September 21, 2003 Lesson: Matthew 9:27-34

SERMON TITLE: Mercy! Mercy!

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INTRODUCTION:

Sign on wall of Baltimore church: Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Signed - the Sisters of Mercy.

Mama's Family starred Vicki Lawrence as Mrs. Thelma "Mama" Crowley-Harper

One of her favorite expressions was "Mercy!, Mercy!" It was better than cussin'

MAIN BODY:

  1. This is often the way that people look at God.

Looking back on her childhood, author Anne Lamott discovers that some people believed in God as a borderline personality. It was like believing in the guy who ran the dime store, someone with a kind face but who was always running behind and had already heard every one of your lame excuses a dozen times before - why you didn't have a receipt, why you hadn't noticed the product's flaw before you bought it. This God could be loving and reassuring one minute, sure that you had potential, and then fiercely disappointed the next, noticing every little mistake and just in general what a fraud you really were. He was a God whom his children could talk to, confide in and trust, unless his mood shifted suddenly and he decided instead to blow up Sodom and Gomorrah. (1)

Eve Kavenaugh, writing in Prayer of the Flesh said: "I have been shocked by the number of Christian men and women who come to their deathbeds knowing nothing about the God of love and mercy. They have known instead the Judge of impossible standards, and they have been, naturally enough, afraid to meet that God." (2)

There is a refrain in a Lyle Lovett song that speaks to the divine power of mercy. It goes something like this:

God will, but I won't.
God does, but I don't.
And that's the difference
Between God and me.

Susan Pendleton Jones, Forgiven and Forgiving, "Christian Century," reminds us. (3)

We are pleased with the idea of a forgiving God, but not if it would require us to change our lives. Forgiveness becomes something we claim but fail to proclaim in our living. We too often sound like George Eliot's description in Adam Bede: We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves.

  1. We would rather have justice than mercy.

    1. It's a matter of retribution.

    2. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

    3. Remind yourself of the mood and the purpose of the crowd outside a prison at the time of the execution of a prisoner.

      1. The cry is for justice.

      2. If justice is served there will be closure.

      3. Justice does not create closure.

      4. Closure comes with mercy and forgiveness.

  2. Or we want to be in control.

Mary Louise Rowand, in We Know the Words - We Need Lives to Match!, in "Bread Afresh, Wine Anew" writes: (4)

"It is very easy in our eagerness to serve Christ through our complicated organizational structures, through what we call (ugh!) the business of the church, through our conventions and assemblies and proclamations and creed ... it is very easy in all this to forget the primary reason for our existence. Hence the need for Dostoevski."

In his first novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevski confronts us with what is necessary and right.

In the chapter The Grand Inquisitor [249-262], he expresses his feelings in a chilling and terrifying story. The setting: the days of the Spanish Inquisition, in Seville. Jesus has just returned to earth. He has come to Seville and is walking toward the massive Gothic cathedral in the vast square. A funeral procession is also slowly moving toward the cathedral steps. The only child of a noble citizen has died. Her little casket is being carried to the cathedral. Suddenly, the people see Jesus and they recognize him immediately. He has come back as he promised. Here he is among them now, the one to whom all their prayers and hopes have been directed. He can give new life to this innocent little girl as he did long ago in Palestine.

The people call to him, and he goes to them. They cry out, 'Heal this child!' The mother falls on her knees in front of him. 'Have mercy on me. If you will, you can put new life into my child.' He pauses, then raising both hands high into the air, he cries out to his God, 'Let this child live!' And to the utter amazement of everyone, the child moves, sits up surrounded by all the flowers, smiles and calls out to her mother. The people begin to chant, 'He has come to us! He has come! He has come!'

However, standing in the shadows of the cathedral is the Grand Inquisitor, the powerful cardinal of the church. What he has seen he does not like. He sees Jesus' arrival not as an occasion for rejoicing, but as a threat to his authority. So the cardinal has Jesus arrested and placed in a solitary prison cell. Late that night, the cardinal comes alone to visit his royal prisoner.

'Why have you come?' he demands. 'We no longer have need of you! We are now in charge of your church. We know how to run it well. Why have you come back to disturb our peace and authority? Leave us now. Do not come back. We have no need of you!' Dostoevski has Jesus look long and lovingly into the empty eyes of the cardinal ... and then, Jesus stands, walks across the cell, and kisses the cardinal lightly on his thin, bloodless lips. Then Jesus walks out of the cell, leaving the cardinal alone with his great cathedral....

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    1. Mary Louise Rowand then asks this question that gets right to the heart of the matter

Why do we come here to worship, Sunday after Sunday, 52 Sundays a year, for five, 10, 30 years - or a whole lifetime? Getting up early Sunday morning, getting ready, getting the children dressed, driving over in all sorts of weather, sometimes not feeling too well ourselves, angry at the government, worried about our health and financial problems, dressed in our best and on our best behavior, walking into the building, greeting friends, singing hymns, praying prayers, reading scripture, listening to sermons, bringing our offering, taking the bread and cup. ... We call it the worship of God, but why do we do this?

I'm sure there are many reasons, but deep down inside I feel we do this in the hope that we might get to know Jesus of Nazareth better. We are seeking our primary source! And to know him better, perhaps our lives will be better, perhaps the world will be a better place. In reality, are we not here seeking Jesus?

  1. Do we ever get tired of hearing about Jesus?

    1. I have been preaching through the Gospel of Matthew.

    2. Would you wish for something else?

      1. Let's move on.

      2. What will we move on to?

    3. What is the purpose of it all, anyway?

      1. What was it that was read a moment ago?

I'm sure there are many reasons, but deep down inside I feel we do this in the hope that we might get to know Jesus of Nazareth better. We are seeking our primary source! And to know him better, perhaps our lives will be better, perhaps the world will be a better place. In reality, are we not here seeking Jesus?

      1. Are we not seeking Jesus.

    1. We ought not to ever get tired of seeking Jesus.

      1. The more that we reflect on his life , the more we come to love him.

      2. The more we come to love him, the more he resides within us.

    2. We spend a great deal of time speaking about the sacrifice the cross.

      1. The cross is important.

      2. But there is something even more important.

      3. You find it in Romans 5:6-10 (NRSVA)

6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

      1. To be saved by his life.

        1. It means that without his life, his sacrifice would have no meaning.

        2. It also means that we are enabled to live his kind of life so that our sacrifice not only has meaning but value.

    1. We concentrate on the life of Jesus not only to learn but also to grow in mercy knowledge, grace and faith.

Harlan J. Wechsler, Ph.D., What's so Bad About Guilt? (5) Makes this comparison:

God created the world, mixing justice and mercy together, say the rabbis. To what can this process be compared? To a king who had two fine crystal cups. Said the king: If I fill them with hot water, then they will expand and break. If I fill them with cold water, they will contract and shatter. What did the king do? He mixed the hot and the cold together, poured them in and the cups were just fine.

So said the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the rabbis continue: If I create the world with only mercy in it, sins will multiply. If only with justice, then how can it stand? Rather I shall create it with justice and with mercy. Let it then go on!

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  1. Jesus is in Capernaum, his hometown.

    1. He has in the last hour healed a woman with a hemorrhage and raised a young girl back to life.

    2. As he leaves the home of Jairus two blind men follow him.

      1. They are crying out, :Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

      2. Jesus enters his house and the blind men follow.

    3. Jesus asks them"Do you believe that I am able to do this?"

    4. They said, "Yes, Lord."

    5. Then he said, "According to your faith let it be done to you."

    6. And their eyes were open.

  2. Two blind men are looking first of all for mercy.

    1. Jesus looked for mercy and for him there was none.

    2. Jesus is still the merciful one.

    3. When we cry out "Mercy! Mercy!" what do we get but mercy!

  3. Then they are expecting healing.

    1. They were healed of their blindness.

    2. They find what they wanted in Jesus.

CONCLUSION

  1. There is a story that well-illustrates the differences between justice and mercy and the results of both.

Two Brothers and a Creek (6)

Once upon a time brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without hitch. It began with a small misunderstanding, it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on Johns door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenters toolbox. "Im looking for a few days work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there. Could I help you?"

"Yes"said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That' my neighbor. In fact, it' my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us. He took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us.

"Well, he may have done this to spite me, but Ill go him one better. See that pile of lumber curing by the barn? I want you to build me a fence--an 8-foot fence so I won' need to see his place anymore. Cool him down, anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and Ill be able to do a job that pleases you.

The older brother had to go to town for supplies, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmers eyes opened wide, and his jaw dropped. The carpenter had not built a fence, he had built a bridge--abridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work, handrails and all and the neighbor, the farmers younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all Ive said and done."

The two brothers met in the middle, taking each others hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder.

"No, wait! Stay a few days. Ive a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"Id love to stay on," the carpenter said but I have many more bridges to build."

1. Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies (New York: Anchor Books, 1999), 7-8

2. Eve Kavenaugh, Prayer of the Flesh, quoted in Practicing Our Faith (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997), 172. Used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3. Susan Pendleton Jones, Forgiven and Forgiving, "Christian Century," August 25-September 1, 1999, 801.

4. As quoted by Mary Louise Rowand, We Know the Words - We Need Lives to Match!, in Bread Afresh, Wine Anew (St. Louis, Mo.: Chalice Press, 1991), 100-101.

5. Harlan J. Wechsler, Ph.D., What's so Bad About Guilt? (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 110

6. From the Internet

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