“We want justice!” This kind of justice is retributive or punitive justice. It prosecutes and punishes those who violate laws in order to maintain law and order. This form of justice is necessary. People living together in groups need laws and the fair enforcement of laws. It is impossible to imagine a large-scale society without a criminal justice system.
But justice in the Bible most often means much more than this, indeed something quite different. When the Bible speaks of God’s passion for righteousness and justice, it does not mean that God’s primary passion is the punishment of wrongdoers. True, some passages do threaten wrongdoers with judgement and condemnation. But often justice and righteousness refer to the “way of the world,” the social order that humans create, should be. It can be – and most often is – unjust, shaped by the wealthy and powerful in their own self-interest. God’s dream, God’s passion, is for a different kind of world. This kind of justice is not punitive justice, but distributive justice – the fair distribution of the material necessities of life.
God’s passion for distributive justice is grounded in the theological affirmation that God created the world and it belongs to God. This is one of the central meanings of the Genesis creation stories. Psalm 24 affirms it with remarkable concision. Its first verse exclaims, “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it.” The earth and everything in it do not belong to us, but to God – not to some small percentage of us, not even to us as a species, but to God.
All of the above is relevant to today’s reading from the first letter of John (4:7-10). "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins."
Yes, love is from God, and we’re expected to show that love to God’s creation because: “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it.” Instead, the wealthy and powerful act in their own self interest and despoil the Earth with our willing participation.
As a species, perhaps we should pray Psalm 136 thereby giving thanksgiving for God’s everlasting love and asking for mercy. It reads:
Praise the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever;
Praise the God of gods; for his mercy endures forever;
Praise the Lord of lords; for his mercy endures forever;
Who alone has done great wonders, for his mercy endures forever;
Who skillfully made the heavens, for his mercy endures forever;
Who spread the earth upon the waters, for his mercy endures forever;
Who made the great lights, for his mercy endures forever;
The sun to rule the day, for his mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule the night, for his mercy endures forever…
Praise the God of heaven, for his mercy endures forever.
Forever is a long time. When it comes to protecting and caring for God’s Earth, we don’t have much time left before we will be compelled to pray psalms of lament. I suspect we test God’s patience and capacity for mercy.
Deacon David Pierce
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