Who benefits from God’s justice?
Although the Jerusalem sage who authored the Book of Sirach states that The Lord is a God of justice who knows no favorites, what follows in the text suggests that God’s justice is not impartial, but seems to be weighted toward the poor and the weak: he hears the cry of the oppressed and is not deaf to the wail of the orphan. The Lord attends to the prayer of the lowly and to those who serve God willingly. In this context, God’s justice – and therefore God’s mercy – is extended in a special way to those who are faithful to covenant. Psalm 34 confirms this teaching: The Lord hears the cry of the poor, the psalmist writes, and no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him. God metes out justice in the form of love and mercy, especially to the most vulnerable of society, those who should be cared for above all else: the lowly, the just and the brokenhearted.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus similarly justifies those have the humility to seek God’s mercy. The Pharisee prays praising himself, with God given only a nod in the man’s monologue, while the tax collector beats his breast and prays, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Do we always recognize how dependent we are on God for his mercy? Do we recognize our need for God in our prayer? The tax collector is justified by God alone; to be in right relationship with God is to know that without God’s mercy, we are lost. Nothing matters if we don’t recognize our need for and trust in God’s mercy; without it, life is an empty shell. St. Paul acknowledges this in his Second Letter to Timothy: The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, he says, and I will be rescued from the lion’s mouth. Human threats mean nothing to him because of the promise of eternal life. St. Paul trusted in the promise, trusted the Lord with his life, and was jubilant to join his sufferings with the sufferings of Christ, willing to sacrifice all for the sake of that love, for the sake of revealing the love of God. God’s Word is ultimate because the Word reveals God’s justice; we must keep the faith, trusting that we will benefit from God’s justice as we wait for the promise of perfect union to be fulfilled.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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