Today's readings are Psalm 52, Leviticus 24.1-23, and Luke 12.54-13.17.
One of the common complaints I hear about the Old Testament shows up in today's reading from Leviticus. Isn't all that "an eye for an eye" bit primitive, hostile and vindictive? It's amazing how much weight that argument carries with people nowadays. So it's time to get into our "wayback" machine and see what we see for justice in ancient societies. Actually, we can do this one without the wayback machine. Let's imagine some of the people who live in neighborhoods very much like the ones I have lived in for the past quarter of a century. They become embroiled in an argument. Someone says something hurtful. To stop such hurtful words, the person who was hurt drives by in the middle of the night and breaks all the windows of his former friend's car with a baseball bat. Or in an increasingly prevalent scenario, person A removes a small amount of cash or drugs from person B's possession. Person B shoots person A multiple times.
Now let's look at the kind form of justice found in Leviticus 24.17-23. Because you know you are liable to punishment commensurate with the harm you cause, you are first of all careful to bring no harm to your neighbor or his possessions. With that in mind you also find that when you do bring harm to your neighbor or his possessions you are protected in that you will incur no greater harm than you caused, though you will also have the added shame of being found guilty. This is very kind and gentle justice. It urges people to care for their neighbors and to limit their vengeance. This is something our society could use more of.
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