What is the Origin of Mercy?
Good Morning Friends,
A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe and had a white skullcap on his head. They sat facing one another, up close and personal. The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s attempted assassin; the other man was Pope John Paul II, the intended victim. The pope held the hand that had held the gun whose bullet tore into the pope’s body. This picture was an icon of mercy.
You have to figure that the idea of mercy is for our own good and that its very existence is to make life more abundant. Still we are a people who want to listen to Jesus on the one hand and then with the other beat people up with a stick of condemnation. The very nature of mercy is really quite interesting. William Shakespeare in the The Merchant of Venice says this:
“The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.”
Mercy’s force is acknowledged by Shakespeare but I think it is perhaps our Lord’s most powerful message. Picture the Pope and his would be assassin. That is power. And as I contemplate its nature this morning I wonder, What is the Origin of Mercy?
Scripture: He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
1 Peter 1:20 (NRSV)
Then you shall make a mercy-seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width.
Exodus 25:17 (NRSV)
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36 (NRSV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NRSV)
Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13 (NRSV)
Message: The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. And, he wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy. I figure that God’s first act of Mercy was probably to make a way and a plan to bring the human race back to God after the fall. This is done through Christ and the atoning work on the cross. A long journey. God could have let things play out without a chance of redemption but instead mercy is introduced. Without God’s plan we would have no mercy at all, only death. But where does the story really begin? If we think about it God must have known man would fail in the Garden and as scripture in 1 Peter points out, the plan was in place before the foundation of the world. So mercy has been part of the plan from the beginning. Shakespeare compares mercy to a gentle rain but perhaps that light on the first day of creation is an even better comparison. Yes, Jesus the light of life for all men…bringing and being mercy. Friends, God showed compassion by sending His son; we are to show compassion by showing God’s act of compassion to others.
Pray that in the midst of the dangers of the world we share the good news of Christ. Pray we witness to God’s daily mercy. Pray we begin to see how the love of God, the motive behind it all, goes beyond sympathy and empathy to action. Pray we experience an action that tells the truth in love. Pray that when the human condition appears hopeless we have God’s mercy teaching us to not give in to the world but to change our thinking and become living sacrifices. Pray
that God’s majesty and mercy converge in our lives. Pray we have a faith in the mercy of God. Pray we trust in the forgiveness of sins. Pray we recognize the need for mercy in the world.
Pray we realize that God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. Pray we realize that God wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us. Pray we completely trust in Jesus. Pray we realize that God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. Pray we realize that the more we trust in Jesus, the more mercy we will receive. Pray that when our situations in life have us calling out for mercy we notice that we are acknowledging God as the only answer. Pray we find mercy and grace in our time of need.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 