God is not fair
Forgiveness for those who don't 'deserve' it - even u
Take a moment to close your eyes and ponder this...
What would happen if each one of us could do whatever we wanted, without fear of consequences or retribution?
We’re all completely free to do as we please, think as we please, say what we please, without any threat of punishment. Take a moment right now and imagine a world where those are the rules....
What did you imagine?
Chaos? Lawlessness? Marauding gangs, pillaging the countryside?
Or was it something else? Freedom, equality, partnership, trust?
As I have tried this at home this week, I have noticed these two different trains of thought, different depending on the context.
Because first I consider what would happen to me, personally, if I believed I was free to just do as I pleased. And, honestly, I don’t think I am inclined to go on a crime spree, just because I could.
Oh, I might let all the dogs out of the shelters, and I might just pick up a few things at Target without bothering to pay, just to see if it were true that there would be no consequences. But I think pretty soon I would just settle down into a life pretty much like I have right now, with maybe a little more courage and a little less guilt.
But honestly, it’s the other people I am worried about.
When I think about what would happen if all of us were free to do as we pleased, well then I get to fretting about all of those people who are not nearly as trustworthy as I am.
What would stop all of those other people from reverting to their basest motivations? How would we be protected from selfishness, greed, and criminal intent?
The mere thought fills me with fear.
Of course, it rarely occurs to me that others would fear me under those circumstances. Or that there would be others who would conduct themselves even more honorably than I would.
Because the world, when I look out on it, necessarily balances on the fulcrum of my measurement of right and wrong, on my being at least the neutral assessor, if not the heroic protagonist, of what is good in the world.
Of what is right and fair.
And it is this balance that goes crazy whenever I read the well-known and well-beloved Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Because there is really no way around it – God is not fair.
According to this, no matter how much we mess up, or no matter how hard we try to be good, God just lets us do whatever we want and loves us all just the same.
It’s galling, really.
Like the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, where the last show up and work for 5 minutes and get paid the same as those who have toiled all day, the point seems to be that we all get the same treatment in the end.
It’s enough to make you wonder why it is that we even bother trying to love our neighbor as ourselves.
This point is illustrated in C.S. Lewis’ book, The Great Divorce, where a group of people who have died take a bus ride from hell to heaven.
And all they have to do to get to stay in heaven is decide to do so, which is not always as easy as it seems.
One ‘Ghost’ - which is what they call a new visitor to heaven - runs into someone he knows almost as soon as he gets there: A man who has murdered a friend of his.
He is outraged that a murderer would be allowed in heaven, rather than being sent to hell. The murderer himself is at peace, and has reconciled with the man he killed.
But still this Ghost - the new visitor to heaven - is having none of it:
“What I’d like to understand,” said the Ghost, “is what you’re here for; as pleased as Punch, you, a bloody murderer, while I’ve been walking the streets down there and living in a place like a pigstye all these years.”
“That is a little hard to understand at first. But it is all over now. You will be pleased about it presently. Till then there is no need to bother about it.”
“No need to bother about it? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
“No. Not as you mean. I do not look at myself. I have given myself up. I had to, you know, after the murder. That was what it did for me. And that was how everything began”...
“Look at me, now,” said the Ghost ... “I gone straight all my life. I don’t say I was a religious man and I don’t say I had no faults, far from it. But I done my best all my life ... And what I don’t see is why I should be put below a bloody murderer like you ... But I don’t see myself going in the same boat with you, see? Why should I? I don’t want charity. I’m a decent man and if I had my rights I’d have been here long ago and you can tell them I said so.”
The other shook his head. “You can never do it like that ... And it isn’t exactly true, you know.” Mirth danced in his eyes when he said it ... “You weren’t a decent man and you didn’t do your best. We none of us were and we none of us did. Lord bless you, it doesn’t matter. There is no need to go into it all now.”
They go on like this for some time, and eventually the Ghost leaves, because he just can’t see himself sharing space in heaven with a murderer.
Like the older brother in the Prodigal Son - standing outside of the feast - he is filled with rage that other people, the ones who have proven how unworthy they are, can just waltz to the head of the line and receive the love of God.
What’s to stop us all from just doing anything we want then?
But here’s something interesting that I have noticed:
all this retribution stuff, it usually doesn’t work. The truth is that we can do anything we want, and usually we do.
And from what I can see, all of our laws and consequences do little to make people more law-abiding in general.
All of the punishments for poor behavior, clearly spelled out and made public, have never stopped such behavior from happening.
The more prisons we build, the more crime we see. And no amount of safety measures have ever left us measurably more safe. And all the ways we try and make the others conform, re-form, and pay for their mistakes have never led to anyone’s salvation, or anyone’s joy, as far as I can see, anyway.
Yet it is very difficult to let this notion go: that once we earn it, once we deserve it, then we shall be fully loved and accepted.
And God forbid if someone who deserves it even less than we do reaps the same benefit, while we are still trapped in the endless cycle of trying to be good.
But God doesn’t forbid it, and that’s what’s hard.
When you really think about it, when do we ever get off? If murderers don’t get into heaven, then what about bank robbers? Adulterers? Liars? People who are mean to animals? If we get all the way back to people who don’t recycle, then I’m in big trouble.
Where, exactly, do we draw the line between them - the ones who can’t be trusted, the ones who haven’t earned it - and us - the ones who are doing the very best we can to be good?
And who is to say when that day comes, the day when we have finally shown we are good enough, and the day when they have finally shown they are good enough?
Well, if we answer ‘God’ to those questions, there’s good news.
Because God gets around all of that by saying something else: God says, there is a party going on in your honor. There is a God who loves you enough to come running across the fields and embrace you with joy. There are your favorite foods and your favorite people, ready to sing and dance well into the night.
This is true even if you run away and declare it is not to your liking, that you would rather find your own way.
It is true even if you prefer to stand outside the door counting heads, counting reasons why each person should or should not be there, counting reasons why you should or should not be there.
It is true even if it offends you that others far less worthy than you get the same party.
The party is already going on, it never stops, and all you have to do is come in.
All you have to do is to let go of everything that keeps you from believing this is for you, and it is also for every one of your brothers and sisters.
It is shocking, really, and really that simple. God loves each and every one of us, regardless of who we are and what we have done. Regardless of whether we are planning to live better lives or not.
And it is completely unfair.
Why then, should we even bother to be good if this is true?
Well, maybe we shouldn’t bother to be good.
Maybe we should bother to be grateful. To be awed and amazed. To be filled with the kind of joy and love that comes from realizing the enormity of the gift we have been given.
And then see how we live after that.
Increase your capacity for gratitude and joy by joining us for YLWG Christian Spiritual Exercises.
We begin each Practice with the Examen…
The Examen
We call YWLG a ‘gym for your soul’. Just like at the actual gym, we recommend 'warming up’ before starting the deeper Exercises and Practices.