Justice and Mercy—The Culturally Intelligent Way
By Carmelo Mercado
The word quickly spread that Sabbath day. “Jesus, the son of Joseph is here!”
Imagine it with me. The church is full. His brothers and His mother are there. Everyone is anxious to see and hear Him. The scroll of Isaiah is handed over to Him and He reads from Isaiah 61. Then He sits down and waits. The people marvel at the gracious words that have proceeded out of His mouth and are amazed at just His reading alone! They then wonder, What will this Teacher say next?
“Then He said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian’ (Luke 4:24‒27 NKJV).
It’s amazing to see the change in behavior when Jesus challenged their perception of “the other”. Aren’t Jews favored by God and Gentiles of lesser worth? Yet Jesus’ Kingdom was not just for Jews but also for Gentiles. What was Jesus teaching? Taking away their Jewish privilege and exposing a prejudice made the people angry. Luke used the Greek word thumos—a fierce and passionate anger. Now the true nature of their hearts was exposed: from marvelous adoration to monstrous fury. Why? Because of prejudice.
Extreme prejudice leads to violence. Prejudice led to the “Trail of Tears” journeys in the 1830s causing the death of over 3,000 Native Americans. Prejudice led to the lawless execution of hundreds of Tejanos by Texas Rangers during the “bandit wars” of 1910s and 1920s. Prejudice led to the 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma massacre led by white Americans which left between 100 to 300 dead and 10,000 African Americans homeless.
Prejudice led to the murder of George Floyd and the deaths of African Americans needlessly killed by police. As Adventists, we condemn the inequities that people of color face and are clear in our desire to see them rectified. We also condemn the use of force and destruction as a response to these deaths. In light of the injustices we ask, “What would Jesus want us to do?”
The answer can be found in Mark 3 at another synagogue. Jesus finds a crippled man on the Sabbath. He longs to heal his crippled hand. Yet, Pharisees and Scribes have their eyes on Jesus to accuse Him of law-breaking. Jesus asks the Scribes and Pharisees, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life, or to kill?” The Pharisees didn’t say a word. Then, Jesus healed the man’s hand. Mark describes the way Jesus felt: “And he looked around them with anger, grieved (literal Greek translation reads being greatly grieved) at their hardness of heart . . .”
Jesus was angry at religion that misses the heart of God by holding on to manmade rules that prolong people’s suffering. He was angry because He truly loved this man, and the Pharisees did not. He was angry to see the prejudice from those who considered “the other” was under God’s condemnation. In essence, Jesus was angry over the injustice. Jesus was angry, a good kind of anger.
Good anger can be a powerful motivation to hunger and thirst for righteousness. This anger rests on justice as the object and love as the expression. Anger, when coupled with love, makes a person passionate and energized in the pursuit of making things right. An anger rooted in love results in acts of compassion. We must show love toward the unjust by praying “Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing”. Romans 12.21 says it well, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” In a world filled with turmoil and prejudice, may God help us to be instruments of justice, healing and peace.
Carmelo Mercado has served in his current role as the Lake Union’s general vice president for 18 years. He is also Multicultural Ministries director for the Lake Union and secretary for the Adventist-laymen's Services & Industries (ASI) Lake Union chapter.
