by Lois Tverberg
“And [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34: 6-7
We struggle with the fact that the Bible portrays God as sometimes forgiving sin, and other times angrily punishing it. Sometimes we over-simplify this to say that the God of the Old Testament was full of judgment, and Jesus was all forgiveness. If you read more closely, you find that neither is the case.
God forgave Israel for worshiping the golden calf, but then forbade Moses, his greatest prophet, from entering the promised land because of his sin in striking the rock.
Likewise, Jesus spoke about the coming judgment more than anyone else in the New Testament, yet he told the woman caught in adultery that her sins had been forgiven. He said, “Woe to you, blind guides!” but later said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
This idea that God displays judgment and other times mercy towards sin was the subject of an interesting rabbinic parable:
In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven, he said, “This may be compared to a king who had a craftsman make for him an extremely delicate, precious goblet. The king said, ‘If I pour hot liquid into it, it will burst, if I pour ice cold liquid into it, it will crack!’ What did the King do? He mixed the hot and the cold together and poured it into it, and it did not crack.”
Even so did the Holy One, blessed be He, say: “If I create the world on the basis of the attribute of mercy alone, it will be overwhelmed with sin; but if I create it on the basis of the attribute of justice alone, how could the world endure? I will therefore create it with both the attributes of mercy and justice, and may it endure!” (Genesis Rabbah 12:15, adapted* )
This parable doesn’t use detailed theology to explain why God is merciful sometimes and why he chooses to judge at other times. It merely points out that he needs both in order to reign over his creation while allowing it to survive.
We find that this blend of mercy and justice is often what we deal with in our own lives. Parents struggle with the balance of enforcing rules along with showing grace to their kids—not being too strict, yet not letting kids run wild either. Employers often deal with employees who are not performing and need to decide if they should fire them, or give them another chance. When our spouses do something that hurts us—should we forgive them and let it slide, or bring our hurt and anger to their attention?
You may think that you should always act the same—either you should never let sin go unpunished, or always try to be merciful and forgiving. The reality is that you need to have balance. Even God walks the difficult line between mercy and justice.
Making the right choice for a given situation requires great discernment. It’s comforting to know that we can turn to God when we deal with these questions, because he knows our struggles far beyond what we could ever imagine.
* See http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Loving.html for more.
Photos: Daniela Crucez
PJ SANTOS says
I really loved the insights and wisdom. It gives me a lens to see Jesus in a way that who He should really be to every believer. Thanks mam Lois! Shalom!
Cathi Palmer says
We mustn’t put Him in a box. His ways are not our ways. Thank you for this perspective. It is certainly food for thought. I trust in His wisdom to know what is needed each time…mercy or judgement.
Richard Tuit says
Why God shows mercy or not has caused mortals to doubt His love, if not His very existence.The prophet Ezekiel,when writing of the coming restoration of Israel says”It is not for your sake,O house of Israel,that I am about to act,but for the sake of my holy name,which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.” It may be more about Him than it is about us.
Paula Lagerman says
I don’t believe that God walks the difficult line between Mercy & Justice. He knows our thought life/heart & experiences. What other God would come to us the way He did;not only to show us how to live, but to pay the price for our sins and to stand ready to dwell within us so as to transform our hearts & minds & guide us into all truth. And all of our own of free will—I’ll tell you who, the best & truest love ever! Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins once for all—He said, “It is finished!” God’s righteousness & judgement is satisfied on the Cross; no one comes to the Father now except thru Jesus Christ. Now we can freely choose to be with our God & not be separated from Him forever. This was God’s mercy & way to reconcile us unto Himself. He told the woman to sin no more. We will all give an account of the gift of life He gave us, but those who have truly repented (turned away from their sins) & put their full trust in Jesus Christ (only) and not in themselves and their own ways, will be saved from God’s judgement & wrath. They will be born again! when we are born again, we will see our sin for what it truly is and we will desire His righteousness and not our own righteousness. We will be more aware of how truly sinful our sin is to our Good Great Father. JC will transform our hearts & minds. This is the hope & promise. Jesus Christ came full of Grace & Truth to pay the price we deserve (Death) Our wages is Death, but the gift of God is eternal life. We will all die once & then face judgement. It gives new/fresh meaning to what John the Baptist said, REPENT!
Accept the Good News of Christ our Lord!
Samuel J. Allen says
Is mercy, judgment? Is judgment, mercy? When we experience mercy, are we not experiencing a form of judgment that excises the desire that caused the sin? To the woman caught in adultery, your forgiven, go and sin no more. Mary became and ardent follower as a result.
When we receive judgment are we not experiencing mercy? God chastises those that He loves rather than allow them to continue in their sin. Not to be judged or chastised is an empty void where neither love nor mercy exists! It was the judgment that David received that restored his fellowship with His Father! Thank-you…after reading your thoughts, I received those that I posted.
Richard Lugg says
I don’t believe that it can be explained by a rabbinic parable as that would not involve the cross. God always acts in judgement but that judgment becomes mercy through the cross. Alleluia !
Donald Johnson says
We mortals get to try to juggle justice and mercy. Court judges do this for a living, but all of us do it to some extent. God is the perfect juggler so it seems good to me to try to get God to give us some hints!
Michael Thweatt says
Mercy and Justice are bear synonyms, not opposites.
Justice is always contrasted with judgement.
Lois Tverberg says
No, actually, at least not in the Bible. Mercy, raham, is related to the word for womb. The word for justice, mishpat, is also the word for judgment. Judgment is seen as a good thing, something to cheer for, when the helpless and weak who have been exploited are freed from their bullying masters.
I wrote an article about this at this link: A Judge as a Savior