SUNDAY 14TH JUNE, 2020

INTRODUCTION: - What God desires from us as His children is to show mercy just as He shows us. God expects that our door of mercy be continually opened to others irrespective of who they are or what they have or have not done to us. Mercy is an attribute of God that He expects us to also have. This type of mercy should affect the way we respond to God (with greater trust and devotion) and also how we respond to others (with greater kindness and compassion).

1) Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Showing mercy in spiritual matters is a powerful consideration. This is because the desire to glorify God is often presented from the view point of upholding His righteousness, His justice and His holiness. The Pharisees share this desire, and twice in the gospel, confronted the Lord Jesus and His disciples about it. First, they expressed disapproval to the disciples that Jesus was eating with sinners (Matt.9:9-13); next, they expressed disapproval to Jesus that His disciples were picking grain on Sabbath day (Matt.12:1-7).

On both cases, Christ quoted Hosea 6:6 to answer them, saying the learned Pharisees should have learned what this verse meant. Then following the second event, He went into the Synagogue and healed a man on the Sabbath contrary to the law. At that time, He asked in effect, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?” (Matt.12:11).

These examples suggest that the principle of mercy may, at times, contradict the so-called “standard operating procedure”. We may be sure the Lord did not purposely disregard the Sabbath; but mercy saw a need, so it acted in accordance with its character.

Furthermore, since the Pharisees had defined some of the rules themselves, an even better example is the one the Lord used about David eating the show bread, which only the Priests were lawfully supposed to eat (Matt.13:3-4; 1Sam.2:3-6). In that instance, David did not demand “I want the showbread” but he needed food so the principle of mercy, taking note of the needs of the situation, made an allowance for him. Mercy is willing to meet needs based not on the letter of the law but on right motives before God. Because the Pharisees held to justice as their guiding principles, they had “condemned them for not glorifying God by showing mercy”.

“Mercy prevails over judgment” (James 2:13).

God’s character is always complete. Every one of His attributes is present in every one of His actions. Consider how Psalm 136 describes His creational power, His stern judgment, His gracious provision and His complete salvation and adds after every verse, “for His mercy endures forever”. Let’s not belittle mercy. It is one of God’s “weightier matters”, and showing mercy we help both unbelievers and the people of God.

1) What did Jesus wanted the Pharisees to learn?

2) On what basis does mercy meets needs?