Midweek Lenten Devotion - Justice and Mercy

Justice Served Is Mercy Given!
A devotion based on II Corinthians 5:21

An interview is offered by a family member. The family is grieving the murder of the man whom they called “husband” or “father” or “brother” or “friend.” The person offering the interview begins, “I can’t believe this happened. This shouldn’t have to happen to anyone and I hope something like this doesn’t happen in the future. Whoever did this is going to pay. Justice must be served.” That last sentence screams out. It expresses anger! It suggests the only way to erase those feelings and that pain is by demanding and seeing retribution.

Can you imagine if God would be interviewed every time he is wronged? There would be a 24-hour God channel, right? My life is filled with wrongs against him. Too many to count! I have violated him by failing to live up to his perfect standards. And every time I do this, he cringes in pain and then demands retribution saying, “Justice must be served.” But as God the Father says those very words and then acts upon them, we see that “Justice Served Is Mercy Given.”

But how can God say that justice must be served? The Bible tells us that God is holy and sinless and he demands the same of his people. That leaves no wiggle room. That means there is no circumventing God’s prosecution and punishment. Maybe you’re wondering, “What gives God the right to make such incredible demands?” God is the creator and we are his creation. He is the potter and we are the clay. As creator, God can punish us, his creation, for any flaw, just as a potter has the right to crush his own clay when it has flaws. But God wouldn’t do that, would he?

My friend, the evidence against us is overwhelming. Sinful from conception (Psalm 51:5)! Gratifies his/her own sinful flesh (Ephesians 2:3). Even if I think I’m pretty good, even ONE teeny-tiny slip up condemns us guilty of breaking all of God’s law (James 2:10). We can come up with one sin we committed today. Kids, maybe you pouted at school today or rolled your eyes at the teacher when things didn’t go your way. Adults, maybe just for a moment today a bit of anger flared up when someone didn’t see things the way that you saw them. It’s just one sin. But this one sin is enough for our holy God to grab his almighty gavel and demand, “Justice must be served?” He serves it all right!

God says through Jeremiah the prophet, “Everyone will die for his own sin (Jeremiah 31:30).” Death for me. Death for you . Death for all. A morbid verdict that reminds us that our God is indeed the God of justice. And he is going to make sure that justice is carried out. But the way that God carried out his justice isn’t what we might have expected.

The apostle Paul says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).” In this section of Scripture, Paul is talking about the topic of reconciliation. The word reconcile was actually a merchant’s term. It was used for the exchanging of one thing for another thing of equivalent value, a bartering of sorts. Later the term came to mean a change in relationship, the change from hostility to peace. We see both meanings in this verse, an exchange that led to a change in relationship.

To bring about that change in relationship, Jesus was for us a substitute. To remedy the solution of sin, God had to call on the “one not knowing sin.” God had to call on his Son and send him to this world as a substitute, the substitute sacrifice, “on behalf of us.” I think we’ve already established why we need a substitute. We need a substitute because our standard of living doesn’t meet the standard God demands of us. For that reason, God took the innocent, the one without sin and made him sin. In other words, he substituted his best, his Son, for our worst, our sin. And so, it is here in Jesus that justice is served. And remember the punishment? It’s death. But here’s the cool part, because Jesus was “one not knowing sin,” his death wasn’t for himself. It was for those who have sin, namely us. God made Jesus sin, that is, God made Jesus take our sin and the punishment of sin, FOR US.

Why? Why would the judge of all judges, God himself, make this substitution of his best for our worst? The second half of our verse explains why. “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” These words signify a change, a change from our condition of sinners, a change from a condition as those worthy of God’s punishment. But a change to what? This is a change from sinner to God’s beauty, God’s prize, God’s righteousness. God no longer sees us as those upon whom justice needs to be served. Instead God sees his son who paid the price for our justice. This then is the second part of the exchange. In the first part of the exchange, the first part of the verse, we learned that God took our worst and put it on his best. God took our sin and put it on Jesus. But in the second part of the verse, we learned that God took Jesus’ best and put on us. God took Jesus’ righteousness and gave it to us.

My friend, this is the stark contrast of the cross. In Jesus, our justice before God is served. But then in Jesus, God’s mercy is also given. Martin Luther took these words and put it this way, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness. I am your sin. You became what you were not and made me what I was not.”

But with this awesome exchange in mind, now what? First of all, don’t forget it. Lent serves as a somber reminder that it was our sin that put Jesus on that cross. He is serving our justice. Throughout this Lenten season and throughout our lives, we must continue to run back to that cross time and time again in repentance for those sins that put Jesus there. But as we stand at the foot of the cross in forgiveness, we need to take comfort in what happened there. Justice was served and mercy was indeed given. But then as we walk away from the cross, awestruck by God’s mercy, we need to remember the words that Paul wrote to the Romans. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” As we walk away from the cross, God help us to do just that – to offer our lives to him, transformed, renewed, and willing to serve.

Prayer
My Father, my God, I come before you drowning in wrongdoing— my sin. All of my plans to leave sinful ways have fallen through. Instead of doing what you want me to do, I find I get myself into trouble instead. I know that I deserve eternal punishment for the evil things I have thought, said, and done. But I call on you, Lord. Be merciful to me. For the sake of the sufferings of Jesus, as he took my place on the cross, wash away my sin. Let me be grateful for your love and forgiveness. Strengthen me to live by your mercy each day. Amen.