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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.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday June 28, 2009

Our God is a God of life

Our experience tells us that life is ultimately terminal. Someone put it this way, “Aging is a disease that ends in death!” I consider that a rather pessimistic view of life. Aging is privilege; aging gracefully is a precious gift not given to all.

In any event, the author of the Book of Wisdom insists that “God did not make death” but that “God formed ‘man’ [and woman] to be imperishable.”

Living within a large Jewish community residing in Alexandria and influenced by Greek philosophers during the first century before Christ, the wisdom author reasoned that if God were eternal, those who honor their relationship with God would be honored with enduring life beyond the grave. By this time in Jewish history, belief in an afterlife had become a common tenet.

The story of the healing of the daughter of Jairus and of the woman who had suffered chronic hemorrhaging for twelve years is one in a series of miraculous healing stories interspersed with ‘living’ parables intended to increase faith and the assurance that those who approach Jesus in faith will not see death.

Nevertheless death happens and despite advanced directives we may be prepared but we are rarely ready. Death is always intrusive and so we seek divine intervention and we hope for miracles. Oh, yes, by way of exception, we pray in good faith at the bedside of loved ones who have suffered far beyond human endurance that they be spared further pain and that their soul be delivered to the God of eternal life.

In the face of daily reports of global death and destruction, it may be difficult for sincere believers not to become cynical about the existence of a caring God. Where is God in war torn Iraq? In Darfur, and where was God last month when the Air France jet disintegrated in a wicked storm?

As one preacher put it, “we certainly can be happy for cure of the woman and the restoration of Jairus’ daughter but why can’t we persuade God to cure cancer or even the common cold?” Or hold back tornadoes or prevent the barbaric terrorism of suicide bombers?

The gospels contain stories of faith in order to assure us that there is more to life than what the eye can see or the hear can hear. But Jesus himself taught that only in due course will be have all the answers to life’s mysteries and those answers lie beyond the grave. We still believe that those who honor God and live according to the dictates of their conscience will indeed see God beyond the grave.

Are there beliefs for which a good Christian would die?

Absolutely!

Are there beliefs for which a good Christian would kill?

Hmm. My understanding of the teachings of Jesus would say no!

In the meantime, we listen attentively to the inspired Word of God as we search for answers to the most pressing life and death challenges of our age.

I have seen many miracles of healing in my short life—all sorts of miracles. Some of them were at the hands of wise doctors, nurses, rescue workers and even soldiers in combat. I have seen dramatic reversals in deteriorating relationships in marriage or between parents and their children. But we Catholics do not have the franchise on miracles nor do we have all the answers to the most complex life challenges of our age be they scientific, economic or even purely spiritual.

Through the kindness of a friend I received this uplifting meditation contained in a book by by Irish poet, John O’Donohue, entitled, “Benedictus” that helps to put in perspective the death that often haunts us but that also puts life in clearer perspective:

“I imagine that one of the great store houses of blessing is the invisible neighbourhood [sic] where the dead dwell. Our friends among the dead now live where time and space are transfigured. They behold us now in ways they never could have when they lived beside us on earth. Because they live near the source of destiny, their blessings for us are accurate and penetrating, offering a divine illumination not available according to the calculations of the given visible world. Perhaps one of the surprises of death will be a retrospective view of the lives we lived here and to see how our friends among the dead clothed us in weave after weave of blessing.” [“Benedictus, A Book of Blessings” by John O’Donohue, Bantam Press, London, 2007]

And a lovely verse by the same author entitled, “For Death,” to bring it home:

From the moment you were born,
Your death has walked beside you.
Though it seldom shows its face,
You still feel its empty touch
When fear invades your life,
Or what you love is lost
Or inner damage is incurred.

Yet when destiny draws you
into these spaces of poverty,
_And your heart stays generous
Until some door opens into the light,
You are quietly befriending your death;
So that you will have no need to fear
When your time comes to turn and leave.

That the silent presence of your death
Would call your life to attention,
Wake you up to how scarce your time is
And to the urgency to become free
And equal to the call of your destiny.

That you would gather yourself
And decide carefully
How you now can live
The life you would love
To look back on
From your deathbed. [Ibid]

It is never too late to begin again as if for the first time!