Receiving God’s Mercy
Father Richard names forgiveness and mercy as two of God’s essential qualities:
I once saw God’s mercy as patient, benevolent tolerance, a kind of grudging forgiveness, but now mercy has become for me God’s very self-understanding, a loving allowing, a willing breaking of the rules by the One who made the rules—a wink and a smile, a firm and joyful taking of our hand while we clutch at our sins and gaze at God in desire and disbelief.
Mercy is a way to describe the mystery of forgiveness. More than a description of something God does now and then, it is who God is. According to Jesus, “Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13, 12:7). The word is hesed in Hebrew, and it means steadfast, enduring, unbreakable love. Sometimes the word is translated as “lovingkindness” or “covenant love.” God has made a covenant with all of creation (see Genesis 9:8–17) and will never break the divine side of the covenant. It’s only broken from our side. God’s love is steadfast. It is written in the divine image within us. It’s given; it sits there. We are the ones who clutch at our sins and beat ourselves instead of surrendering to divine mercy. That refusal to be forgiven is a form of pride. It says, “I’m better than mercy. I’m only going to accept it when I’m worthy and can preserve my so-called self-esteem.” Only the humble person, the little one, can live in and after mercy.
The mystery of forgiveness is God’s ultimate entry into powerlessness. Look at the times when we have withheld forgiveness. It’s often our final attempt to hold a claim over the one we won’t forgive. It’s the way we finally hold onto power or seek the moral high ground over another person: “I will hold you in unforgiveness, and you’re going to know it just by my coldness, by my not looking over there, by my refusal to smile.” We do it subtly, to maintain our sense of superiority. Non-forgiveness is a form of power over another person, a way to manipulate, shame, control, and diminish them. God in Jesus refuses all such power.
If Jesus is the revelation of what is going on inside the eternal God (see Colossians 1:15), which is the core of Christian faith, then we are forced to conclude that God is very humble. That is amazing, and difficult to imagine. This God seems never to hold rightful claims against us. Abdicating what we thought was the proper role of God, this God “has thrust all my sins behind God’s back” (see Isaiah 38:17).
We do not attain anything by our own holiness but by ten thousand surrenders to mercy. A lifetime of received forgiveness allows us to become mercy. Mercy becomes our energy, our meaning. Perhaps we are finally enlightened and free when we can both receive mercy and give it away—without payment or punishment.
1.
“If you are too busy to read, then you are too busy.”
– Richard Foster, Founder of Renovare
In the modern world, everything seems to be bidding for our attention. There is always another movie or show to watch, some clip that went viral, some social media account begging for our reactivity…
And so this metric of “being too busy to read” feels appropriate. If we do not have the time to sit and read even a paragraph of something worthwhile, that likely means that our lives are too overrun with nonsensical things.
As soon as I am done writing this week’s newsletter, I will absolutely sit down and read for a bit.
2.
“Si comprehendus, non est Deus (If you can comprehend it, it is not God).“
– Augustine of Hippo, Early Church Father
God is beyond our comprehension but not beyond our apprehension. Besides, God is less of an idea or concept to grasp as much as a Loving Mystery to be held by.
3.
“I am neither of the East nor of the West, no boundaries exist within my breast.”
Ken Wilber, the philosopher from Colorado, wrote a lovely book called No Boundary. It takes to task how, in both the East and the West, we draw boundaries and lines between things. While seemingly helpful at first, these boundaries and lines are simplistic and eventually cause their own problems.
What I find enlightening is how Rumi refused the simplistic divide of East vs West, and wrote from a place of wholeness according to his own experience of faith and what it means to be human.
It would probably be better for all of us to stop drawing lines in the sand and embrace wisdom no matter where it came from.
4.
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.“
– Ernest Hemingway, American Author
I am still developing and growing as a writer and often think of Hemingway. This idea of “writing a true sentence” is not easy. I can see how we fluff up our words and fill our sentences with pomp and circumstance. The world needs more of what must be said but has not yet been expressed.
5.
“God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him.“
– Jurgen Moltmann, German Lutheran Theologian
Moltmann is an impressive figure. He passed away earlier this year at the age of 98. As a systematic theologian, he was top-notch. However, beyond that, I have heard stories that he was enormously and tenderly pastoral. He was well acquainted with grief and loss after having lived through WWII and being a POW at the end of it.
His book, The Crucified God, was a titanic shift for me. The idea that God was passible (able to suffer) was a stark refusal of the static and impersonal god of the Aristotelian philosophers.
I do not know about you, but it comforts me that God knows suffering, pain, grief, and loss. God understands and has experienced disappointment, rejection, despair, hardship, etc.
This only heightens the understanding that the Good News of Jesus is actually about the reconciliation, restoration, and renewal of all things in Christ. A day is coming when evil will pass away, and all will know the Light that even welcomes our darkness.
