Justice and Mercy

I had the absolute pleasure of leading our community worship this morning; Would you like to join me?


Make sure you get the chapel at 7:25 - it will probably take you five minutes to wake up because you most likely stayed up too late watching a movie or talking in the lounge.

I'll welcome you to morning prayers and then you'll listen to Alice help us set the mood of Holy Week by reading pieces of Isaiah 53 -

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news . . . See, my servant will prosper . . . He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief . . . he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! My righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins."

You'll join
lustily in singing:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain, I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride


See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross
All who gather here, by grace draw near, and bless your name.

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

As I read Mark 15:1-20 about Jesus's trial before Pilate, you would see different pictures flash on an overhead screen - many varied interpretations of Christ before an angry mob and a frustrated Roman governor. You would see him crowned with thorns, robed in purple, and beaten.

Then you would hear what struck me most about this passage - that in this scene of a trial where we expect justice to be executed, the most innocent person is punished. And that person does not speak a word in his own defense. This trial is the culmination of a paradox, the fact that we serve a God of Justice and a God of Mercy - and they are one and the same God.

Maybe you would agree with me, that we all want to serve a God of Justice; I think you'd see that we don't want to serve a God that lets evil go unpunished. When someone hurts me, I don't want my God to brush it aside and say it doesn't matter. When I see injustice in the world I don't want to think that my God is ignoring it or shoving it under the carpet.



Yet you'd see from Romans 3:23 and 6:23 that serving a God of Justice means justice for everyone - including ourselves. Our justice means that we deserve death. No friendship, no sonship with the Father. Which is why we also serve a God of Mercy. A God who justly settled that the payment for our sins must be made - and then sent His own perfect Son to pay it for us. Perfect Justice, perfect Mercy.

The essence of this trial before Pilate, our understanding of Justice and Mercy is then wrapped up in one thing: forgiveness. Not excuses that try to explain why we aren't responsible for what we did or point the finger of blame elsewhere. Rather, full acknowledgment that payment is due, but that Christ paid that debt and now we can be free of the guilt and the shame.



I would leave you this challenge: to live out this day and this week reveling in the great love of God to pay this debt. Christ told us that he forgives us as we forgive others; we are his agents of Justice and Mercy to those we meet.

You would then join me in prayer: we would thank Christ for his willingness to pay our debt and take the beating and sentence of death that we justly should have received, we would pray for the people around the world who are working to help people reconcile to each other (in Northern Ireland, in Iraq, in South Africa . . .), and we would lift up several of the community members, past and present.

I would then ask you to join me in singing one last song -

I'm forgiven, because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, you were condemned
I'm alive and well, your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That you my king would die for me?
Amazing love, I know its true
And its my joy to honor you
In all I do, I honor you

I pray that you were just as blessed as I was this morning :)