"Justice rides a slow horse" is a saying I heard from Bud Scheiber years back. He didn't coin the phrase, but he's the fellow I learned it from. Bud had been around for a while -- he served in Italy with the American forces during WWII -- and would repeat the adage form of many of the truths he'd unearthed over the years. His "Slow Horse" apothegm was my favorite.
Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans XII:19).
The bottom line is that nobody ever gets away with anything: if the reckoning for misdeeds doesn't happen in this world, it will happen in the next. And we are warned against trying to precipitate the day of justice: that time is known only to the Almighty.
Perhaps if every single injustice was atoned for only in the world to come, people would despond or lose heart. So every once in a while God sees to it that justice makes an unexpected appearance. We sometimes call this advent poetic justice: "justice," because it rights the score somewhat; "poetic," because it makes the heart sing or laugh or cry or otherwise seem bigger and larger than the pragmatists otherwise want to allow for.
By pragmatists I mean, among other things, individuals who lie, cheat, and steal so as to attain some coveted advantage, success, or recognition. As long as you can get away with it, the reasoning goes, you are a pragmatic, practical fellow: so long as no one is any the wiser, then no injury is perceived -- ergo no injury is inflicted.
Except that the truth is that not every injury is immediately perceived. The real pragmatist, it turns out, is the fellow who realizes that all deeds receive their just reward, whether immediately or eventually, and acts accordingly.
Quaerite primum regnum Dei.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Very true, Sean, and succinctly stated. If every wrong in this life met with immediate justice, very few people would be left standing on earth. "If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it." (Ps. 129) If God is patient and awaits our repentence, how much more should we, who are sinners, be patient with others and the perceived wrongs they inflict on us. I say "perceived" wrongs because so often our perception is at fault and we see wrongs where none exist. God alone knows the heart and He alone can mete out perfect justice. Fortunately for us all, "with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him plentiful redemption." (Ps. 129)
Patti
Post a Comment