Justice Vs. Mercy

From a large flock of sheep one sheep is lost. The shepherd leaves all his work and rest of the flock and goes in search. Finally he finds it, and there is great joy (Matthew 18: 12-14). So soothing for the ears to hear.

Someone is lost from among us. He refused to think as others thought; he did things that you opposed. He was full of himself and only himself. And naturally he drifted away to the furthest end of affairs. Do we leave all other works and concerns and go in search of him? Would finding him be a cause for great celebration?

Here is the great inner struggle between justice and kindness in play. Often the inner battle is bot between good and evil but between goodness in varied degrees. A just and fair person would be caught up with the rest of the flock, for justice can only give each one according to what they deserve and merit. Mercy is not earned but given. This would also be the reason why Jesus said, ‘do not judge’, for judging, even when it is done with fairness, stops with justice. A kind man would go after the lost one. This is the reason why the society seldom gives authority to people who are kind and compassionate, for they often do not cater to the majority. For Jesus nothing mattered than a lost person, a poor person, and an outcaste. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9: 11-12).

Jesus faced rejection and opposition for his unconditional concern and generosity to people who needs to be restored back. He never counted the cost. Jesus once was in the region of Gerasenes, there he healed a demoniac, and sent the demon to a herd of pigs. People were not happy with a person healed and restored from the demon; rather “the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region” (Mark 5: 17). Or again in Gadara, where two demoniacs were restored, the people preferred their herd of pigs, thus “the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region” (Matthew 8: 34). John gives articulation to this predicament, saying, “The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3: 19-20).

Comments

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

People are afraid of art, because real art brings the question and the answer into your house. Tonight’s art becomes inadequate and useless when the sun rises in the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space for new ways of...

A Sower Went Out To Sow

The Word of God is stubborn and persevering (Mark 4: 1-20). I would imagine that the sower is stubborn and persevering. The Word of God, which is compassion, love, mercy, inclusivity, truth, and so on will bear fruit, whatever may be the obstacles from within or from outside, provided there is a sower. There can be difficulties; no thorns, rocks, paths, and birds can steal it away entirely—the world still has good soil. It was an encouragement to the disciples who were hearing this parable, and working to spread the values that Jesus preached. I believe if there is someone to stand up or speak up at the right time, whatever may be the odds, it will eventually bear fruit. When a student asks a very disturbing question in a class, an average teacher gets upset, and asks the student to get out for he disturbs his and the so called normal class's peace. But remember, you may have sent the student out, but the question remains; and the question will seek answers. I have seen people bei...

Lead An Impactful But Quiet Life

Shakespeare’s famous words from Macbeth, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," may well describe our times: everyone with content and without content, with credibility and without credibility, is showing up and showing off on social media and on other public platforms. Paul instructed the early Christians in 1 Thessalonians 4: 11 “Make it your goal to lead a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands.” It is said that Buddha, the enlightened one, lived a quiet life and passed through this world noiselessly. Look at a day in the life of Jesus (Mark 1: 29-39), he is preaching in the synagogue, praying alone in a silent place, healing people, casting away demons, and more. The devil could not keep silence; but Jesus did not allow them to talk about him. Many were searching for him to hear him or to be healed by him, and some others perhaps were also searching for him to destroy and kill him. Jesus makes no big noise about neither of them. He live...

New Year, New Beginning

The past year was different to different people. Some of us were very successful, won every battle we fought. Some others of us did not win every battle that we fought, might have found difficult even to get up from bed everyday, we just survived. But for both it is a new year. For those very successful, it is time to stand on the ground and not be overconfident, complacent, arrogant and egoistic. And it is also time to give back. And for those of us not very successful we have another new year with 365 blank pages, 365 blank days. It is a fresh new beginning. Start your dream and go all the way. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not going all the way, and not starting”, said Buddha. Every New Year tells that we cannot eternally postpone important things in our lives. We must begin somewhere. How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before ...

Why Wasn't Jesus An Artist?

Many a times, often confused about my own professional choices, I have thought to myself, why did Jesus not get into art, music, or adventurous chivalry? One may conveniently and religiously argue saying it is because they are ‘bad’ in the sight of God. Absolutely no. He limited his options and goals. Jesus did not get trapped into endless indulgences. Perhaps, in the language of the season of Lent, a spiritual way to say it is, Jesus fasted, he made abstinence. One of the biggest trap of our time is constant indulgence, says, Gayathri Arvind, founder of Abhasa mental wellness centre. Wherever you turn there is an opportunity to let yourself be consumed by endless options, like, endless movies, web series, etc. Even food is available anytime anywhere with just at a click. They may be useful, entertaining, and satisfying; it gives you an instant dopamine hit. The more you consume the more you trap yourself into long-term trouble, and one day you are left wondering, 'what went wron...

The Man Who Loves Walking Will Walk Farther

While goals and destinations certainly matter, it is our relationship with the journey itself that often determines how far we will ultimately go, and what we will become because of the journey. “The man who loves walking will walk farther than the man who loves the destination” -Sal Di Stefano. What do you love: compassion, kindness, truth; or do you love heaven/salvation? I personally believe that one who loves heaven/salvation and in order to reach there shows compassion, kindness, and truthful never reach heaven/salvation. And the one who loves, being compassionate, being kind, and living truthfully will not stop with heaven and salvation. Heaven is not the last stop. Either there is no heaven, or heaven is only one of the stops in our linear life. Consider two hikers setting out to climb a mountain. The first fixates solely on reaching the summit, viewing each step as merely an obstacle to overcome. The second hiker, however, finds joy in the crunch of leaves beneath th...

The Information Tragedy

The book, Nexus , written by Yuval Noah Harari explores a brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to AI. While Harari was interviewed on his book the host reading out this sub titles of the book, asked, I hope it is a story of progress, it is a story of things getting better, meaning, the human race moves from the discovery of writing, to printing, to the newspaper, and at each stage our abilities getting better and advanced. Does that work that way? Harari smiled and replied, the basic question of the book is, if humans are so smart why are we acting so stupid? We are on the verge of destroying ourselves. The problem is not in our nature; the problem is in our information. Most people are good, but if you give good people bad information they make bad decisions, they make even self-destructive decisions. Look at mass delusion and psychosis in the 20 th century; things like Nazi Germany, most people who voted for Hitler and voted for him were not evil peopl...

SPRINGBOARDS and WALKING STICKS

Search This Blog