Encore Post: Many Lutheran pastors begin their sermons with the greeting: “Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” St. Paul used this blessing to begin both his letters to Timothy and St. John used it for one of his letters. Two other posts cover grace and peace. In this one we take up the third of the triad, mercy.
Yet, in a way, we’ve been here before. One of the Hebrew words for love, חֶ֫סֶד, often translated lovingkindness, is also used for mercy. You probably already know the Greek word for mercy. It is ἐλεέω — eleeo — the word in the ancient prayer we call the Kyrie Eleison: “Lord, have mercy.” This prayer appears as the congregation’s response to prayer in worship services of the 4th century (300s AD) To this day, Christians still pray it in traditional worship services. The word mercy is love in action. It is the response that someone who cares had when his sees another in pain and suffering greatly.
When God shows mercy, he acts out of his compassion to save, to help and to heal. Most of the time, the person suffering cannot help themselves. All of the time, they do not deserve mercy. Mercy comes from the love and grace of God. Sometimes the person asking for mercy is about to be sentenced for a crime and hopes for punishment less severe than he should receive. God’s mercy is always for the sake of his Son, who took the punishment we deserved, atoned for our sins on the cross and suffered for us in full. God is indeed merciful for us, for he forgives our sins and grants to us everlasting life.
Yet mercy does not end with God. Because God is merciful to us, we are merciful to our suffering neighbors. Since the very beginning of the church, Christians have sought to be channels of God’s mercy to all who suffer. They have visited the sick and brought healing where they could. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, visited the imprisoned, befriended the lonely and those grieving and cared for orphans and widows. In us, they see God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of faithful love. Most of all, we bring the good news of God’s greatest mercy — salvation in Christ Jesus, our merciful Lord.
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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Thank you for posting this. I used a slightly modified version at a Men’s Prayer Breakfast this morning, and it was well received.
You’re welcome!
Thank you. It reminded me that if we give we shall receive. I think sometimes we forget we were made in the image of God.