Merciful Love

In the Courtroom

There is Justice and Mercy

What is the role of the Judge?

What is the role of the Lawyer?

What is the role of the Plaintiff?

What is the role of the Defendant?

The Lawyers Line of Questioning

Here we have a Lawyer, Pharisee, who is question Jesus to see if he can discredit him.

In Matthew: Jesus Answers Him. But Here, Jesus makes the Lawyer answer his own question.

There are two questions that the Lawyer tries to use to get Jesus to stumble on his words or say something contradictory to God’s word.

Prayer and Read

Question #1

How do we inherit eternal life?

Story of my experiment when I was a youth. “Why are you a Christian?”

Are more concerned with what happens when we die that we forget to live?

Living this way is simple and Justifiable. But where is the Mercy?

This question has two answers: Love God and Love Neighbor, Works of Piety and Works of Mercy

Question #2

Who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?

Break down the key players and what they did.

A Man… no other description.

a Priest: who worked in the temple caring for those in the temple, praying for them could not risk being ceremonially unclean and therefore unable to work and receive pay for seven days.

A Levite: Levites are descendants from the first clan dedicated to the duties of priesthood. This priest was born into it. Undoubtedly wealthy. Having seven days off for being unclean may not have affected him much, but he had a duty to be clean and pure.

A Samaritian: they were geographically neighbors to the Israelites. They were the Jews neighbors. Yet they were unclean by birth to them. Funny that Jesus would this race to be a descriptor of the good guy. Ironic, real neighbors, but the Jews were not neighborly. He goes out of his way to help the assaulted man.

Jesus’ Final Question

The Lawyer answers with the key word. He gets his head out of the law for a moment, and thinks with the heart of God. It isn’t all about Justice but Mercy.

What is Mercy?

We have talked about Grace, Being Accessible, Making Connections, Forgiveness. How is Mercy different?

Mercy is an action. Not with words but with physical action. Mercy is on the forefront, before grace and forgiveness is even needed and is needed after grace and forgiveness is given. Mercy comes because we are accessible and gives us a way to make connections.

Mercy calls for Justice and gives grace instead of harsh punishment. Mercy is love when love is not deserved. Mercy is grace when grace is not deserved. Where Grace is with words, Mercy is with actions.

How do we show Mercy

Why are you a Christian? Because of the Grace and Mercy God showed you? How do you live that today. Serving the Food Pantry. Donating to causes that do good works. Helping those in need who God places in your path. Making a sacrifice our your time and money to help the less fortunate is showing Mercy. GO AND DO LIKEWISE!