Last week’s post examined how the Jerusalem Council is an example of a win-win outcome to a conflict. Today’s post examines John Paul Lederach’s analysis of reconciliation in his book, The Journey Toward Reconciliation[1]. The analysis is based on four concepts in Psalm 85:10:
“Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.”(Duoay Rheims Version).
The four concepts here—mercy, truth, justice, and peace— constitute two powerful paradoxes.
Other English translations do not use these concepts. For instance, the New Revised Standard Version reads, “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” The translation in the breviary and lectionary reads: “Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced.”
John Paul developed the reconciliation exercise while working as a Mennonite peacebuilder in the Nicaraguan conflict in the 1980s. He imagined these four concepts as people representing various interests in a conflict. Reconciliation and peacebuilding had been difficult to achieve as arguments and disagreements were intense and belligerent. Hence, he proposed that the four groups meet with the communities to discuss their views about conflict. On the meeting day, he brought Truth, Mercy, Justice, and Peace into the room, sat them before the crowd, and addressed them: “We want to know what concerns you each have in the midst of conflict.”
Sister Truth said: “I am Truth. I am like the light that is cast so all may see. In times of conflict, I want to bring forward what really happened, putting it out in the open. Not the watered-down version. Not a partial recounting. My handmaidens are transparency, honesty, and clarity. I am set apart from my three colleagues here because they need me first and foremost. Without me, they cannot go forward. When I am found, I set people free” (p.55).
John Paul interjected, asking why each group claimed to have her. Truth responded: “There is only one Truth, but I can be experienced in many different ways. I reside within each person, yet nobody owns me” (p.55). John Paul asked Truth whom she fears the most among the other three friends, and she pointed to Mercy: “I fear him. In his haste to heal, he covers my light and clouds my clarity. He forgets that Forgiveness is our child, not his alone” (p. 56).
On his part, Mercy said: “I am the new beginning. I am concerned with people and their relationships. Acceptance, compassion, and support stand with me. I know the frailty of the human condition. Who among them is perfect?” (p.56). He said: “I do not cover Truth’s light…I am built of steadfast love that supports life itself. It is my purpose in life to bring forward the eternal grace of new beginnings” (p.56). When asked whom he feared the most, Mercy faced Justice and said: “My Brother Justice, in his haste to change and make things right, forgets that his roots lie in real people and relationships” (p.56).
On his part, Brother Justice said: “Mercy is correct. I am concerned about making things right. I consider myself a person who looks beneath the surface and behind the issues about which people seem to fight. The roots of most conflicts are tangled in inequality, greed, and wrongdoing. I stand with Truth, who sheds her light to expose the paths of wrongdoing. My task is to make sure that something is done to repair the damage wreaked, especially on the victims and the downtrodden. We must restore the relationship, but never while failing to acknowledge and rectify what broke the relationship in the first place” (p.57).
When John Paul interrogated Justice about people justifying their actions, even violent deeds, as doing his bidding, Justice replied: “I am most concerned about accountability. Often we think that anything and everything is acceptable. True and committed relationships have honest accounting and steadfast love. Love without accountability is nothing but words. Love with accountability is changed behaviour and action. This is the real meaning of restoration. My purpose is to bring action and accountability to the words” (p.57). When asked whom he feared, Justice replied: “I fear that my children, Mercy and Peace, see themselves as parents. Yet they are actually the fruit of my labor” (p.57-58).
Peace stepped forward and said: “I am Peace, and I agree with all three. I am the child to whom they give birth, the mother who labors to give them life, and the spouse who accompanies them on the way. I hold the community together, with the encouragement of security, respect, and well-being” (p.58). Truth and Justice protested, and Truth said: “That is precisely the problem. You see yourself as greater and bigger than the rest of us.” Justice said: “Arrogance! You do not place yourself where you belong. You follow us. You do not precede us” (p.58).
Peace responded: “That is true. I am fully expressed through and after you both. But it is also true that without me, there is no space cleared for Truth to be heard” (p.58). Turning towards Justice, Peace said: “And without me, there is no way to break out of the vicious cycle of accusation, bitterness, and bloodshed. You yourself, Justice, cannot be fully embodied without my presence. I am before and after. There is no other way to reach me. I myself am the way” (p.58).
When asked who he feared, Peace replied: “I fear manipulation of people using Sister Truth for their own purposes. Some ignore her, some use her as a whip, some claim to own her. I fear times when Brother Justice is sacrificed for the sake of Brother Mercy. I fear the blind manipulation when some will sacrifice life itself in trying to reach the ideal of Brother Justice. When such trickery takes place, I am violated and left as an empty shell” (p.58-59).
At this moment, John Paul asked how the four would then meet and what each needed from the other. Truth said to Mercy: “You must slow down…Give me a chance to emerge. Our child cannot be born without the slow development in the womb of the mother” (p. 59). Mercy replied: “Shine bright, dear Sister Truth. But please take care not to blind and burn. Remember that each person is a child of God. Each is weak and needs support to grow” (p.59).
Justice intervened: “I have been partly reassured by the words of Sister Peace. I need a clear statement that she gives a place for accountability and action. Remember when Micah (6:4) spoke of us ‘ Love Mercy and do Justice.’ You, Sister Peace, must allow room for me to come forward. If not, you will be aborted” (p.59). Peace then responded: “Brother Justice, our lips will meet if we recognise that we need one another. Do not let your heart of compassion fall into bitterness that rages without purpose. I will provide the soil for you to work and bear fruit” (p.59).
Then, the four huddled in a small circle, and John Paul asked what the place where they stood together was called. They responded in unison, “This place is reconciliation” (p.59).
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
[1] John Paul Lederach, The Journey Toward Reconciliation, Waterloo: Herald Press, 1999.
http://www.shalomconfflictcenter.org founded by Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine SMA