What is mercy?

Dear Family,

We love justice, don't we? Especially if we have had to work hard to get where we are; we really dont like it when someone gets by without doing the same kind of effort. We feel cheated if someone take a shortcut to success; while we had to jump through every hoop and conquer every hill, right? We want people to earn what they get; nothing is free, right?

Many years ago, while i was in high school, there was a rumor of a guy making the basketball team without doing what the others had to do. It was, in my high school, a standard that to make the team, one had to run two miles in twelve minutes or faster. The coach wanted players in shape, because his style was intense and go, go, go. One player, who was a bit out of shape, couldn't seem to make the team, no matter how many tries he had. First time he was about five minutes too slow. Then he got it down to four. Maybe two. And i think he might have even gotten within a minute, but he didn't get it all the way under twelve minutes.

Did he make the team? No one else had? Everyone else had to run the two miles in twelve minutes, including the coach's son. So did the guy who tried like five times to do it; did he make the team?

Yes.

Was it fair?

A thief on the cross receives the same reward as the disciples: an eternity with Jesus; the thief spent his life stealing from people; the disciples serving. Both get the same reward.

Was it fair?

It seems this is the paradox that we live in. The challenge of being fair against the mercy/grace of God. We proclaim that God is gracious, and we do our best to steer our ships along God's path, believing the reward will be great. We understand our need for God's grace. But when someone comes along and doesn't do what we do, and God still gives them the same treatment, blessing, and reward that God gives us; we cry foul!

It seems this is one of the things about being human. We see things dimly through our limited understanding, and that often leads to near-sightedness. But God, like the basketball coach who saw the bigger picture, sees all and knows all. If God, as Jesus does by healing on the Sabbath and offering rest and peace to the pilgrims and picking grain on the Sabbath, chooses mercy for people, why does that matter to us? Why should we care if we labor our entire lives, loving, serving, and honoring God, and in His wisdom, He chooses to reward the laziest and most vile among us just as much as He rewards us? Aren't we still getting what He promised?

We want mercy, but can we truly handle mercy/grace being offered to people that we deem outside the sphere of acceptance? The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus, because Jesus chose mercy, not sacrifice, as an attribute to highlight. Why can't we do the same?

Amen.

Shalom,
jerry