Justice and Mercy

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Continuing on the integration theme, our failure to integrate justice and mercy prevent us from effective addressing some of the most crucial situations in life, including the current Mid-East crisis. Too often most people side with only justice or mercy, failing to see how they need to work together. Of course there are others who ignore both of these. Sometimes they do so out of frustration, since they think there is no way to come to a balanced approach.

Note that God, through the prophet Micah, instructs us to "act justly", "love mercy", and "walk humbly" with God. The actions associated with each object (act - justice, love - mercy, and walk - God) are not random. First, we need to do things in a just manner. How we resolve conflict should be based on justice, fairness, equity, and so on. When conflict occurs, apart from the emotions involved, there are usually serious issues that need to be addressed. Those issues need to be looked at honestly and without bias as much as possible. Good and right decisions need to be made based on the facts. I am aware that this is a difficult task, but justice needs to be the goal of our actions.

Second, we need to love mercy. When resolving conflict, it should not be with vengeance or a love of destruction. We need to love all people and desire their good. Sometimes love means that people have to face the consequences of their actions (justice), but how we administrate those consequences should be tempered with mercy. This is a challenge when we deal with true aggressors. For example, how much mercy should be extended to a bully? While we need to control our anger and avoid vengeance, bullies need to be dealt with quickly and decisively so as to protect their victims from further harm, as well as for the good of the bully.

Third, walking humbly with our God should create an overall attitude of how we conduct ourselves. By remembering that he is the Master of the Universe and we are his servants, we are able to face life less personally, submitting ourselves to his will and entrusting ourselves to the outcomes he desires. At times this might mean to make some difficult and seemingly harsh decisions. God, at times, demands punishment. We must avoid extending mercy when God himself withholds it. But at the same time we must treat all people as God's creatures made in his image. All people are sacred and should never be treated as objects of scorn. When justice demands harsh treatment, we do so humbly. On a personal level we are always called to forgive because of God's forgiving us. At the same time that doesn't mean we pretend that evil doesn't exist and should be ignored. Forgiveness does not mean we allow others to continue to suffer due to our hesitancy to confront evil and our failure to seek justice.

This doesn't make life simple. Resolving conflict, whether it be the common daily squabbling of young children or the violent clashes between neighboring countries is not often an easy matter. Some conflicts can be ignored, while others should not be. Once we discern which ones need to be addressed, these words of Micah challenge us to be careful to approach them with utmost loving care, wisdom, and humility, making sure to look at all sides, but always with the goal of a just resolution.