That story is called: „Better justice“. An old legend tells of monks who argued with each other about better justice. They could not agree because each of them felt that they were in the right. Finally, they presented their case to the abbot and asked him to settle the dispute and ensure justice. The abbot wanted a night to think. The next morning, he answered two monks: „ Do you want to know about greater justice? Justice exists only in hell, mercy reigns in heaven, and on earth there is a cross“!
Yes: „The world is unfair,“ many contemporaries say, and do not understand why they should be fair. And in the Speech on the Mount, Jesus also says that the righteousness of his disciples, and therefore our righteousness, should be even greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. Of all the people who repeatedly disrespected the righteous law of Moses, who healed on the Sabbath, who questioned the Jewish dietary and fasting laws, and criticized the temple cult, it is the one who, in Matthew’s Gospel, warns against the abolition of even one of the commandments. How does it all fit together?
The decisive sentence that gives meaning to this contradiction is the word Jesus says about himself: ‘I have come to fulfill the law. ‘ I believe that fulfillment is the key to understanding. God’s commandment, that is, the will of God, is not fulfilled by the one who outwardly follows the law, that is, the letter of the law; especially not by the one who always transforms himself; nor by the one who is self-righteous rather than acts in his way. Only those who love fulfill God’s will, because they return their original meaning to the commandments, namely, to enable life and protect life. In love, the law was fulfilled, and all the prophets, Jesus once said. Greater justice means nothing more than putting love and thus people at the center!
We all still have a lot to learn – in politics, in business, in society, and especially in our church communities, parishes, and families. Greater justice, that is, justice in the eyes of God, is a permanent task for us, but it is also an invitation from God to find a way back to the inner freedom of God’s children. That is, to freedom that does not calculate, recalculate, and count. To freedom that wants justice, loving justice that does not condemn, but is able and strong to forgive, that is generous and wants to give generously. Justice that remains on the path of love. This is illustrated by a story titled „New Justice Story.” One day, a thief sneaked into the rabbi’s garden and wanted to take a bag of potatoes.
But the bag withstood its weight. Meanwhile, the rabbi was looking through the window from behind the curtain and observed the thief. The thief bent over the bag and fought. Then the rabbi quietly helped the thief lift a sack of potatoes onto his shoulders and let the thief leave with them.
The rabbi’s family and other residents of the house shook their heads: „How can you help this thief, this scoundrel, carry a bag of potatoes?” The rabbi replied: „ Do you think that just because he is a thief, I am not obliged to help him“? This is a higher justice college for everyone. The pressure on us Christians to always do the right thing seems to be growing.
Now, many will say, ‘But aren’t these standards too high? ‘ Isn’t this demand that Jesus established for the kingdom of God unattainable? Who can deliver? Well, look: the same God who makes these radical demands reminds us that He is a merciful God who does not want our destruction or rejection, but our salvation. He is not a world policeman, nor a prosecutor, nor a fear-inducing god. Instead, God is a perfect father and a loving mother. With him, a way back is always possible. His door is always open. Where there is repentance, forgiveness is offered. Let’s ask for participation in God’s merciful love.
