God the Merciful
Originally scheduled for March 19
One cannot go through the Old Testament without
noticing a primary characteristic of God: He is merciful. Long
before the ritual sacrifices in the law of Moses, Abraham gave
sacrifices to God appealing to his mercy. When the law was
established it the ancient Jew was given a way to seek the mercy and
forgiveness of God. This uniformly involved animal sacrifices, which
of course are forerunners of the sacrifice of Christ. But I would
ask you to focus this morning on something different; it’s not just
a question of animal sacrifices but of a ritual. The details are
laid out in Leviticus, but the central point here is forgiveness
comes with a ritual from God. Why? Maybe it’s because he wants us to
remember his mercy, and not walk away and sin again.
Perhaps a bit more likely is the fact that
these people had a sense that they needed mercy and forgiveness. By
establishing these rituals, God assured them that they had such
forgiveness and such mercy. Without a ceremony of some kind, human
beings feel a little bit incomplete. For example, can you imagine a
marriage which did not start with the wedding ceremony? It doesn’t
have to be an elaborate one — it could be the county clerk’s
version. But rituals like that mark the point where you go from
unmarried to married. The rituals that Moses gave took the ancient
Jew from sinner to forgiven.
Most of us know this and file it away under the
heading of “somewhat interesting knowledge.” But do recall that the
primary duty of a Christian in his daily actions is the imitation of
Christ. Indeed, the word “Christian” means “a little Christ.” Christ
is merciful; therefore he commands his disciples to be merciful.
More than that, he tells his disciples that they will not be
forgiven unless they forgive others. If you want mercy, you have to
give it. In addition Christ is the mediator of mercy. He’s the one
that argues our case in front of God the Father. If the world, then,
is to see us and find Christ in us, there must be an imitation of
that mediator. We are the ambassadors of Christ.
The ultimate example of mercy is Christ on the
Cross. It is his atonement sacrifice that brings us forgiveness. But
we have not lost the need for ritual. We need to be reminded of that
sacrifice, and we need to have an exact moment in time where we can
say yes, God forgave me. Communion is a ritual to help us to
remember again. It is not an empty ritual; it is not just “going
through the motions.” It is the time in which you examine yourself
and then present yourself to God asking for his mercy. You do so
based on the sacrifice of Christ. It is as if to say, by this blood
and by this body I claim your promises to be faithful and just to
forgive me. Know that you are forgiven; the moment is at hand.
