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Daily Scripture

In You, O Lord, Justice and Mercy Meet

Today’s gospel reading triggered off in my memory the number of times I have jumped the gun by passing judgment on someone before knowing all the facts — the soft data as well as the hard data. It’s clear to me now that prejudice and bias covered up by pride have a great deal to do with this jump; our comrades can do no wrong; our foes can do no right! Of course, it’s easy to meet out mercy to those we like and easier to meet out justice to those we don’t like.

The words of Isaiah introduce the theme of mercy and pave the way for the encounter of Jesus with the adulterous woman recorded in the gospel of John. The people of Israel had prostituted themselves if not in truth, at least metaphorically. God had espoused himself to them, for better or worse for richer or poorer forever. It was an irrevocable covenant that remains to this day. The people of Israel to whom Isaiah addressed these words abandoned their God and aligned themselves with foreign powers for political and economic gain. In effect, they entered an adulterous alliance and were literally carried away to a foreign land by their greed and lust for power.

In the name of their God, a disciple of Isaiah writing in his name and style reminds them of the great exodus when God led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea into the Land of Canaan, the land they called home for centuries. In words similar to these, the prophet declares, “You think that was great? Forget about it; you ain’t seen noth’in yet! I’m about to do something even more spectacular. I’ll pave a way through the wilderness and bring you home again. I will forgive your unfaithfulness and forget your affair. Your misery will meet mercy and you will be saved.”

It has been said that pride is the worst of all sins because it distorts the truth of who we are. In fact, pride is a lie. But more than this it is a distortion of who God is. Recall that the sin of Adam and Eve was not that they wanted to be like God but that they did not recognize that they were already like God — made in God’s image and likeness.

There was another encounter taking place in John’s story beyond that of the meeting between Jesus and the woman. It was between Jesus and the woman’s accusers. In was in this encounter that justice was enjoined to the ‘trial’. “Let the one who is without sin be the first to cast the stone!” Their pride blinded them to their own sins. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy as his mercy engulfed the sinful woman.

Was he being soft on sin? Hardly. “Go now”, he said to the woman “and avoid this sin.” Might we not rightly assume that this initiative of mercy effected a dramatic change in her life? God’s saving grace was fully manifested in Jesus. Oddly enough, the same mercy resulted in the hardening of her accusers. They drifted away one by one from the eldest to the youngest but they sought another opportunity to trick him into mercy mending.

John’s story about the woman caught in the act of adultery revealed the depth to which Jesus extended himself to the sinner. “In you, O Lord, justice and mercy meet! [Psalm 85] or in the words of St. Augustine, “Misery meets mercy” in the person of Jesus.

Lent is about opening ourselves up to the saving grace of God but repentance is not something we do. It is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our life, indeed, to engulf us and point us in a new direction. It’s about God empowering us to goodness and about our initiating a new pattern of life.

Lent is also about dropping stones and the acceptance of the humanity of others, despite their sins and failures. It is about entrusting others and ourselves to the tender mercy of God. More than that, it is about allowing ourselves to become conduits of God’s mercy and saving grace—helping others to find their way out of the wilderness of failure, sin and rejection.

“To err is human; to forgive is divine.”

At the same time, to forgive is not so much an act of the will as a disposition of the heart and in many situations, the conclusion of a very long process. We dare not be presumptuous or simplistic about it.

Forgiveness does not absolve the sinner from taking responsibility for the sin or from its consequences. Thus the mantra, “There is no forgiveness without justice, no justice without truth, no truth without full accountability.”

Here is the story that a rabbi colleague shared with me many years ago. A man went into the temple for the observance of Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish observance of atonement. As he entered the Temple, he noticed all his sins were listed on the board at the entrance. He tried to erase them but he was unable to do so. Then he went inside to participate in the penitential service. As he left the temple, he attempted once more to erase his sins but again was unable to do so. He departed and set about making amends for his sins and then returned to the temple. Lo and behold, his sins had disappeared.

This story is akin to the teaching of Jesus, “When you are bringing your gift to the altar and recall that your brother or sister has something against you, go first to be reconciled and then return with your gift.”

The Scriptures set the tone not only for our Lenten journey but also for our life long journey. Our destiny is not Jerusalem the earthly city but Jerusalem the heavenly city. Mercy is our mission but we must first pass through the gateway of justice and truth. In you O Lord, justice and mercy meet and when they do, reconciliation is complete.

Fourth Sunday in Lent 'C'

Sunday March 14, 2010

Going home

Shortly after the blessing of the Easter candle during the Easter Vigil Service, the priest presider or the assisting deacon will chant the solemn ‘Exultet,’ an Easter Canticle dating back to the 2nd or 3rd century. It is a hymn comprised of a series of acclamations sung in ancient Gregorian chant.

Approximately two thirds of the way through the hymn, the cantor cries out, “O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam which gained for us so great a Redeemer!”

The words seem so contrary to our understanding of the horror of sin. How can there be such a thing as a “happy sin?”

Of course, the words are hyperbole — not in praise of sin but in praise of the God who accepted sin as an occasion for mercy and salvation. It is at the heart of the mystery of the incarnation and of our acceptance of Jesus savior and exemplar of all that we can become as human beings loved by God and in love with God.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote: “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” This is a powerful testimony of Paul to the incredible power of God’s love and God’s desire to be one with all humanity. It is our destiny to become one with God in Christ. This is the meaning of “atonement,” which is to say “at-one-ment” with God through Christ. Salvation is the process of becoming whole.

This surely makes sense if we place it within the context of the love of parents for their children especially when they are struck with illness. I have heard many a mother or father say, “I would rather be ill myself than see my child so sick — yes, even to the risk of death.” In other words, loving parents are willing to absorb the pain of their children. What is true of physical illness is also true of moral failure. When the kids get into trouble, parents are willing to take on the pain and punishment.

St. Paul is stating nothing more or less than what loving parents would do for their children; so too our loving God.

But the story that discloses the mystery of redemption in a way that is beyond human explanation is the story of the Prodigal Son, which of course should be re-titled, “The Outrageously Generous Father.”

It’s a story that is all too familiar and therefore easy to put aside after the first sentence. We’ve heard it all and can assume all too readily that we have exhausted its meaning. Not so. The parables are like a seascape or a view of life from a mountaintop. Depending on our mood, the time of the day and the rhythm of life, the ocean speaks different messages and the mountains tell a different stories.

The younger son was entitled to a third of the father’s wealth; the elder son, the remaining two-thirds. The younger was bored with life at home and his request for his share of the inheritance was not very different from telling his father to “drop dead!” The father must have been hurt but he didn’t allow the motivation of his son to stand in his way. You and I would surely have some reservations about his decision. Where was his wife who surely would have provided the wisdom lacking in the young man’s choice and in the father’s concession?

Notice that it was hunger rather than remorse that moved the younger son to return to his father’s house as a servant. But the father anticipated his change of heart and didn’t care about his motivation. He clothed his son with royalty symbolized by the robe and the ring. He put sandals on his feet — slaves do not wear sandals. It was as if he gave his younger son power of attorney!

This parable, unique to Luke, is the third in a trilogy of parables about things and in this case, a person, that were lost and then found. They are a response to those who objected to his welcoming sinners and eating with them. [Pat Sanchez, Preaching Resources, Celebration, a Comprehensive Worship Resource, Kansas City, Mo 2010]

I came across this succinct observation in a commentary on today’s gospel that epitomizes for me the meaning of ‘atonement’—going home: “In the parable of the lost sheep, the Lucan Jesus redefines repentance as ‘acceptance of being found.’ With great effort, the shepherd and the woman find their lost sheep and coin. Thus repentance is something that is done for the believer; it is a grace that touches sinners with love and calls them home And home, says spiritual writer, Herman Hendriclx, is not just a geographical place but a place on the spiritual map to which we return when we weary of wallowing in self-loathing” and I would add, self-absorption. [Ibid.]

The Easter Hymn continues:

“Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and humanity is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this light, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glow to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night.

May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning; Christ, that Morning Star, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”