From Christianity Today online. Another fine piece from Mr. Galli, who reminds us where to start when thinking about God and his justice and mercy.
This is a startling and counterintuitive revelation; this is not a grand religious idea one can logically work toward, but an event that occurred under Pontius Pilate, not a theology but God caught in the act of loving us. This factoid and its revealed meaning are what we are called to believe and to proclaim, not what God might or might not do in this or that situation. We are asked not to preach according to our imaginations or our nightmares, but according to what God has, in fact, done for us in Jesus Christ.
This is the God we are asked to trust. Not the God who is said to be good or loving or powerful by some definition we might put on those words. We’re asked to trust in the God who gave himself for us on the cross in Jesus Christ.