(July/August 2003 Edition)
Faced with some cruel behaviour recently, rather than brood over hurt feelings, I decided instead to study the biblical concept of mercy.
I checked my big three-volume Bible encyclopaedia. The article begins by discussing “etymological origins.” It tells me that “to picture this concept we require a group of overlapping linguistic circles.” Not very helpful in making me more merciful. Now here is someone else, a good biblical scholar called Snaith, who has a better idea: The meaning of mercy in the Bible is the steady, persistent refusal of God to wash His hands of wayward people or ever give up on them. Yes, I can understand that perfectly. If we are to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful, then we will not wash our hands of wayward people nor give up on them.
The Father of Mercies
That is certainly what I learn from my Bible. Our God is “the Father of
mercies” (II Cor. 1:3). He did not give up on all of us sinners right
at the beginning, but provided atonement for Adam and Eve and began giving
His great and precious promises of ultimate redemption and paradise
restored. He did not wash His hands of the murderer Cain, but in mercy
commuted the death penalty. He did not give up on the human race at the
Flood, but promised never again to bring that catastrophe, nor when men
built the tower of Babel soon after. He did not wash His hands of Lot, even
though he lingered in Sodom and had to be dragged out bodily from the filthy
place. And all that is in the first one percent of the Bible. So the
remaining ninety-nine percent gives us perhaps another five hundred examples
of what it really means to be merciful.
I have 326 different Christadelphian books and 175 booklets in my small library. For hours I searched for an exposition of mercy. There are many hundreds of pages stressing that “we must uphold the righteousness of God” by our obedience and holiness, and that “the great principle on which salvation is based is the condemnation of sin in sinful flesh.” On ‘mercy’ I found almost nothing. In almost every book with an index, the word is not even listed. But mercy occurs 115 times in the book of Psalms, 26 times in one psalm alone (136)! And are we not told hundreds of times in Scripture that the great principle on which salvation is based is the undeserved mercy of Almighty God? “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west [infinity!], so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:10-12).
In "Direct Proportion"!
Eventually, my search was rewarded. In that glorious gem of a book by Robert
Lloyd, Minute Meditations, mercy shines forth like “a sea without
a shore” as our old hymn 83 puts it (the simile is quaint, yes, but very
Scriptural!). “It is interesting to note that Jesus who did no sin was
far more merciful and forgiving to the woman ‘taken in adultery, in the very
act’ than were her accusers who had been guilty of sin. Why do we frail
human beings make such a big thing of another’s shortcomings when we have so
much to be forgiven ourselves? Christ taught us that we are going to
receive mercy in direct proportion to the mercy we have shown. This thought
should loom very large in our minds the next time we are tempted to point an
accusing finger at another” (p. 92).
God's
Mercy is Everlasting
When I was a teenager, new to the Christadelphian faith, I found that the
ecclesia I joined had a list of chapters in the Bible which were said to be
“unsuitable for reading aloud” and should be omitted by any brother
presiding. Among these were the Song of Songs, Joshua 2 (because Rahab is
called a “harlot”) and Ezekiel 16. When I naively enquired about the
latter chapter, I was told that it was “obscene” and
“embarrassing” to read. I was moved to point out that after fifty-nine
verses describing the disgusting waywardness of His people, God says,
Nevertheless I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. That
may not be how we might want to behave toward the disgustingly wayward, but
it is God’s way. We are told hundreds of times in Scripture, His mercy
endureth for ever.
Why is there so much in our literature about upholding righteousness, justice and judgement, and next to nothing about mercy? It is because we like our theology to be neat and tidy, to be logical and rational, with all the loose ends tied and with no unresolved problems left to puzzle and amaze us. We like to have everything explained. But no one can explain mercy. No theology can account for the mercy of the Almighty. God’s mercy is essentially irrational. No cool, academic theology can possibly explain why murderers like Cain, David, Manasseh, and Saul of Tarsus escaped the gallows while the likes of Uzzah and Sapphira dropped dead.
"Mercy
Triumphs Over Judgment!"
Our original Caribbean ecclesias founded in the 19th century had
constitutions which tried to reflect God’s merciful attributes. There was a
recognition that any of us can be wayward and stray. When we do so we need
encouragement to return, not deprivation of love.
Newer ecclesias, founded from the 1960s onward, were told to be “tougher on sin” and instructed to make excommunication for some “sins” automatic. At least one Caribbean ecclesia has a rule which allows only two “sins” before disfellowship is considered irrevocable. There is one sister still alive who “sinned” three times, was excommunicated by that ecclesia 43 years ago, and who has never been invited back. Zealots for the law who came to us from abroad showed us from old Christadelphian magazines that any brother not in fellowship must be referred to as “Mr.”
Unfortunately, this is not ancient history. One reason for this editorial is that a brother came to my ecclesia the other day and referred to certain brethren, whom I dearly love, by their surnames only, adding, I’ll make a couple of efforts to visit, but if they don’t toe the line then, that’s it. “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:13NIV). In the face of such a warning, how dare we insist on being “tough on sin” and require that “righteousness must be upheld” in dealing with the weak and wayward? The epistle to the Hebrews instructs us to “lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees” so that the lame will not be “turned out of the way” but rather “healed”.
Luke 1 recounts how Mary, pregnant with Jesus, spoke in vivid poetry of God’s continuing mercy that is “on them that fear Him from generation to generation”, and the “mercy” that sustains His people – culminating in the Saviour’s birth in fulfilment of His great and precious promises (vv. 50,54). The same chapter describes Elisabeth’s humanly inexplicable childbearing as God’s “great mercy” to her, and records Zacharias’ praise for God’s “mercy promised to our fathers,” and for the “tender mercies of our God” which resulted in the birth of the dayspring from on high visiting us (vv. 58,72,78). These wise and simple saints of God did not teach theology; they were just so thrilled at the contemplation of God’s mercy. That mercy is the source and spring of all God’s dealings with perishing humanity. And mark well at this present time these words of Zacharias: the mercy of God in delivering us from enemy terrorism and perdition is not so that we can now safely indulge ourselves and carry on with our own selfish lives and loves, but that we might serve Him without fear (v. 74).
"In the
Very Act"
Jesus
told Nicodemus, “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). That
cannot be explained: it can only be marvelled at. And John 8:1-11 records
an incident – one very familiar to every ecclesial elder – which shows this
amazing mercy of God in practical operation. Jesus’ refusal to “condemn”
the adulteress was not to avoid miscarriage of justice because the evidence
for the prosecution was shaky. She was caught in the very act. So
his clemency was based upon deeper principles, which Jesus had already made
clear to Nicodemus. Ecclesial elders, please read this passage before even
considering any proposal for excommunication, and if you are without sin
yourselves, then feel free to cast your stones. Does the Lord Jesus support
automatic expulsion?
The Last
Word
Let dear Bro. Bob Lloyd have the last word. “We need to remember that we
are going to need all the mercy we can get. Let us be sure there is love
and forgiveness with us and mercy and love for those who may be wrong when
we are right. It is possible to be so right that the poor sinner can’t
stand to be around us. Let us be nice as well as good, and easy to live
with when we are in the right, for very soon the Judge of all the earth will
be here” (p. 95).
Alan Eyre