Are God’s Acts of Mercy and Justice Incompatible?
Good Morning Friends,
The Bible contains many references to God’s mercy. Over 290 verses in the Old Testament and 70 in the New Testament contain direct statements of the mercy of God toward His people. In our study of the book of Jonah we see an example of God’s mercy and also a bit of hypocrisy on the part of the prophet. The sign of Jonah really points to more than just the three days in the belly of the fish for Jesus faced religious leaders who had the spirit of Jonah. You see there is a challenge here, for justice involves the dispensing of deserved punishment for wrongdoing, and mercy is all about pardon and compassion for an offender. As we enter the time of the passion and Holy week one has to wonder, Are God’s Acts of Mercy and Justice Incompatible?
Scripture: 39But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:39 (NRSV)
44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:44-45 (NRSV)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 (NRSV)
24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement* by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.*
Romans 3:24–26 (NRSV)
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.*
Colossians 3:5–6 (NRSV)
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
17Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:17 (NRSV)
Message: The book of Jonah reveals in its biographical parable, the struggle of a man, a nation facing the reality that God has a passion for all people across class and culture and color. Jonah was an angry bigot and had a hard time reconciling mercy and justice. In the story he becomes a parody of and caricature of the entire nation of Israel fleeing from God while playing the role of the reluctant missionary to the world. The real kick in the face is the absurd attempts of both to limit God’s mercy. This angry position was killing Jonah and destroying the nation of Israel. And yet that the book exists is a transparent tribute that the man survived and nation survived through its anger and exile and the hope that at some point there will be atonement, repentance, a return and reconciliation ultimately to be made right in Jesus. Throughout the story of Jonah it is abundantly clear that Jonah viewed the Ninivites as enemies of Israel and enemies of God. So when Jonah is read in juxtaposition with Matthew and its message from Jesus about enemies, we learn even more. We learn that if you want to be truly victorious over your enemies, that you must be kind to them, you must bless them with your words and love them with your actions and finally you must pray for them. When we follow these ways that Jesus commands we are saved from the damage of our own anger, we begin to serve God’s purposes. In the Jonah story…in the Jesus story we are faced to confront our bias about justice and the absurdity of God stepping in and stopping all the evil in the world. Indeed in such a reality our option to choose would be gone and so too any meaningful relationship with God. So we can either bemoan the situation feeling sorry for ourselves and how unfair it is or we can rejoice in the conflict choosing to count it as a blessing. In our day we have our own problems. We like Jonah are gentle people of prejudice who resist the human brotherhood. We are all slow to learn that we live in a world where if we would save ourselves we must help save others, we must face our own bitterness and vengefulness, as we face our enemies knowing that ultimately justice will be served.
Pray we bless those that have cursed us, and pray for those that despitefully use us. Pray we do good things for those who hate us. Pray we reconcile justice and mercy in our experience of Jesus. Pray we realize that God does not exercise mercy at the expense of justice. Pray we realize that God’s mercy is seen through God’s justice. Pray we realize that Christ did indeed die for sinners. Pray we realize that God’s perfect mercy was and is exercised through His perfect justice by the sacrificial death of Jesus. Pray we realize that where there is no mercy, there is no justice.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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