“How great, how glorious, how complete Redemption’s grand design, Where justice, love, and mercy meet In harmony divine!” (Eliza R Snow, “How Great The Wisdom and the Love”). I have often imagined Justice and Mercy as being on parallel lines that, by definition, never intersect. Unless, of course, you go all the way out to infinity where it is entirely possible for parallel lines to cross. This is a good analogy because Christ essentially did extend Himself out to infinity with His infinite Atonement and found the place where Justice, Love, and Mercy meet. In fact, it seems a perfectly valid argument that it is precisely the bringing of Justice, Love and Mercy at one with each other that the at-one-ment was intended to accomplish. I'm not sure that it is entirely appropriate, however, to imagine Jesus Christ as some Atlas figure, heroically standing at the edge of infinity and forcing these two opposing forces of Justice and Mercy closer and closer together, fighting against a magnetically irresistible repulsive force, muscles bulging, sweating great drops of blood. I believe that it is closer to the truth to imagine that with perfect love, Justice and Mercy are indistinguishable from each other. This isn't necessarily as comforting as it might first appear. Imagine the kind of Hell that Jesus Christ had to wade through before Divine Justice could feel like Mercy. Describing the absolute anguish and bitterness of the depths of hell, the Savior said, “Nevertheless, I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; Wherefore, the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except those who are ordained unto this condemnation.” (D&C 76:47-48). Jesus Christ knows from firsthand experience how sore, how bitter, how hard to bear are the torments of being cut off forever from the love of God, and in His mercy He judges us, in the hopes that we may be filled with the fear of God and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, so that we may be spared a fate far, far worse than death. In the context of saving us from an existence of endless torment, Justice is a Mercy. When a loving parent watches a child misbehave and start to shape themselves through their choices into the kind of person that will be rejected and distrusted and despised by all of those around them, it is an act of love and mercy to administer appropriate discipline and punishment. Justice demands that we corrupt and fallen creatures become better than we are at present, and this comes from a place of Love and Mercy. Jesus Christ does not want us either intentionally or accidentally making things worse for ourselves and others and that is why in His mercy He Judges us with righteous judgment and helps us to cast aside all of the things that are preventing us from being as good as we could be. On the flip side, Mercy, when built upon Love, can be in the service of Justice. If our sense of cosmic Justice leads us to believe that every wrong must be righted, it can be hard for us to wrap our heads around how that could be accomplished with a God who focuses so much on Mercy and Forgiveness. The truth is that making amends or restoring disequilibrium to the status quo is too small an ambition. Christ is less interested in making things better and more interested in making things perfect. An incomplete understanding of true Justice might demand one who has committed a crime to be locked up or destroyed from off the face of the Earth. But with an eye fixed on the best of all possible worlds, it is easier to understand that showing mercy to the sinner with the aim of transforming the transgressor into a force for good is a much more practical way of achieving the ultimate goal of Justice. By refusing to write us off as lost causes and by forgiving us on the condition that we waste and wear out our lives in His service, Christ is much more likely to ensure that Justice is more fully realized through Mercy than it ever could have been through any other principle. Mercy wields the power of Justice to shield us from the bitterness of Hell, and Justice wields Mercy to usher in the glory of Heaven. Thanks to the infinite Love of Jesus Christ and His infinite sacrifice, He has brought At One the powers of Justice and Mercy and united and combined them in perfect harmony to more fully and completely bring about His grand design.
