[stephenkhoo]

THE JUSTICE OF GOD IS FOR RESTORATION

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