If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
+May my words be in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian theologian and pastor, once said:
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
As a student in High School, I used to be terrified of grammar! Besides, English is a horrid language for rules and an interminable number of exceptions to those rules. Yet, without grammar and its nasty rules, we would cease to understand eachother. Grammar forms the structures that help us communicate with each other. What I love about poetry is that it arises out of the language with its structures, rules and vocabulary and then transforms it all to things of beauty. Not only can we communicate with each other, but there comes a depth and beauty to the words that touches us deeply. Justice and mercy live and work together in similar ways.
To say that justice is at the very heart of scripture, in both Testaments, almost trivializes it. The very heart and soul of God’s unfolding relationship with God’s people - Jewish, Christian and beyond, isJustice. Inseparable with justice is mercy. Justice forms the structure of God’s relationships with us, mercy (or compassion, or love), is its language.
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
Justice isn’t simply about law and order, although that is a part of it. God’s justice isn’t simply about being appeased for humanity’s sin, either. It is nothing short of the very structure of ‘being’ itself. God has written into the very DNA of life the need for justice and compassion as the basis of relationships.
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
Yet, to maintain just and compassionate relationships takes inordinate commitment. Human nature, being what it is, tends toward self-interest above and beyond the care of others which white-ants the structure justice provides to the house of our relationships! And so, it costs dearly to stand for justice and live compassionately.
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
This is the very point of the readings set for today, in particular Isaiah 9 and Matthew 4. Matthew quotes from the Isaiah passage to explaining why Jesus moved his base of operations from Nazareth, his home region, to Capernaum, on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. There is a big backstory to Matthew’s use of Isaiah’s words, and it has everything to do with justice.
In Isaiah, the passage speaks to the threats by the northern Kingdom of Israel who teamed up with Syria to attack the southern Kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem. However, Assyria, a large empire to north east, swooped in and attacked and occupied the whole area before they could launch their attack. The northeners lossed the possession of their land and were forced to pay heavy taxation. They suffered many privations and became empoverished as a result.
Matthew explains Jesus’ move into Roman occupied Galilee following John the Baptist’s arrest. Jesus was entering into the occupied zone – Zebulun and Naphtali, the regions common to both 750 BC and 30 AD: Both occupied by cruel forces; both leading to the empoverishment of the local populations; both became places of marginalisation, of corrupt power and greed.
In that context Jesus takes up John’s cry: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!
John the Baptist is the forerunner in more ways than simply baptising Jesus. John’s arrest, suffering in prison at the hands of the vengeful powerful and corrupt rulers and his subsequent death, all foretell Jesus’ own suffering and death. Yet, that is the cost! Jesus knew that! Jesus continued despite the cost.
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
Jesus showed what it was to live out justice and so challenged the structures causing empoverishment and disempowerment, equally he brought restoration to those oppressed in body and mind. These two things made him stand out – visible to those whose actions and ways of living stood in stark contrast to the Gospel of repentance. Those who traded on injustice reacted as injustice always reacts to being called out.
Why is this so important for us in Goondiwindi, Talwood and Yelarbon? We seem so far away from the centres of power, financial greed and averice. While these forces are often implicated in the perpetuation of injustice, the message of justice and mercy found in our readings refers to deeper issues.
If justice is the grammar, and mercy the poetry, then cost is the reality!
The justice Jesus’ refered was more complex than simply pointing a finger at a multi-national corporation, a corrupt government official, or greedy business person. It was more about the tendency of humanity to forsake others’ needs and focus purely on the self. That is something we are all capable of doing. Yes, confronting the corruption of big business and government is an important part, yet it also means looking deeply into ourselves. How am I breaking justice or denying compassion?
So, if justice is the grammar, mercy is the poetry, and cost is the reality, the reason why justice and mercy are so important to God and God’s People is because God is the God of relationship – the Just One who lives out of Justice, The God of Everlasting Mercy, The God whose name is Love, the God who calls us into relationships that makes justice and mercy flourish in our world.
In the name of Love, Amen.