Rejoice and Mourn

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  Micah 6:8


How do we do this in the face of a dead terrorist?  How do we uphold Justice and Mercy together?  It's easy to go to either extreme, either to say in support of Justice, "The wicked will not go unpunished," (Pr. 11:21), or in support of Mercy, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt. 5:44).  But how do we celebrate Justice and show Mercy?  Perhaps the answer comes in the final phrase of Micah 6:8.  Perhaps in walking humbly with out God, we find the paths of Justice and Mercy not so divergent as they appear at first glance.  Perhaps in walking humbly with our God, we are able to rejoice in Justice, even while Mercy floods our hearts with sorrow.

Walking humbly with our God, a habit I have not perfected by any stretch of the most imaginative of imaginative minds, requires us to look at the situation through the eyes of a holy and loving God - a God who hates evil and loves people.  I don't claim to have perfected viewing everything through God's eyes, but some things have been brewing in the brain... Thoughts about why we should rejoice and why we should mourn as we consider recent news.

If you rejoice, rejoice that earthly justice has been served.  A wicked man has been punished for his wickedness.  If you mourn, mourn that human soul who now faces a sentence worse than physical death.  Mourn every human soul who has stood and will stand before their Creator having never accepted the grace of Christ.  Mourn the fall of man away from God and into sin and death.

If you rejoice, rejoice that fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and friends will go to sleep knowing that the man responsible for the emptiness in their hearts has met his end.  If you mourn, mourn that this knowledge will not fill the emptiness in their hearts.  Mourn the loss of those lives they have mourned for so many anguished years and will continue to mourn for the rest of their lives.  Do not forget to mourn the first life destroyed by this man - his own life.  It may be difficult to imagine, but remember that even he was once a sweet baby, as full of promise as your own dear babes were the first day you held them in your arms.

If you rejoice, rejoice that this man can harm no more.  If you mourn, mourn the long, treacherous path that was his life.  Mourn that every step led to this.

If you rejoice, rejoice that one evil has been removed from our world.  If you mourn, mourn that this was neither the first nor the last evil to plague our world.

Whether you rejoice or mourn - or if you do both - rejoice that we have a God who has promised never to leave us.  A God who is our strength and our guide, who comforts us in distress and leads us forth in joy.  A God who has promised to wipe away every tear and bring us to a place of pure rejoicing, untainted by even the slightest shadow of sorrow.