Models for Reparation, Compensation, Financial Restoration, and Making Amends
By Marion D. Aldridge
During my retirement, I’ve been preaching short-term interims that last from three months to a year. Within a few weeks, I’ve taught the congregation to say these words at certain times during the sermon, “It’s a Big Book.”
“It’s a Big Book” has become my mantra—because the Bible is physically and culturally huge, sometimes saying what we expect, and sometimes surprising us.
“The Bible says…” may have been a favorite saying of Billy Graham but, over the years, I’ve found that not to be a particularly helpful phrase. The Bible says “Be quiet” and “Speak up.” The Bible says “Give” and “Receive.” I want to be an honest preacher. Some of the Bible is either/or. A lot of it is both/and.
Love and justice… both.
Restitution and grace… both.
The Bible provides a variety of models for repaying damages or making amends when someone has been wronged. There is no one solution that fits all situations. Nuance and options are needed.
“Yes, I meant something like that, but not exactly….”
“No, that word doesn’t quite capture the meaning….”
Repentance and confession are such familiar biblical terms that they’ve lost much of their comprehensiveness and depth. When certain people confess their misbehavior, they’re doing no more than saying they are sorry they were caught. For others, it’s no more than a formal apology such as they might give for a social faux pas, “Oh, I’m sorry for being underdressed. I misunderstood the dress code.”
The Bible and a good thesaurus will be helpful; but neither provides a guarantee of a satisfactory result for anyone with only one predetermined outcome, such as the death penalty for the perpetrator of a vicious crime or reparation for a theft or an act of injustice.
The Bible describes many models, a few of which are listed below. Indubitably, there are others.
1) Exodus 22 provides a couple of instances for making restitution after a theft of property. Jewish scholars have debated the distinctions between various types of larceny for centuries. Exodus 22 records two options:
“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep” (Exodus 22: 1).
“Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double” (Exodus 22: 3-4).
2) Another instance of restitution in the Hebrew Scriptures is in the book of Numbers:
“Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged. But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer” (Numbers 5: 5-8).
3) The Year of Jubilee was to be an occasion (in theory) of massive social restructuring by returning of property to the original owners:
“Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan” (Leviticus 25: 10).
4) In the gospels, on several occasions, Jesus gave his disciples or potential disciples instructions to sell all they possessed and to give the income to the poor:
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Luke 12: 33).
5) Zacchaeus responded to Jesus impressively, but not completely impoverishing himself:
“Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount’” (Luke 19: 8).
6) Other disciples responded in varying degrees of obedience to this command of self-denial. The apostle Peter, apparently, retained ownership of his boat by which he produced his sustenance and income:
“The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore” (John 21: 10-11).
7) The early Christian church experimented with literal obedience to Jesus’s command to sell their personal assets and distribute the income to those in need, some form of communism. Whether the experiment succeeded or disappointed in the short term, the Jerusalem church ultimately failed financially, and collections were made by the Apostle Paul for the Jerusalem poor.
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need” (Acts 4: 32-35).
8) One of the most fascinating, and often ignored, acts of repentance involving restitution is that of Judas. Regretful for his betrayal, by bribery, he presented himself to the chief priests and made restitution. They rejected his plea for forgiveness. I’m convinced that if Judas had gone to Jesus to ask for grace, he would have been forgiven:
“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,’” he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’
‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself” (Matthew 27: 3-5).
9) Unrelieved guilt is deadly, as the suicide of Judas demonstrates. As a pastor, I looked for evidence of repentance when a parishioner expressed contrition or grief over misbehavior. My reading of scripture indicates Judas attempted to make restitution.
The language of confession is a start. But words of regret may not be enough. My Baptist tradition has often excused the inexcusable after accepting a few glib remarks of acknowledging bad behavior. In My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle sings, “Words, words, words, I’m so sick of words … Show me.”
However, David’s Psalm of Contrition is an example of apparently genuine repentance without, as far as we know, financial reparation or restitution. David remained married to Bathsheba, and Uriah remained dead:
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me…
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51: 1-3, 17).
10) In the 21st century, I am impressed by the work of Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Step groups. When they have offended, they use the terminology of “making amends,” which I find helpful.
Alcoholics Anonymous speaks of three kinds of “amends,” none meaning a mere apology. The first is direct amends, which includes a reimbursement or repayment of funds stolen or taken during a season of alcohol abuse. The second is indirect amends, in which a person works toward redemption by repaying to society what cannot be repaid to the specific person who was hurt during an alcoholic episode. Volunteering for a non-profit organization is an example. The third option is living amends, involving a lifestyle change to cease the destructive behavior that created the problem.
These models, biblical and otherwise, may be deeply unsatisfying to those who desire a specific outcome to their complaint of injustice, e.g., the death penalty to someone who took the life of a family member. Ultimately, no amount of repair, restoration, recovery, revenge, regeneration or even resurrection will necessarily make an aggrieved person serene after suffering loss. Financial laws and legal codes attempt to be precise, whereas life, by nature, is often imprecise. Other than the few examples from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible does not consistently give a dollar figure, a detailed remedy, or an explicit system of reparation that will satisfy all disputes.
11) I find it hard to improve on the more ambiguous but perennial wisdom that combines some mixture of justice, grace and humility:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
— Marion Aldridge is a writer, preacher, and blogger living in Columbia, S.C.
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