Justice and mercy

Our courts look only at justice, to see if someone has committed a crime, and what punishment he deserves. They are not required to show any mercy to the criminals lest justice should be thwarted. Even if someone shows mercy to a criminal, the legal system must serve justice. Just think what would have happened to us if God applied justice to us this way. Every single sin that we have committed would be judged and our sentence would be pronounced, which is eternal death, separated from God in hell (Is.59:1,2). But we are saved because God is not only just, but also full of mercy and grace. He did not want to punish us, and by paying the price of justice for our sins Himself, He has offered us salvation as a free, undeserved gift.

When we think of it, we can see that our God is the only One who operates justice and mercy simultaneously. He cannot set aside His justice in order to show us mercy. He had to meet the demands of justice before He could offer us mercy. All of us have natural inclinations to weigh in on the side of either justice or mercy at any time. We find it difficult to balance them. On the other hand, our sinful nature prompts us to always take our side against the others. Even after we have experienced God's mercy as an undeserved gift, we find it difficult to show mercy to those who have done wrong to us. We demand justice, as our right. It seems to be completely fair to us to demand that the one who has harmed us must suffer for it. What we forget is where that approach would leave us (Mt.7:1,2).

We try to convince God to show us mercy, claiming that we had a reasonable excuse for the wrong we have done, such as our human weaknesses. We also try to justify our action claiming that it was really the fault of the others who provoked us! At the same time we argue that our opponents deserve to be punished because their sins truly deserve it.

But the Man who had never done anything wrong in His whole life suffered without complaint the totally unjust suffering at the hands of the people He had come to save. He forgave those who were crucifying Him against all norms of justice (Lk.23:34). See the contrast in His attitude with how we feel. But He came not only to forgive us our sins as a free gift, but also to teach us to have the same attitude as His (1Pe.2:21-23). We can grow in that attitude if we meditate on His attitude towards us. When it came to us He allowed mercy to win over justice (Ja.2:13). When we feel a sense of justice rising within, wanting to crush the others, let us remember how God put aside justice and gifted us with mercy.

Even though David was a man after God's own heart in many ways, under the old covenant he still felt only the righteousness of justice, wanting his enemies to be punished. But we are being offered a better, new, covenant under which we can experience grace and then show the same attitude to the others. Think of what we truly deserve, and what God has gifted to us.