Listen to the Audio and/or Subscribe to the Podcast
Full Transcript:
Our mind endowing, Spirit bestowing and personality bequeathing God is always aware of our limitations as well as our potential. We are judged fairly in light of our origin, nature and purpose. And, because mercy is inherent in Divine justice, we can always be assured of its availability.
It was Samuel who, at the Spirit’s urging, revived the Mosaic tradition of making comforting proclamations to the humble and the less fortunate. He said: “The Lord enriches and impoverishes; he debases and exalts. He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggars; setting them among princes to make them inherit the throne of glory.” Samuel also linked a merciful and forgiving attitude with such benefits through this statement: “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, showing mercy to the merciful, and with the upright man he will also be upright.”
Jesus specifically underscored this teaching with the words “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” He also reinforced such linkages when He told us that the merciful shall obtain mercy. He taught us to pray saying “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
And so, while it would appear from these passages that there is some reciprocal association in that you must be merciful to obtain mercy or be forgiving to obtain forgiveness, many of us are reminded of how we secured our own salvation under a circumstance where we were less than deserving. When Samuel’s people felt they were undeserving, he exhorted them: “Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great.”
God’s tender mercies may indeed temper His justice, but any presumption of Divine mercy while willfully missing the mark, is likely to bring harsh consequences. Of course it is not our place, or consistent with our calling, to sit in judgment on the hearts of others. That having been said, we should also be mindful of the fact that mercy is precious and dearly bestowed. It is not a gift to be trampled under foot by the unappreciative or those who would thoughtlessly make a mockery of God’s saving grace.
God inspires the higher impulses and holier emotions of men and angels and it is clearly within His purview to overshadow justice with mercy. So how do we engage in a ministry of mercy that does not run counter to His discipline? If we are to exercise wisdom, the relationship between justice and mercy may sometimes give us pause as we don’t want to thwart God’s purpose in any given situation. When we’re told “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” how exactly does that define our role with respect to mercy? Does the act of forgiveness presuppose some shortcoming on the part of those we forgive? We certainly have a biblical and historical basis for this question. After all Hosea preached forgiveness through repentance.
Now if we were to condition our forgiveness on repentance, we would find ourselves judging someone else’s sincerity or the quality of their repentance. Clearly this is not within our purview. But there is an easy way to avoid the whole minefield. We can simply adopt the attitude of Jesus as he was put to death. As his executioners were nailing his hands to the crossbeam, Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
As for forgiveness and mercy in the absence of repentance, the big answers are, of course, found in prayer. And yet part of the answer is to be found in the definition and nurture components of mercy, for it is more than the forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power. It goes beyond the discretionary power of a civil magistrate to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment. Mercy can also be a simple act of compassion, or something that gives evidence of divine favor; merited or unmerited. It is truly a blessing and entirely consistent with Our Lord’s Gospel of loving-kindness.
As Jesus demonstrated on the cross, there is a higher quality of righteousness than justice. Jesus told us to minister to the sick, the fainthearted, and those bound by fear. As we share the Gospel, we help free those enslaved by evil. And we can do all of this unencumbered by any analysis paralysis or concern over judgment for excessive kindness because of the grace factor. Grace is, by definition, unmerited favor. Consider the words of Jesus: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
Consider also, the example Jesus gave about the man who steals your coat. By the Master’s admonition, in our time we would likely give the thief a set of matching gloves and perhaps even a scarf for a dash of color. Now would we do this simply to keep from getting shot or is there a larger principle involved? I believe our act of kindness in the face of such evil is the Peacemaker’s equivalent of shock and awe. It would serve to challenge the righteousness of the self-centered thief. And even though it may not spur in him an instant conversion to altruistic hero, it also won’t support his notion that everyone’s in it for themselves. He has, at least, one unsettling example of a fellow human being acting unselfishly. Until he grows to understand your motivation, the unusual experience will be hard to reconcile in his mind.