God’s Mercy
Readings: Genesis 45: 1-15, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-30, & Matthew 15: 21-28
I mentioned a few weeks ago that in the Bible, mountains are the places of revelation, the seas are the places of chaos and evil which are eventually controlled by God for some higher purpose, and now we arrive at another theme in the bible: unfairness. There are just so many stories of unfairness – from the switching of birthrights, to the story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel. When you read a story of unfairness in the Bible you want to pay attention because God’s grace and mercy are about to break through in a profound way.
This morning’s Old Testament lesson is no exception. If you remember, Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob and Rachel. His 10 other half-brothers and brother despised him and who could blame them? It was no secret that Joseph was the favorite son – he received the coat of many colors from his father as a sign of that unrelenting favoritism when Joseph was just a boy – and then Joseph also got under his brothers’ skins by telling them about his symbolic dreams that demonstrated his superiority over them. So eventually, they get rid of Joseph by selling him to travelling merchants going to Egypt and the problem is solved, that is until sometime later when a famine happens. And then the brothers have to go to Egypt in search of grain; Egypt being the bread basket of the known world.
Unbeknownst to the brothers, Joseph, through his ability to interpret dreams and his wise political counsel, has become the second most powerful man in Egypt – Pharoah being his only superior. And after Joseph tests his brothers with tests of loyalty, which would take too long to go into now, Joseph decides to have mercy on his brothers and to reveal who he is and to take care of them and to save them from the famine.
No one would have blamed Joseph if he sent his brothers packing. But he does not. And through Joseph’s mercy, and God’s secret agency through that same mercy, Israel is saved, as the brothers would someday become the 12 tribes of Israel.
All of our readings today are about the expansive mercy of God. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that God is never going to give up on us regardless of our behavior or our worthiness. The Canaanite woman teaches Jesus that God’s mercy extends even further than he had thought – that God’s mercy is so great that there if leftover mercy – metaphorical crumbs left under the table for dogs.
And what we learn about God, that may be surprising for those who have been taught to think of God as a punitive figure who is always looking for human beings to slip up so God can condemn them, is that God is gracious and merciful. These lessons teach us that mercy is a sign of great strength and not weakness.
So what does this demonstration of God’s mercy mean to us? That question is answered beautiful by some words of Paul in the Second Letter to the Corinthians – he writes in the first chapter, verses 3 and 4:
3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (Amplified Version)
The first lesson is that we all need mercy. Off the top of my head I can think of about 10 things that I could have, shall we say, have done better last week alone. I need mercy. I need mercy to get through my day and my week. We all make mistakes and need new starts and new beginnings and to know that the mistakes we make are not the sum total of who we are – and as this passage from 2nd Corinthians shows, God is ready to forgive us and to comfort us each and every moment of our lives.
But what this passage also shows us is that what God give to us, is also meant to work through us. Here are Paul’s words again: God comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
And just like God, who is not diminished by the granting of mercy, neither are we. Our egos may tell us otherwise – because there is something primal in us that tells us that when we give mercy we give our power away and makes us a chump. But granting mercy is a blessing – as Portia in the Shakespear’s Merchant of Venice explains
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.
(full text added at end)
Mercy is a beautiful divine gift. If we want to be blessed, commit each day to be merciful – give the benefit of doubt, let people cut in in traffic, let go of slights and rudeness, do not keep score, let God judge, love more extravagantly, and rememberlet each mistake and misstep in your life be a reminder of the wideness of God’s mercy.
I would like to end this morning with my favorite Anglican blessing which reminds us of our call to mercy:
Go forth into the world in peace,
Be of good courage,
Hold fast that which is good;
Render to no one evil for evil’
Strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak;
Help the afflicted; honor everyone;
Love and serve the Lord,
Rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Church of England (Common Worship)
Full text of the Quality of Mercy, Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I
(not included in sermon, it’s just so beautiful and worth a read)
William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
The quality of mercy is not strained;
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:
‘T is 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 enthronèd 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. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.
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