The people of God were far from home. Their country had been invaded and defeated. The best of them had been forced to leave their homes and relocate to the capital of the empire that had overcome them. They had to learn a new language, live in a strange culture. They were exiled. For decades they dreamt of going home. And then. And then. After years of praying and hoping they were given a chance to go home. God worked in the heart of a new king, who gave them permission to go home, to return and rebuild, city and Temple. To worship once more in the place their ancestors had worshipped. And they took it. They went home and rebuilt. There was opposition and challenges, but they rose to the challenges and the opposition was put down.
Now, the wall of the city is completed, and the people of God have gathered together to hear God’s word. They know that they had been exiled because God’s word hadn’t been followed, and they are determined not to fall into the same sins. So they read the word, and one of their leaders, Ezra, leads them in a prayer of repentance and commitment.
We read part of that prayer this morning. This celebration of God’s mercy to God’s people throughout the generations. Ezra recounts some of the history and the recurring pattern of the people’s rebellion against God, of the just consequences of that disobedience, and then the compassionate and merciful response of God opening up the way for the people to come back to God. He talks about the way in which the Holy Spirit warned the people about these consequences, warnings that are part of God’s mercy.
And this is what the story of the people of God always comes back to. It always comes back to God’s mercy. God’s consistent, reliable, unchanging attitude of active love towards us that sees us in our misery, our sin, our shame, our brokenness and comes towards us with compassion and love, bringing forgiveness, freedom, and wholeness. God’s mercy.
This morning we are continuing our series exploring the character and nature of God. The big questions we are asking are – Who is God? What is God like? A couple of weeks ago we started by exploring what it means that God is Creator, and then last week Nick helped us think about the fact that God is Love. This week we are exploring God’s mercy.
We’ve already seen God’s mercy at work in the lives of the exiles. So now let’s look at our New Testament reading, from Luke’s historical account of Jesus’ life and teaching.
What can we see here in this story?
We see one person, full of themselves and confident in their own goodness and proud of the way in which they tick the boxes. Not stealing, tick. Not doing evil, tick. Not sleeping around, tick. Fasting – twice a week, tick. Giving away money, tick. Tick, tick, tick. Self-satisfied. Looking down on those who don’t measure up.
On the other side of the room we see someone else. He looks at his feet, head bowed in shame. He’s got no tick list. He knows there wouldn’t be any ticks. He beats his breast. Grief at what his life is. He has nothing of his own to bring, so he throws himself on God’s mercy.
Who leaves that place right with God? The one who came in thinking he was already right with God, or the one who knew that he wasn’t?
This is God’s mercy. God’s consistent, reliable, unchanging attitude of active love towards us that sees us in our misery, our sin, our shame, our brokenness and comes towards us with compassion and love, bringing forgiveness, freedom, and wholeness. God’s mercy.
As we read on in Luke 18, we find another example of God’s mercy at work.
Jesus is on the road, walking into the city of Jericho, along with a crowd of his friends and followers. There’s a blind man sitting at the side of the road, hoping that passers by will spare him the odd coin. He hears the noise of the crowd and asks what’s going on. “Jesus of Nazareth is coming.” He calls out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The folk standing around try to shut him up. But he keeps shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus stops and calls him over. Then he asks the question that he asks all of us. “What do you want me to do for you?” The answer is simple. “Lord, I want to see.” And he saw, and followed, and praised God.
This is God’s mercy. God’s consistent, reliable, unchanging attitude of active love towards us that sees us in our misery, our sin, our shame, our brokenness and comes towards us with compassion and love, bringing forgiveness, freedom, and wholeness. God’s mercy.
When we’re talking about something like mercy, which is like love and grace, somehow it feels wrong to talk about how we ought to respond to it. That kind of language seems to me to reduce it something like a transaction, something mechanical. There’s nothing worse that someone who’s done something for you saying “you should be grateful”. It’s true, but it sours the whole thing. So, I want to avoid that, or any sense of guilt trip, but on the other hand I do want us to think about what it means to live well in the light of God’s mercy.
Jesus told the story of an employee who owed his boss a huge amount of money, many times what his annual salary. The employee was brought before the boss, unable to pay anything back, and he pleaded for mercy. The boss forgave his debt. On the way out of their meeting the employee met a colleague who owed him for lunch, but didn’t have the money with him, and started beating him up. His other colleagues saw this happen and reported it to the boss, who had the first employee hauled in. “I showed you mercy, and yet you treat someone else like this?” The boss went after everything he had, until his debt was paid.
How we treat other people is a pretty good indicator of our appreciation of God’s mercy to us. As we have been shown mercy, so we show mercy. As we have been forgiven, so we forgive. As we have been loved, so we love.
We have explored some stories of people asking for God’s mercy. Many of the psalms have the theme of asking for God’s mercy. In our set prayers week by week we often call on God’s mercy. God’s mercy is a foundation of our prayers. And I say foundation deliberately. Because I think sometimes we can think that praying is trying to persuade God to do something God doesn’t want to do, or is reluctant to do, or hasn’t noticed needs doing. We don’t pray because God’s mercy needs switching on. No, we pray because God’s mercy is always on. God’s mercy is a given, it’s fundamental to God’s character, to God’s nature. God is merciful. Trusting in that truth gives confidence to our prayers.
Sometimes the things we pray for don’t happen, or not as quickly as we want, but that is not because God is not merciful, or that God’s mercy has failed. We can’t see the end yet, but God can, and we believe that God works all things for the good of those who love God, so we will continue to trust in God’s mercy, and pray in faith that God’s mercy will triumph.
At the beginning of Romans 12, Paul writes:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Similarly in his first letter, in chapter 2, Peter writes:
“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
Two of the most prominent teachers and leaders in the early church with the same message. In light of the mercy you have received from God, live differently. You have been forgiven, don’t return to your sin. You are children of light, don’t live in the dark. You’ve had a bath, don’t jump back in the muck. You’ve got new clothes, don’t dig out the dirty rags. You’ve been freed, don’t tie yourself up again. You’ve been put on the right road, don’t wander off the way.
We show it to others, we pray on the basis of it, we live in the light of it. What is it? God’s mercy. God’s consistent, reliable, unchanging attitude of active love towards us that sees us in our misery, our sin, our shame, our brokenness and comes towards us with compassion and love, bringing forgiveness, freedom, and wholeness. God’s mercy.