RETREAT IN LENT 2021
Day 34,
Monday, 22 March
Susanna Monday: stories of justice
and mercy.
We are given almost a whole chapter of Daniel to read
today, (13:1-62). Normally we cut it and read just the last 30 verses.
But even that is quite a lot! It is the story of Susanna and how two old men
tried to seduce her. Susanna cries out. There is a case. A woman’s words mean
nothing and she is condemned to death. Daniel steps in, shows up the old men
and they are executed instead.
It is the story of God bringing justice to his people,
especially the most vulnerable, and it is twinned with the story in John (8:1-11)
about the woman caught in adultery, She, presumably, is guilty but she too
escapes, this time through the mercy of God.
Two stories about the justice and mercy, proclaimed in the
law and the prophets and revealed, emphatically, by Jesus. Perhaps the reason
for putting them at the head of this penultimate week of Lent is to remind us
of the cost: Good Friday.
Justice and mercy are present in our world despite all the
evil that seems to grab our attention. But it cost Jesus much suffering and, in
the end, his life. It costs us too. It is not easy to ‘act justly’ with
everyone we meet. I remember being struck years ago when President Carter of
the US (he is still alive) included it in his inaugural address: ‘to do what is
right’ (Micah 6:8). Not easy!
Then mercy! In this passage from John 8 Jesus is showing what
he meant by the parable of the forgiving Father in the story of the prodigal
son (Luke15:11). There is no question of blaming, punishment, retribution. The
mercy of God blots out iniquity – but not cheaply. It costs. It cost a lot for
Jesus and it costs a lot for us.
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