citizens hold it to out of patriotic and humanitarian obligation. Unfortunately, the reputation of the agents of this system continues to be smeared in response to those who take on the career of a lawyer but ignore their calling as a means to instilling justice by manipulating words, going back on promises, and collecting their inflated fees with no thought toward anyone but themselves. Every prospective law student today can put themselves on the moral high ground, saying they are in it for a more just society, for equal rights and the defense of freedom. But then law school hits, and the student loans keep collecting interest, and slowly the aspiring new generation learns firsthand not to think about those left in the wake of their success.

I could write a book on how each of Jesus’ teachings applies to my calling to the enforcement of justice in a court room, how Jesus acts as our advocate before the Father, and how his ministry so perfectly conveys the goals a Christian lawyer should have. But for the purposes of this article, I would rather focus on the disciples. After all, that is each of our vocations at their core: to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. In the time in which Jesus and his followers lived, the social structure of a rabbi and his disciples was a well-known one, deeply integrated in Jewish culture. A disciple would choose which rabbi he wanted to follow, and after training under that man for a certain period of time would be told either to stay or to go work at his father’s trade. This makes the calling of the disciples an absolutely radical claim. Each had once before been told to go. Their role models had said they were not good enough to be like him. But Jesus Christ, Son of God, called them each by name and told them to leave what they were doing and follow him. The role of a disciple was not to just learn from his rabbi, but to become as close to an identical copy of that person as possible. It was said that they would follow their rabbis so closely as to walk in the dust he kicked up.

The Gospels account for many instances where Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him to perform miracles and spread the news of his coming (Mark 6:7-13, Luke 10:1-20). He gave them an opportunity – a mandate, even – to go and practice what he had preached. He encouraged them to show mercy, to do justice, to give second chances. He spared no one from the harshest truths, but never denied the worst of sinners or the furthest removed from God a display of his love. The Gentiles (Matthew 15:22-28), the unclean (Luke 8:43-48), the prostitutes (Luke 7:36-50), the disabled (John 9), and the tax collectors (Luke 19), all shunned in society, were taken into his flock and shown the way to eternal life and living water.

I did not choose Jesus. There are so many other things I choose day after day by which I am rejected, disappointed, discouraged, and sent away. My Lord and Savior, though, called me by name. He not only exemplified through his life what mine should look like, but every morning is a new chance for me to be sent ahead of him to prepare the way for his coming. My future vocation as an advocate for justice in the court rooms of our nation will be influenced not by a goal of making money, but of making his name known. His mercy can be shown through rehabilitation after prosecution, his righteousness through the act of righting wrong, and his integrity through performing my duties in good faith.