Tonight I had to give a 5-minute devotion on 'mercy' to a basketball team of 2nd and 3rd graders. It got me thinking about the real meaning of 'mercy'. Mercy is a sense of pity that has a desire to relieve suffering – it is not only pity but it also includes action, giving help to the afflicted and rescuing the helpless. It is a concern about the misery of mankind that leads to an anxiety to relieve it.
The New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates such mercy: on a journey, a Samaritan man meets another man beaten by robbers; he stops, goes across the road to where he is lying (while others have seen the man and have gone on); he is sorry for the victim and then dresses his wounds and then takes the victim with him. Luke 10:33-34 “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”
The supreme example in the New Testament is that of Jesus Christ: God sent his one and only Son into the world. Why? Because he saw our pitiable estate. He saw the suffering and consequences of our sin, and despite our law-breaking and constant rejection, He took action. Jesus didn't just look upon us and had pity from a distance, He came and dealt with our condition. Romans 5:6-10 – “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Deserving eternal punishment, but not getting it... Now THAT is mercy.
1 comment:
Hi Mark. Jennifer sent me your URL a while back, and I finally got around to cleaning up my inbox (and adding your blog to my RSS reader)...
One friend of mine read somewhere about the difference between grace and mercy. If I am remembering correctly, the story goes like this (shortened, so less dramatic than the original)
A worked steals large quantities of money from his company. His boss finds out and decides to let him keep his job. That's mercy.
The boss also decides to promote him. That's grace.
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