Mercy As It Pertains to Action

Introduction: I remember watching the 2022 World Series.

It had been 14 years since the Philadelphia Phillies had won the World Series, and it was the matchup everyone had been waiting for (or at least I had been)—the Phillies against the Houston Astros.

And going into that series, it just felt like something special was about to happen.

The Phillies had just come off this incredible run in the postseason. And, although their offensive performance had somewhat haunted them in the regular season, going into that series it seemed like their offensive lineup couldn’t even keep themselves from effortlessly hitting home runs.

It was a magical time.

Guys like Bryce Harper were playing at a level where you just kept expecting something big to happen every time they stepped into the box. Kyle Schwarber was coming off a 52-home run season. And J.T. Realmuto was playing just as steady as he always has as one of the top defensive players and the top catcher in the MLB.

So as I watched that series, I had this picture in my mind of what it was going to feel like when (not if) they finished the job.

I was dreaming about what the city would look like the next day. The greased light poles. People calling out of work. Families out on Broad Street, shoulder to shoulder, throwing an impromptu parade. The whole city just covered in red, celebrating something we’d been waiting on for years.

We could almost taste it—the noise, the energy, the feeling of everything finally coming together after years of despair and mismanagement.

That’s what it felt like it was heading toward.

So I watched.

Game after game.

Waiting for that version of the team to show up again. Waiting for those moments where everything just clicked.

But as the series went on… Something felt off.

The timing wasn’t there. The rhythm wasn’t there. And it didn’t come together the way I expected it to.

And slowly… that picture in my mind started to fade.

And then it was all over.

And it didn’t look anything like what I thought it would.

Instead of going home as World Series Champs, the Phillies came home as the team “that never deserved to make it that far.”

They did manage to pull off something special though. They became the team to set the all-time record for strikeouts by a single team in a single World Series.

And that’s not the version of the team any of us expected to see.

That’s not how it was all supposed to go.

And the more I think about it…

the more I realize that that’s not just something that happens in baseball.

We’ve all felt that before.

Moments where what we expected…

and what actually happened…

just don’t quite line up.

And those moments leave us feeling unsettled, don’t they?

And that’s exactly where we find ourselves in Luke chapter 10.

A lawyer comes to Jesus with a question about eternal life—but what he hears isn’t what he was expecting at all, and what he chooses to do with Jesus’ answer is far more consequential than the outcome of any sporting event.

He comes to Jesus asking, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” and ends up receiving a lesson on the scope, the requirements, and the reality of mercy.

Read Luke 10:25-37

The Scope of Mercy (vv. 25-29)

Behold

Indicates that this was a surprising development

A lawyer stood up and tested him

There is debate about the genuineness of his question

Was he genuinely inquiring?

Did he simply like debating?

Was he attempting to entrap Jesus?

However, the nature of his question is not the point of the passage

Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?

His answer was the correct one

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

Mark 12:28–31 “Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””

Since his answer was correct, Jesus said, “You have answered rightly: do this and you will live.”

Yet this man wanted to justify himself

“And who is my neighbor?”

Sadly, this was familiar behavior

Romans 10:1–3 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”

He underestimated God’s own love and mercy, imagining God to be less merciful than He truly is. This made him think that he was more righteousness than he really was.

The Requirements of Mercy (vv. 30-35)

Read vv. 30-35

A certain man went down from Jerusalem

Jericho is about 3,500 feet lower in elevation than Jerusalem

The road to Jericho would have been steep and dangerous. Especially with it many caves and rocks providing hiding places for robbers to prey on unsuspecting travelers.

This man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead

Now by chance a priest came down...

and did nothing

by chance a Levite came and look...

and did nothing

by chance a Samaritan came down...

2 Kings 17:23–24 “until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.”

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah, their priority was to rebuild the temple

The Jews refused to let them help

Barred from worship, they built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim

The Jews later destroyed that temple

The writer of the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus expressed the way Jews felt for Samaritans when referring to them as “the stupid people living at Shechem.”

The worst insult a Jew of Jesus’ day could think to hurl at someone was Samaritan, and the Samaritans, of course, felt similarly about the Jews.

and he had compassion

The Reality of Mercy (vv. 36-37)

Read vv. 36-37

“Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

The lawyer correctly responded, “He who showed mercy on him.”

“Go and do likewise.”

Romans 7:19–20 “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Conclusion:

For the believer

John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.””

For the unbeliever

James 2:13 “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Ephesians 2:4–5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”