Justice is Mercy

Jesus warns us that the good deeds we do, including fasting and prayer must not be done publicly for others to see or to obtain praise. If we do that that is the only impermanent reward we will get but when we help others or give donations, big or small for worthy causes our left hand must not know what our right hand is doing.

In two of the temptations, which came soon after the Jordan baptism where Jesus became aware that He was the beloved son of God, the devil challenges this by saying, "If you are the Son of God". This same temptation comes to most of us regularly and we need to be aware as to where it is coming from. We need to stand firm on the promise that in Christ Jesus we all have been baptised to be sons or daughters of the Heavenly Father and God's kingdom is our eternal heritage.

In the first temptation the devil tells the hungry Jesus to abuse His power by turning stones into bread. That is the main lesson for us. In areas where God has given us some power - be it in the family, the Church or the work place - God wants us to use that power to help people and even wash their feet, not to dominate, use or abuse others.

In the second temptation the devil tempts Jesus to indulge in cheap popularity by jumping from the top of the temple. Even in our spiritual life we often tempted to seek cheap popularity to earn praise and compliment from people. This is a temptation we need to resist.

In the first two temptations the devil quotes the Scriptures. We need to be cautious about this because often evil forces or worldly trends and the people who follow it may quote the Scriptures and drag us into something like the prosperity gospel instead of Jesus' Gospel of the cross, death and resurrection.

In the third temptation the devil tells a lie claiming that all the kingdoms of the world and the resources belong to him. In the Scriptures there are hundreds of instances where we are told that the world and all its resources belong to God and not to the devil. So we need to be cautious about such lies that may come from evil forces and worldly powers.

Jesus as the great physician gives us the best prescription for a fruitful life from day to day or moment to moment. Like an Ayurveda physician's effective 'Kasaya' there are three ingredients in it and all there are necessary.

Jesus tells us:
1. Don't worry about the past or fear the future. Live in the moment and live from moment to moment or day to day.
2. Trust in the Lord's unfailing love.
3. Seek the kingdom of love and justice by obeying the Lord's main commandment to love one another as He loves us.

When we do this the promise is that God will provide everything we need, not everything we want or desire. Jesus also warns that we cannot serve two masters - God and money or mammon. If money, wealth and possessions are giving us security and success in life, giving us prestige and power in life, then to that extend we have distanced ourselves from God and may be in danger of facing what happened to the rich fool who built bigger barns or bank accounts to keep his excessive wealth, instead of sharing generously and cheerfully with the impoverished and oppressed people.

Justice is mercy and may God give us a wisdom to see and act.