The Surprise of God's Justice

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, January 8th, 2023: The Feast of Epiphany

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Psalm 72

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more. May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service. 

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

For he delivers the needy one who calls, the poor and the one who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

I have a law degree, though I never ended up practicing as a lawyer. One of the first and harshest lessons I learned in law school is the difference between legal and just. The law is a heavy-handed instrument and doesn’t always work the way we want it to. Sometimes an innocent person goes to prison, or a person who’s done grievous wrong walks free. “That’s not fair!” is often one of the first sentences a toddler learns to use, because we all instinctively want to see justice done. The most common response from a parent is, “Well, life’s not fair,” because it’s not. Our world still struggles with justice. 
 
God, thankfully, does not. It’s from Him that we get our natural desire for justice, after all. Our world is messy and sinful, but the Kingdom of Heaven is always just. What a relief! And – how scary. Because as we read scripture, it immediately becomes clear that God’s ways are not our own. He forgives people who are widely considered to be sinners. He condemns people who are widely considered to be holy. In today’s Gospel, a Jewish king becomes a sinner and murderer, while Gentile Magi worship a Jewish baby. When we pray for God’s justice, even as we benefit from it, we need to be prepared that it might not look the way we expect.
 
This psalm does exactly that. Traditionally attributed to King David, it starts the way we expect – God makes a just king, appoints him and his son as rulers, and expects other nations to submit to justice. No doubt King David was pleased with this! But the final verse puts those who would have been widely considered to be last as first in God’s eyes – the poor, the afflicted, the lowly. There is no justice unless those who suffer the most are cared for. In the time of King David, those struggling the most were often widows and orphans, since women had few avenues for legitimate work to support themselves and orphans (fatherless children) suffered alongside their mothers. Today, there are other groups of people who struggle – new immigrants and refugees trying to adapt to their new culture, those who are homeless and must deal with rejection and cruelty while trying to get by, elderly and seniors who find themselves lonely and grieved by the loss of loved ones. 
 
It can feel like the Kingdom of Heaven is far away, but there is much we can do to bring it near. The Magi would have been surprised to discover that they, not Herod, were the ones worshipping the newborn Prince. In the same way, we may be surprised by what God asks of us. Preparing meals for those living in temporary shelters, visiting a local nursing home, or volunteering to help refugees improve their English may not feel comfortable, but it might be what we’re called to. Our parents were right – life isn’t fair. But we, as followers of Jesus, make the world fairer today than it was yesterday.




​Jenna Young

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