20151207 THE JUSTICE OF GOD IS FOR RESTORATION
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 35:1-10 ©
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Let the wilderness
and the dry-lands exult,
let the wasteland
rejoice and bloom,
let it bring forth
flowers like the jonquil,
let it rejoice and
sing for joy.
The glory of Lebanon
is bestowed on it,
the splendour of
Carmel and Sharon;
they shall see the
glory of the Lord,
the splendour of our
God.
Strengthen all weary
hands,
steady all trembling
knees
and say to all faint
hearts,
‘Courage! Do not be
afraid.
‘Look, your God is
coming,
vengeance is coming,
the retribution of
God;
he is coming to save
you.’
Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf
unsealed,
then the lame shall
leap like a deer
and the tongues of
the dumb sing for joy;
for water gushes in
the desert,
streams in the wasteland,
the scorched earth
becomes a lake,
the parched land
springs of water.
The lairs where the
jackals used to live
become thickets of
reed and papyrus...
And through it will
run a highway undefiled
which shall be called
the Sacred Way;
the unclean may not
travel by it,
nor fools stray along
it.
No lion will be there
nor any fierce beast
roam about it,
but the redeemed will
walk there,
for those the Lord
has ransomed shall return.
They will come to
Zion shouting for joy,
everlasting joy on
their faces;
joy and gladness will
go with them
and sorrow and lament
be ended.
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Psalm
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Psalm 84:9-14 ©
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Look, our God is
coming to save us.
I will hear what the
Lord God has to say,
a voice
that speaks of peace,
peace for
his people.
His help is near for
those who fear him
and his
glory will dwell in our land.
Look, our God is
coming to save us.
Mercy and
faithfulness have met;
justice
and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall
spring from the earth
and
justice look down from heaven.
Look, our God is
coming to save us.
The Lord will make us
prosper
and our
earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march
before him
and peace
shall follow his steps.
Look, our God is
coming to save us.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Lk3:4,6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Prepare a way for the
Lord,
make his paths
straight,
and all mankind shall
see the salvation of God.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia, alleluia!
See, the king, the
Lord of the world, will come.
He will free us from
the yoke of our bondage.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 5:17-26 ©
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Jesus was teaching
one day, and among the audience there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law who
had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the
Power of the Lord was behind his works of healing. Then some men appeared,
carrying on a bed a paralysed man whom they were trying to bring in and lay
down in front of him. But as the crowd made it impossible to find a way of
getting him in, they went up on to the flat roof and lowered him and his stretcher
down through the tiles into the middle of the gathering, in front of Jesus.
Seeing their faith he said, ‘My friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ The
scribes and the Pharisees began to think this over. ‘Who is this man talking
blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ But Jesus, aware of their
thoughts, made them this reply, ‘What are these thoughts you have in your
hearts? Which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you” or to
say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority
on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralysed man – ‘I order
you: get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.’ And immediately before
their very eyes he got up, picked up what he had been lying on and went home
praising God.
They
were all astounded and praised God, and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have
seen strange things today.’
THE
JUSTICE OF GOD IS FOR RESTORATION
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISA 35:1-10;
PS 84:9-14; LK 5:17-26
Very
often, most of us have difficulties reconciling the justice of God with His
mercy. On one hand, the moral perfection of God demands that God is
just in His dealings with His creatures. Otherwise, life seems rather
unfair; that the good suffer and the bad are rewarded or escape from the wrongs
they have done. It is quite natural for man to seek justice when his
rights and dignity have been offended. So we would think that if God
forgives the sinners who have caused us to suffer and overlooks their faults,
we suffer even greater injustice not just from our fellowmen but from
God. This lack of justice would contradict also the love of God, for He
is merciful to the sinners but seems to lack mercy for those who had suffered
under their hands.
So we
need to seek clarification as to what we mean when we speak about the justice
of God and His mercy, and how these two dimensions must be viewed together, not
as a contradiction but as a unity. Failing which, we would harbor not
only resentment against our enemies but also a deeper resentment against
God. Indeed, many have lost faith in God and have left the Church because
they feel that the God they worship is unfair in the way He metes out
justice. With the psalmist, we pray, “I will hear what the Lord God has
to say, a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people. His help is
near for those who fear him and his glory will dwell in our land. Mercy and
faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced.”
So what
is the crux of the misunderstanding? The mistake is that we tend to
transfer the human and worldly notion of justice to divine justice. In
the world, justice is basically retributive with a heavy slant towards punitive
justice. This form of justice works on the principle of punishment.
It is more vindictive rather than helping the situation or the offender.
The intent is to inflict punishment; the principle of “an eye for an
eye”. It seeks to make the other person suffer as much as one has
suffered. Such a form of justice is not intended to correct or prevent a
repetition, but simply more of an emotional perverted pleasure in hurting those
who have caused us to suffer. It is not focused on restoration but on
destruction! Indeed, statistics have shown that a very high percentage of
criminals in prison, especially those with drug offences, as high as 70%, are
re-offenders, which indicates that this approach is not that successful in
rehabilitating them. Indeed, when we take revenge, it only breeds
more resentment. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi says, “an eye for an eye will make
the whole world go blind”.
The
justice of God is not fundamentally punitive justice. The justice of God
is restorative. Our God is not a vindictive God. He does not seek
to destroy us regardless of our sins and mistakes. He is faithful to us
and continues to love us, no less when we are sinners. The psalmist
declares, “Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from
heaven.” In fact, the gospel tells us that He loves sinners more because
He knows that we are ignorant, wounded, blinded and vindictive. He knows
that we are hurting within and we are taking this out on others and in the
process, also hurt ourselves. So He looks at His enemies as He did on the
cross with sorrow, compassion, understanding and forgiveness, saying and
pleading with His Father, “Forgive them for they know not what they were
doing.” It is for this same reason that the Lord healed the paralytic in
today’s gospel. He knew he was carrying not only physical immobility, but
he was also crippled by his sins, his past, his inability to let go of his
hurts and his mistakes. Accordingly, Jesus did not heal his body first
because the real cause was not physical illness, but spiritual. He needed
the healing of the heart and so the Lord said, “My friend, your sins are
forgiven you.”
Does
this mean that there is no “punishment” for our sins in life? Does it
mean that we are simply forgiven without the need for retributive justice, that
is, to pay for the wrongs we have done? Would that be unfair?
What
God is seeking is restorative justice, which is also known as corrective
justice. God only desires us to change and live an authentic life of love
and service. He wants us to live a new life. In other words, to
walk the way of truth and love.
God
desires our happiness. He does not enjoy punishing us more than what we
are already suffering now. He comes to relieve us of our sufferings, not
to add to our sufferings and bitterness in life. This is what the prophet
says in the first reading to the exiles. “Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a
deer and the tongues of the dumb sing for joy; for water gushes in the desert,
streams in the wasteland, the scorched earth becomes a lake, the parched land
springs of water.”
Then
why is it that some of us suffer? Well, the forgiveness of God does not
always mean that there is no retributive justice, not in a negative sense of
punishment or revenge, but that of the natural consequence of our
actions. This is what St Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Do not be
deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap
corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal
life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall
reap, if we do not lose heart. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do
good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of
faith.” (Gal 6:7-10)
Our
suffering does not come from God, but He permits us to suffer so that we could
be purified in love and holiness. When we cheat and do evil things, there
is the natural principle of cause and effect. What we sow is what we
reap. At times, with the grace of God, we escape the effects for now but
unless we take measures to correct ourselves immediately, the effects will grow
from bad to worse. This is true for those who take the mercy of God and
their fellowmen lightly. Many Catholics go for confession regularly
but lack a contrite and repentant heart. They have no intention to change
their lives and hence, even after repeated confessions, they remain the same
because there is a lack of sincerity and the will to change. This is also
true for daily life. A man can escape death although he does not take
care of his health. He almost suffers a fatal heart attack but after
surgery, he goes back to an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. A man has been
caught stealing. He is forgiven but instead of repenting, he steals even
more. Thus, those of us who do not take the warnings as God’s grace,
inviting us to repent, the consequences that we have been spared from now will
be cumulative and greater sufferings will lie ahead of us. For such
incorrigible people, they need to go through the sufferings that result from
the consequences of their sins before they repent.
Indeed,
there are some of us who will not learn unless we pay the price for the
lesson. Experience is the best teacher but the most expensive school
fee. So if you are going through the pains and consequences of your
mistakes, take it not as punishment from God but His grace to make us come to
realization, like the prodigal son who lost everything and was dying of hunger.
So, too, through our suffering, bereavement, sickness, even imprisonment, we
hope we will wake up and come to the conviction of the wrongs we do.
What is
critical at the end of the day is not whether we incur punishment, but whether
we change and walk the Sacred Highway of holiness and righteous living.
When we seek to walk in truth and love, then very often, we will also practice
restitution for the wrongs we have done to others and even distributive
justice. Like Zacchaeus, he offered to return what he cheated and give
out what he had received to others. He said, “Look, Lord! Here and now I
give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of
anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to
him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a
son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the
lost.” (Lk19:8-10)
So if we have to suffer retribution for our sins, take this as an opportunity
of grace to purify and strengthen ourselves. If we have been spared the
punishment, then we must learn from our mistakes and ensure we do not fall
again. If we do that, then we will also see the glory of God.
Truly,
like the paralyzed man in the gospel, we too can take up our stretchers and
walk because the Lord has set us free. He has forgiven us and we need to
forgive ourselves. In taking up his stretcher, he could thank God for his
past mistakes and let others know that the mistakes and sufferings he had gone
through have made him a new person. He was no longer a slave to his
past. Instead, he became a source of praise and thanksgiving to
God. So for those of us who are still suffering from the consequences of
our sins or the fear of being punished, let us turn to the Lord with
courage. The psalmist is saying to us, “Look, our God is coming to save
us.” The prophet encourages us to have hope. “Strengthen all
weary hands, steady all trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage!
Do not be afraid. ‘Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the
retribution of God; he is coming to save you.’”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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