Justice

Our sermon yesterday was about what a travesty of justice the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin was. The judge was biased, the witnesses were false, and Jesus was never given an opportunity to call His own witnesses. We had dinner with Mom K last night, and when I told her about the sermon, she said, "Life is unfair."
Ain't that the truth?
So why does every fiber of our being cry out for fairness, for justice? At least until we would prefer life BE unfair and that we DON'T get what we deserve. When WE break the rule, which we just broke a *little* bit, we don't want to bear the consequences when we get caught. Then, justice and fairness is decidedly not fun. Then we are big on MERCY.

I find justice and mercy a big balancing act as a parent. One needs both in raising children. Without mercy, children would be under constant house arrest. Without justice, the little heathens would grow up to become criminals.
Maybe some of you out there have perfect kids who never broke rules and never needed the strong arm of justice or the tender palm of mercy. But for most of us, I think we need to figure out how to balance the two. It is a skill I struggle to develop.

A friend told me recently that he has really begun pondering why our salvation had to be secured through violence. Jesus' death was unspeakably violent. No one, except psychopaths, want violence. Why did God decide to save us from the penalty of our sin, extend Mercy, with such a horrendous satisfaction of Justice? Sin must be punished. Any good parent knows that. But must the punishment be so...messy?

I don't know the answer. I just raise the question. I do know that the horror of the penalty for sin makes me think God REALLY cannot abide sin. And still, like any good parent, He doesn't want to condemn us to house arrest forever. And so He extends mercy, and all we have to do is accept it. It doesn't seem fair. It certainly wasn't fair to Jesus. Which makes me think something even greater than Justice or Mercy is preeminent.

1 John 3:1 (NIV)
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!



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