God’s mercy goes beyond “Lady Justice”

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 18, 2011
Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M.
Gospel: Matt. 20:1-16 The laborers in the vineyard

Full homily text: Often times when we have visitors to our religious house from the Western part of America or even Europeans we will take them to the historical landmarks of our country located in Philadelphia & Washington. We visit the liberty bell and the Constitution building in Philadelphia. In Washington, DC, we will visit the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court Building.

Fr. Joseph Eddy is the vocation director of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, founded to redeem Christians whose faith is in danger. The Order’s student house in the U.S. is in Philadelphia.

Is God calling you to become a Mercedarian friar? Visit Fr. Joseph’s Facebook page, or the website of the .

In the Supreme Court Building there is the often-used symbol of “lady justice.”  Justice is most commonly portrayed in the U.S. courts as a blindfolded woman carrying a sword and a set of scales. She symbolizes the fair and equal administration of the law, without corruption, greed, prejudice, or favor. This is not a Christian symbol, but actually goes back to an ancient Greek goddess. Yet, we can appreciate the symbolism of a court system focused on being “fair and equal” in interpreting the Constitution of our Nation.

The virtue of Justice, though, is a Christian virtue. It is one of the four moral virtues that are infused by the Holy Spirit in us who are baptized. Justice has to do with giving another person what is due to them. From a Christian perspective, each person is created in the Image of God and is to be treated with a dignity which flows from our love and reverence for the Creator. The right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is supposed to be guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

Even more generous

As Catholics, we recognize these rights as very good and honorable, but Jesus calls us to be even more generous in the living of our faith. We are called to love one another as Christ has loved us. This means being very generous with our love to the point of sacrificing ourselves and even our lives for the other.

Giving a person Justice in a Christian sense is a very difficult task, but Christ gives us an example in his teaching and generous giving of himself for us all. Today’s parable really calls us to consider the ways of God. The first reading tells us that God’s ways are above our ways and his thoughts are high above our thoughts. We see things often times as our legal system sees them, from an earthly perspective. No matter how hard we try to see each side, we cannot always see clearly. This can leave us feeling the harshness of justice or, as the ancient Romans used to say, the “inequity of the law.”  No legal system can avoid experiencing this “harshness of justice.” At times, persons can commit crimes against society without full knowledge or full consent of the will. No one can see all sides! No one that is, except for God.

The same reward for different work

Jesus uses the parable in today’s Gospel to explain the Justice of God, which is at times beyond our comprehension. The Landowner (the Lord) sends men into the vineyard at different times. Some do a full day’s work, others half a day, and still others only one hour. Strict Justice would say that each should receive their due: those who worked longer should receive more than the others. But, the irony is that all receive the same wage. Those who worked all day get a fair wage, but it is the same as those who have only worked half the day or an hour. To human reason this is ridiculous. In fact, to our justice system we each should be paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

But, we must remember that the Lord’s ways are not our ways. The Landowner, or God, wished to be generous by giving the person who just converted and changed their lives the same wage as all others. It makes no sense, but we do not see the heart, we only know what we see externally. God sees into the heart. He knows that often we do good things or work “for the Lord” with ulterior motives. Sometimes pride is the source of our external acts of religion or compassion for others. Other times, we fail to seek to grow in our relationship with the Lord through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We may look to be faithful to the untrained eye, but in fact we are not generous with the Lord who has been so generous with us.

Justice tempered with mercy

Another aspect of the justice of God is that he often chooses to temper strict justice with Mercy. Mercy has been called God’s greatest attribute. Mercy is the disposition of God to be kind and forgiving. Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection showed us the glorious disposition that God has at times to forgive those who do not deserve it. God is perfectly just and he gives each of us what is due to us, but his justice includes mercy. We may not understand how God can forgive serious sin totally and immediately through the Sacrament of Confession, but he does.

So the next time that we see that symbol of Justice in one of our court buildings here in the United States we can appreciate the need for blind justice which administers the law fairly and equally. But, we also recognize that human justice is always limited, since we cannot see all sides. Jesus teaches us that the Father’ perfect justice includes his divine mercy, which forgives completely and makes no sense to human reason. We too must seek to give each other the benefit of the doubt and show compassion toward all. In this way, we imitate God’s greatest attribute: his Mercy.