Mercy!
What matters most to God?
The other day I did the most stereotypical, idiotic, just plain dumb thing that I’ve done in a long, long time. It all started when my son wanted to go to the GYM to work out and I decided I would go with him and work out.
I haven’t worked out with weights in a long time. I know, some of you are surprised to hear that given the sheer size of my muscles! I’m joking!
The first thing he wanted to do was squats. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an exercise where you put weights on each end of a bar, you put that bar on your shoulders, then you “squat” down like you’re sitting in a chair with that weight on your shoulders, then you stand back up.
So we put the weights on the bar and Will looks at me like, you think you can do this? And I’m like, of course I can do this. So, being the overconfident, manly father figure that I am, I put the bar on my shoulders and knocked out 10 perfect squats of what had to be like 250 lbs or something. No problem. I was so proud of myself.
I set the bar back on the rack. I stepped back. Then it happened. Almost immediately I felt the muscles in my legs seize up! I knew that I was simultaneously in a whole lot of trouble and that my workout for the day, after 1 exercise, was finished!
I don’t know if you played this game when you were a kid, we literally called the game, “Mercy.” You would interlock your hand with someone else’s hand, then both of you would squeeze as hard as you could until one person cried out, “Mercy!” And then you would stop.
I used to play this game with my dad and he would always win! Now I’m here in the GYM with my son and I’m still the one crying out for MERCY!
On the Receiving End of Mercy
I don’t know what you think about when you think about mercy, but it seems to me that more often than not we want to be the ones on the receiving end of mercy.
I think this is a part of the normal human experience.
When we’re hurting, or in need, we want mercy.
If we’re the ones suffering up under the weight of it all, we want mercy.
Whenever we’re the ones feeling the pressure, we want mercy.
When we’re the ones being squeezed and feeling the pain of it all, we want mercy!
If we’re the ones who did something wrong, we want mercy.
We want to be the ones on the receiving end of mercy, but we’re not always eager to show mercy to others. Those who have hurt us, betrayed us, pressured us, or caused us pain of any kind, we’re not quick to show mercy.
We don’t live in a world that is quick to show mercy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. If we’re really honest about it, those people who need us to show them mercy, they don’t get our mercy, they get our contempt.
Mercy or Contempt?
Sometimes we think that this is what God is like because this is what people are like. Even Christian people can sometimes show more contempt than mercy.
The good news is that this is not what God is like. Our God is not a God of contempt, He is a God of mercy. And if you want to know what God is like, really like, then let me encourage you to take a look at Jesus. (Hebrews 1.3)
In Matthew 9.9-13 we not only have the perfect picture of Jesus here in this story, but we also learn about what’s most important to Jesus. And if we can find out what matters most to Jesus chances are we’ll know what matters most to God.
Here’s the story…
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
This story is about a man named Matthew and this is the same Matthew who is the author of this gospel that we’re reading. So this is a story written by Matthew about Matthew except it’s really not about Matthew, it’s about Jesus. It’s about what God is like. And it’s about what matters most to God.
And what’s shocking about this story is that Jesus, who at this point in the story has set himself up as a respected Rabbi and teacher, healer, and miracle worker, a man of God… sees this tax collector and calls him to be his disciple.
This may not be shocking to you, but it was 2000 years ago in Israel. Jewish tax collectors were traitors, people who had allied themselves with the Roman invaders and oppressors and agreed to collect taxes from their fellow Jews. In return, they could take more than the tax allowed and keep the difference for themselves, essentially making themselves rich in the process at the expense of their people.
Well, if you were living in Galilee at the time and you saw one of these traitors, one of these men who had made themselves wealthy at your expense while you’re struggling to put food on the table, what you felt for them was contempt.
But not Jesus. No, Jesus is different. He saw Matthew, someone who would have been invisible to you, someone you wouldn’t have wanted to see, and he invited him to be a disciple.
Not only would this have been shocking 2000 years ago, this would have been scandalous! But the story isn’t over yet.
Who Do You Feel Contempt For?
10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
The Pharisees could not believe what was happening! Why in the world would Jesus, this new Rabbi and teacher of the ways of God, associate with tax collectors and other disreputable sinners? With scum?
Can you hear the contempt in their voices?
But before we become too judgemental of these Pharisees, the religious leaders who 2000 years ago were filled with contempt for the kinds of people Jesus was drawn towards, we might want to think about who we feel contempt for. And we might want to ask the question, would Jesus feel contempt for that person, for those people, or would he be drawn to them?
The Pharisees thought they were just talking to Jesus’ disciples, but Jesus heard what was going on.
12 When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” 13 Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
I want you to show MERCY…
Jesus sees Matthew the despised tax collector and he shows him mercy.
Who Needs You to Show Them Mercy?
There is a medical missionary organization based in Lindale, TX called Mercy Ships.
You might be able to guess from the name that what they do is equip large ships as floating hospitals like this one that can be sent all over the world to provide life saving and life changing surgeries, train local doctors and nurses, and help thousands of people in developing countries who otherwise would never receive the kind of care and medical attention that they can provide.
Here’s a picture of one little girl named Djimby.
She’s 6 years old. She lives in Senegal. She had a condition called “windswept knees.”
As you can probably tell from this picture, it was incredibly painful, almost impossible, for her to walk. Because of that she was unable to attend school. There was no help for her where she lived. And even if there had been it would have been unlikely that her family could afford it.
But thanks be to God, Mercy Ships came to Dakar. Djimby and her grandmother made the long trip there, stood in line, and were able to be seen by the doctors and nurses on Mercy Ships. She received a free surgery and months of physical therapy. Because Mercy Ships came to her she was finally able to walk home fully healed, standing tall for the first time.
I think this is what the church is supposed to be.
I think the church is supposed to a ship called Mercy.
A Ship Called Mercy
I believe you and I are called also, just like those religious leaders in Galilee, to learn what it means to SHOW MERCY. To show the mercy of God to people all around us, to the world around us that God loved so much he gave His one and only Son for this world.
In fact, this is what mercy looks like. It looks like Jesus. It looks like the cross. And as the church of Jesus Christ we are called to show this kind of mercy to those around us, to lay down our lives for others, so that they can come to know the great mercy of God.
You see, God’s mercy is for you. God sees you. But God’s mercy isn’t JUST for you, it’s for those around you.
God wants you to see them and to extend His mercy to them, just like Jesus did for Matthew, just like the ship called Mercy did for Djimby.
It’s not your mercy, it’s HIS mercy. But he’s given it to you so you can share it with those around you.
There are people who have gotten in over their heads like I did at the GYM with Will and their frozen up, unable to move, and they need help. What they need is mercy. Someone to come along side them, help them recover, and help them get stronger. We all need a little help sometimes. We all need mercy.
There are people who are being squeezed right now. Financially, things are tight. Relationally, things are hard. In every way, they feel the pressure to perform, to achieve, to do more, to fix things. What they need is mercy. Someone to come along side them and take the pressure off. Remind them that the weight of the world isn’t on their shoulders. That it’s going to be ok. We will get through this together. We all need mercy.
There are people like Matthew who feel invisible. Insignificant. They may even feel despised, rejected, and all alone. They may even annoy you, they may have hurt you, or offended you. When you see them what you feel may be contempt. But what they need from you is mercy.
Know Jesus, Show Mercy
We don’t live in a world that is quick to show mercy, but as followers of the way of Jesus this is my prayer, that we would strive to Know Jesus and Show Mercy.
It’s not enough to know about Jesus and receive his mercy.
We would be outraged to learn that there’s a world class floating hospital full of trained doctors and nurses with the ability to help thousands just sitting in a port off the coast of Texas.
Yet when we gather here in the church every week, learn and grow in our training as disciples of Jesus, yet week after week are unwilling to be deployed, unwilling to share the MERCY we have received with those are are hurting and in need around us, that’s exactly what we do!
So here’s what I want to challenge you to do, SHOW MERCY to someone in some way this week. Find a way to show mercy.
The Matthews around us need us!
What if?
What if Jesus didn’t show Matthew mercy? What if Jesus had walked on by?
When Jesus said to the Pharisees, go and learn what this scripture means, he was referring to an ancient prophecy from Hosea who once wrote:
I want you to show mercy,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.
Hosea knew what Jesus knew, that our God is a God of MERCY. And what our God desires most, what matters most to God, isn’t our sacrifices.
So often so many of us live our lives sacrificially. Not perfectly, I know. But you excel so often in laying down your lives for others, in living and giving generously, in putting others ahead of yourself. But don’t miss this, so many have missed this in their Christian life, this is what matters most to God: SHOW MERCY.
Many of us have been on the receiving end of mercy most of our lives. Maybe it’s time we start extending more mercy than we receive!
May we share his mercy with others.
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