justice >=< mercy

Micah 6:8 (NAS) What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

we all probably know that verse or sing it or have it on a frame or magnet. it's one of those popular verses that everyone seems to know. and, it is one of my favorite verses. i've always liked it because like a sieve, it filters out all traces of legalistic and insincere "religion," and we're left with the unadulterated, timeless Message. law is nothing, and right living towards God is all.

i've recently been wondering again: how do the concepts of Mercy and Justice relate to each another? and, like we're commanded to do in that verse, how can we have both Justice and Mercy? how does our understanding of those qualities affect how we live?

maybe my judgment is skewed by the fact that sometimes i read Machiavelli at bedtime. :) but, it's always seemed to me that Mercy is basically the antithesis or counterpoint to Justice...like they are mutually exclusive. for example, in my mind, while it might be Merciful to let a young, scared father off for stealing food for his family, it is certainly not Just...because Justice seems to demand that he pay the full penalty for his crime, regardless of circumstances. and when someone has wronged me, Mercy asks me to forgive, while at the same time Justice urges that they be amply punished for what they've done. so you see my mental dilemma...when one is present, the other apparently can't be.

i may have said this to some of you before. but, when i looked up the word "justice" for purposes of a different study (that became forgotten at the time), it almost always appears in the context of justice to the poor, to the widows and to the downtrodden. not to the offenders, the murderers and the sinners. which kind of blows my mind, because Justice seems so...hard, fast, sturdy, and set in stone, like laws. that's what it reminds me of: laws. the cold, hard hand of justice (you know, Republicanism and political realism), tempered by soft, compassionate Mercy (like liberalism and universal health care and such).

we'll come back to that in a second. Micah 6:8 has also gotten me to pondering the multifaceted nature of God. keep in mind that God is Just and Merciful, and a lot of other things too...in perfect, complete, complementary equality. no characteristic can override or trump another. so while Justice requires that God to punish us for our sins, his Mercy compels him to offer a way out. Mercy always seems to get the last word. should we conclude that Justice is not being done; that our God can't be both? no. somehow they coexist.

there's something else that's hard to accept, because it's a little ironic. while my nature would rather someone be brought to Justice than handed Mercy, i'll admit: i'm really glad God had Mercy towards all of us and chose to offer the gift of salvation.

so, the question is, how could i call that gift unjust? because like i said before, it's unjust to allow people to not pay the penalty for their transgression. right? but shoot, if God has done it, it is Just already. so there is no question. God can be perfectly Just and perfectly Merciful at the same time.

(it still doesn't seem Just, from my admittedly un-divine perspective, to allow one person to take the penalty for another. it just doesn't seem right. i know Christ was perfect. but the whole principle is something i don't understand. it just plain seems wrong. i'm sure there are multitudes of philosophies that try to ration this out but i haven't read them.)

so when i have Mercy towards someone, how can i not undermine the equally divine ideal of Justice (and vice versa)? as i am not perfect not all-powerful, and my character elements do not perfectly harmonize with each other...how does this work out in my everyday life? are my concepts of Justice and Mercy are flawed? it was pointed out to me that when i say Justice, it sounds as though i actually mean Judgement. of course Judgement cannot work very well with Mercy.

someone else said that we should all view Justice through the eyes of Mercy. or, allow Mercy to temper and direct the Justice we seek. i think this might be the key. because it seems like Justice can never be un-merciful, or it would somehow not be Just. and i think Mercy must always have the aim of Justice. so Justice is the higher, more "authoritative" attribute.

so Justice not only allows Mercy, but encompasses it. anytime we carry out an act of Mercy, it is to be within the scope of Justice. and anytime we act out Justice, it should be through the "glasses" of Mercy, like our Savior who, lest we forget, had perfect, divine Mercy on us all.

i still wish i knew what the balance was, or what exactly it looks like. and by this point you have probably figured out that i do NOT have all the answers. (i figure can get you to read more if i don't tell you that until the end. sorry to keep you.) so, any comments or additional thoughts are, as always, more than welcome.


Matthew 23:23 (NLT) What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.