Mercy and Justice

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness" Mt 23.23.

Zechariah says that "true justice" is to "show mercy and compassion to one another" (7.10) which makes some people assume that being just means to show mercy fairly to each person or that justice and mercy are actually opposites. I just came back from nearly 30 days of training at the Army's National Training Center in Ft Irwin, CA and have learned a poignant lesson concerning justice and mercy: one applies to the individual while the other affects the masses.

A soldier decided that she didn't want to heed the same rules as the other members of the team and wanted me to show her mercy because she was an individual. However, showing mercy to this individual would've hurt the rest of the team because it would not have been fair to them. Applying justice to a disobedient person affects the rest by discouraging reciprocating actions: this is why God demands an eye for an eye. Giving mercy to an individual restores a relationship with that person but not with a group: this is why Jesus says to turn the other cheek when offended. We must be careful not to confuse one for the other.

True justice contains mercy because the "judge" knows how to forgive the individual while still punishing the sin. If there is no punishment for sin, then there is no justice. If there is no forgiveness of sin, then there is no salvation. If there is no justice then there can be no salvation.

 

Posted with Blogsy