Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
Today’s readings speak deeply about the concept of justice. These readings do not speak about justice as we understand it in our world today. Today we think justice means innocent until proven guilty, serving time to repay your faults and often repaying an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth – a life for a life. These readings speak of something much more beautiful and profound – God’s justice – a justice that focused on loving the sinner and hating the sin.
As we saw in yesterday’s readings, God used the line of David – a messy and troubled family – to bring forth his son. To many this would seem unjust, perhaps feeling that they did not deserve to have this honor after the sins they had committed, but God is not a God who keeps score and who holds others back for the sins they or their family have committed. God is a God of second, third, fourth and fiftieth chances. God believes in the power of the human spirit to repent and to change.
In the gospel we see the theme of justice highlighted again. In Joseph’s time the just and righteous thing to do would have been to divorce Mary for her “sins,” for bearing a child out of wedlock. Hoping to save her from shame, he planned to do this, but to do so privately. But God had other plans. God’s justice is bigger than laws and righteousness. God, in his infinite wisdom, knows the rest of the story, so to speak. God knows what was really happening in Mary’s life - that she was asked to bear the son of God. God’s justice says that Mary, this woman who has broken the laws of the time, and her baby, should both be loved, cared for, accepted and treated well, with human dignity.
So often people come into our lives and we think that we know their story, that we understand what they must have done wrong, to end up in that situation. And so often, we are wrong. We do not know the full story of someone’s life, leading them to make the choices they made. While I agree that law and order are important, I also believe that we need to take God’s justice into consideration when making decisions on how to respond to someone who has broken a law. We are called to act out of compassion and love and with an attitude that fosters repentance and change, not one that is simply punitive and diminutive. We have to try to see with God’s eyes for justice.
There is a beautiful Christmas song entitled “A Strange Way to Save the World” and in it Joseph is pondering why he is chosen to take on this task. I think that the answer lies in the fact that Joseph was able to see with eyes of justice and mercy – not those of the world’s justice, but God’s justice. Joseph was able to love Mary and to see past what the world would call her “mistakes” and to love her for who she was.
This advent and Christmas, let us pray about our understanding of justice. Is it strictly a secular understanding of punishment and reparation or do we take God’s perspective into consideration? If you were Joseph, would you have the strength to listen to God’s call in your heart and to live out God’s justice, not the worlds? Would you stay with Mary or would you quietly divorce her? In saying yes to God’s call Joseph was given a beautiful gift – to help raise the son of God.
- Amanda Grimm