"Karma will get you", I hear some people say as they look upon a person who was doing something morally wrong. Karma is a tool that some religious thinkers have used to solve the problem of justice. Karma is a natural law that enforces moral justice. Karma could manifest itself in life, where a person suffers for an evil he has done. Karma could also manifest itself in a later life, where the deceased person who has done evil gets reincarnated as a lower life form or in a miserable estate. Karma is basically the concept of reaping and sowing, or the statement "what goes around comes around".

     Human experience seems to validate this concept, at least in life. Evil people do fall, sometimes violently. However, human experience seem to also invalidate this concept. Evil people sometimes prosper. Karma contradicts the Christian view of the nature of the moral law. Karma posits an impersonal moral law that is inviolable. In Christian theology, the moral lawgiver is a personal being and the moral law is a reflection of his moral nature. This personal being is gracious, giving good things to both those who are good and those who are evil.  He is merciful, not dealing with us as our sins deserve. Because this personal being is gracious, we live in a gracious universe. 

     I have heard a friend say that looking at his little daughter makes him feel that he has been granted an undeserved favor. Despite all the wrongs he has done, the joy he feels with his daughter makes it seem that God has provided him more good than he deserves.

     As I reflect on my friend's feelings, I get a glimpse of what it means to live in a gracious universe. Is it an impersonal law that guarantees payback for wrongs we have done the regulator of our moral universe? Or is it a gracious God who provides us with good things, notwithstanding the wrong things we do? What kind of people are we to be then? Are we to be a people who pat ourselves in the back, telling ourselves that we have these good things in our life because we have been good? Or are we to be a people of gratitude, bowing our heads and our hearts to the one who gives us the good we do not deserve?

     The story of the Magi intrigues me. These astrologers (Astrology is forbidden for God's people) found Jesus through their reading of the heavenly bodies. We don't know what the Magi thought about Jesus, only that they thought there was something special with him. Maybe they are following a prophecy from their own religion? The star that the magi saw points to the true light of the world, the one who shows us the truth about ourselves and about God. However, the Magi may have seen the stars as the source of truth. That would dishonor the creator, the light of the world, who made the stars.  However, God was gracious to them, not letting them die in the hands of Herod.

     What does this have to do with Karma? Despite the differing worldview, Karma points to the reality of the God of justice behind the universe. However, this God of justice is not an impersonal force. This God of justice sent his son Jesus to fulfill the demands of his justice. Jesus died in place of those who will believe in him. This sacrifice is the greatest evidence that the universe is filled with the grace of God, not ruled by an impersonal moral law. When we think about it, an impersonal moral law is scary. It will punish us because we have not done right perfectly and our hearts pull us towards evil. Thank God that he is a God who shows mercy.