Garry spoke this morning on revealing God through mercy. Ex 34:6-7 gives us insight into God’s character: ‘the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’ God’s compassion moves Him to action, compelling Him to step into situations to do something to remedy the problems. Matt 23:23 reminds us that ‘justice, mercy and faithfulness‘ are vitally important in life and we see these attributes perfectly balanced in God.
Ps 34:8 reminds us that we must ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’ We are to savour, chew, meditate on God’s goodness, and nowhere is this more evident than when we think about mercy. Matt 18:23-27 shows us what mercy means in practical terms: to owe more than we ever have chance of repaying and to have this debt completely cancelled. In Luke 15:11-24, we see how mercy and compassion are combined in the father’s heart as he runs to his returning son and, instead of punishing him, throws the best garments and rings on him and orders a feast of celebration. The mercy of God is lavish (see Jn 3:16), but although it is free to the one receiving mercy, to the one showing mercy, it costs everything.
Mercy is not ‘fair’ or ‘just’, for we do not get what we deserve. We are called to dwell on how much we have tasted God’s mercy (like a wine taster training his palate to discern the different grapes) so that we can then share God’s mercy with those around us.
The servant in Matt 18 was forgiven a great debt, but refused to cancel the much smaller debt owed to him. We need to savour the mercy we have received so we can pass it on to others. Our old debt has been cancelled, but we now have a new debt to God: to reflect His likeness to all. Col 3:12-13 reminds us we have to clothe ourselves with compassion and love and bear with others, carrying their burdens. Mercy triumphs over judgment, James tells us (Js 2:13), being triumphant when we allow mercy to set others free from their burdens and guilt.
