Punishment Isn’t My Job

But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD’S anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.” 1 Samuel 26:9-10

In providing medical care for those who’re incarcerated, some of them want to talk about their charges – usually to proclaim their innocence. When this happens, I inform them that I have nothing to do with the legal system and that I’m unfamiliar with their charges. In fact, it’s better if I don’t know the specifics. As a physician, it’s my job to provide medical care to everyone equally. There have been times when I do find out the heinous things inmates are accused of and it pains me to admit, but it has changed the way I look at them. But I’m not the judge, jury, or executioner, and I cannot change the quality of my care based on the weight of any crime. Though it may be tempting to provide different care because one inmate has done worse things than another, that’s simply not my job. My job is to be a physician, caring for everyone equally. This doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge crime or that I ignore right and wrong. It just means that I don’t dole out medical care based on guilt or innocence. Punishment isn’t my job.

This same sentiment was expressed by David in today’s passage. In it, as King Saul continued his pursuit of David, David once again found himself very near an unaware Saul. David once again had the opportunity to kill Saul, something his companion encouraged him to do. Kill him! He deserves to die! Saul did deserve to die but David recognized that it would have been wrong for him to do the killing. Punishment wasn’t his job. David recognized Saul’s guilt but wisely left the punishment up to God.

As followers of Christ, this is a principle that we should apply when interacting with those around us. As Christians, we see ourselves as keepers of the truth and when the world around us doesn’t live by that truth, we often see it as our job to communicate disapproval, condemnation, and even hate. I’ve observed Christians who refuse to be kind to someone whose lifestyle they disagree with, because they’re afraid that kindness will be interpreted as approval. So, they communicate hate. Hate isn’t a Christian’s job though. Jesus, rather, asks us to love our neighbor as ourselves, whether they follow Christ or not. This doesn’t mean we can’t identify self-destructive behavior or pretend sin doesn’t exist. It just means that as the body of Christ on Earth, punishment isn’t our job. Love is.