Once Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees, because they were tithing on every little mint leaf and mustard seed, but they were leaving out what he called the weightier parts of the law like justice and mercy. These are characteristics of God and they are characteristics that he wants us to cultivate in our lives.
Justice is seeing right done. It’s standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. It’s championing the oppressed and working to see others’ wrongs righted. Justice is something you fight for that benefits another. Righteous judgment says they have done wrong and it must be made right. And we should seek justice.
But when you are wronged, when you have evil done to you, is justice something you should fight for? Do we judge those who have hurt us, who have done us wrong? Or is mercy what God calls us to? Mercy is not the failure to recognize a wrong, but mercy is having grace in spite of the wrong.
How does mercy show up in our lives? Is it getting pulled over for a speeding ticket and let go with a warning? Is it a smile to someone who’s being rude? Is it forgiving the roommate who stole from you? Is mercy something you’ve only received, or is it also something you give?
In Exodus 34, The Lord proclaimed his name to Moses saying, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” This is the God of the New Testament that we love. This is the God who so loved the world that he gave his son.
But the Lord goes on to say he will not clear the guilty and will visit the iniquity of the fathers on generations to come. This is the God of the Old Testament that we fear, that we see with the white beard and with lightning bolts just waiting to strike us down. All of this is his name that he declared to Moses. What a paradox! How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposite characteristics, that God will have mercy, but will not clear the guilty?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he told them to say, God, forgive us our trespasses, our sins, our offenses, our injustices, in the same way we have forgiven those who have wronged us. He is saying God will forgive you with the same measure of forgiveness you have given to others. So if we don’t forgive others should we then have any expectation that God will forgive us? Mercy is at the heart of God. 2nd Peter says that God is longsuffering toward us, not wishing any to perish.
David writes in Psalm 23, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
It’s all through the scriptures: His mercy endures forever. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. Mercy shall surround him who trusts in the Lord. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
How wonderful is his mercy! So how can we not show mercy when so much mercy has been shown to us?