Good art is good art--whether it's secular or non-secular. Good art accesses our emotions and opens our minds to understanding more about ourselves, God, our relationships with others, etc.
SPOILER ALERT. In Luther, you wind up rooting for a woman that apparently killed both her parents--Alice. You root for Alice, because she is a figure of justice. When Luther is wrongly accused of murdering his ex-wife, Alice helps him set things right--they kill the perpetrator--someone who was supposedly Luther's most loyal friend on the force. Season 2 ends with John having liberated a young woman from the clutches of a grand dame gangster, but is she free--is she truly free? John approaches the gangster and tells her that he has called a friend and that, if she ever touches a hair on Jenny's head, John's friend will "come for her with the wrath of God and everything she has ever loved." It is a moment of catharsis--Jenny (and John) will now be free. Jenny: "You didn't really do that did you--call up some totally psycho killer girl." John: "Her name is Alice. What do you think?" Jenny: "I think you're totally epic."
Sometimes, I want God's justice to be like Alice's. I want a "totally psycho killer girl friend" who I can use to threaten others--to dispense justice (my view of justice). Of course, God is not a "totally psycho killler" like Alice--or is He? He certainly sounds like one in many instances in the OT. Perhaps God is perfect and, therefore, perfectly righteous in his murders. Perhaps it's not even murder since it's God doing it. We want the bad guys to get theirs--and we are told that they will get it in the end. Sometimes, we're told, they will even get it (receive their just reward) before Judgment Day.
Is this the way of God's justice? Is He simply a perfect Alice? Or, based upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, might God's justice be different--wholly different from man's view of justice.
What if God's perfect justice is forgiveness? I dare to say that it is--for at least a couple of reasons: 1)what the Devil (or we sinners) want least of all (or maybe most of all--down deep where we don't even recognize it) is to be forgiven: and 2)justice is an endless game if it is based upon vengeance and retribution--there is no finality.
First, consider the vagaries of generational sin. I've seen it played out in mine and countless others families. One of the most poignant displays was the suicide of a good friend--both of whose parents had died by suicide. How is the Devil defeated in this scenario? It's not by punishing the Devil with 100 lashes or hanging (like the sadistic Muslims in Sudan), it's by having the next generation not commit suicide. It's by having Ellis' children understand that using anger is not the way to manage people. It's by having Debbie's children raising their children under a non-critical spirit. In other words, true justice is giving the Devil the reverse of what he wants.
Second, giving the Devil the reverse of what he wants puts an end to the endless game of harm and retribution. I also came to this realization watching Luther. In Season 2, two brothers are playing a game by murdering folks. There is no end to the game. Luther outsmarts both of them, and he stops them. Would Jesus outsmart them by playing the game better than them? No, Jesus refused to play the game. Jesus did not enter into a cycle of sin and retribution (which is exactly what these men wanted--which is exactly what the Devil wants). Instead, Jesus put an end to the cycle by letting the Devil and we sinners kill Him. We killed the perfect one, but He didn't stay dead. In His death and resurrection, Jesus pronounced an end to the cycle of sin. When someone harms me, and I seek retribution, the game just goes on. When someone harms me, and I forgive, the cycle is broken. You can't play if the other guy won't.
Of course, we all know instances where we have to set boundaries with others. I'm not saying that wives shouldn't get restraining orders from husbands who are seeking to do them harm--she should. I am saying that, while the wife should be truthful with the children, she shouldn't villainize the other spouse to the children. The other's actions speak for themselves.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't put dangerous people behind bars. What I am saying is that, when we do, the prisons shouldn't be overcrowded and run by gangs. The prisoners should be treated humanely. What might keep them from going back is feeling remorse. What won't keep them from going back is thinking that prison is too Hellish. Next time, when they go back, they will just go back tougher.
So, I'm suggesting that one way to reconcile Jesus' life and teachings with the idea of God's justice is to consider that God's justice is carried out through forgiveness. Indeed, perhaps those were some of the last words that Jesus left us with: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." You will have to answer the question for yourself--was Jesus just forgiving the actual persons who hung Him on the Cross or was He forgiving all of mankind for our actions (past, present, and future) in placing Him on the Cross? If it's the latter, it seems to be the last word on God's perfect justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment