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Mercy and Faith
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
There are Ten Commandments in God’s Holy Law; ten instructions for life that we fail to keep. Their simplicity is as sharp as polished steel, and they cut deeply and cleanly to expose our cancerous souls, to show us that we are not good; that things are not right; that we are not spiritually healthy. Ten Commandments, ten guides for our behavior, ten admonitions for decency and self-control, ten godly ideals of what we should be; we fail to keep all of them.
But is it so hard? You wouldn’t think so. Honor your father and mother? We can do that. Love your husband or wife? Of course; that makes sense. Tell the truth about others? Yes, that’s a good thing. That is what we want. That is not at all unreasonable. These commandments do not seem unattainable. They do not seem impossible. At our best, we do all of these, at least part of the time. But why not always? Why not fully? Are we so shallow, so temperamental, so afraid, so self-serving as all of that? Yes, we are. And the Law leaves us no escape. We are without excuse.
Oh, we have reasons. We are weak. We are sinful. Frankly, sometimes we are just not very smart. We do not give sin enough credit for what it does to us; we pamper the Old Adam. But there is no excuse for our behavior, no justification for our sinful self-indulgence. There is nothing—no extenuating circumstances, no once-in-a-lifetime event—that justifies our lies, our violence, our lust, our greed. After suffering the shame of behaving that way, why would someone go and do that again? Why would he do that to himself? Is he that weak, that foolish, that self-destructive? Yes, he is. Yes, I am. Yes, you are. We forget who we are as children of God, wanting to forget both our failures and our obligations. All we have to show for it is pain, sorrow, and shame. There is no excuse, and we know it. Our pride must wither and die. The truth of the Law must have its way. It must force us to our knees, to confession, and, finally, to death. For we have Ten Commandments, all of which we have failed to keep, and for which we deserve, quite rightly, to die eternally.
Our plea to heaven cannot be for justice or even fair treatment by the Law, because that is to ask for Hell. Our cry must be a plea for mercy, for undeserved pardon, for redemption by way of Someone Else’s punishment. Let us learn from those lepers who stood far off and cried out to the Son of God, who would be nailed to the cross for blasphemy He did not commit, who would be raised from death, all for the sake of mercy. Was there ever love like this? Was there ever a reprieve so sweet for criminals so steeped in guilt? Was there ever a God who joined His rebellious creation, and then let them kill Him for their sins, so they could go free? Yes! Mercy is what the lepers requested, and mercy was what He gave. All ten received mercy, a full and perfect reprieve from the guilt of their sin, a fresh washing in grace they did not earn, a healing rescue from certain death. All of them, one for each of the holy commandments of the Law, received mercy.
But, only one—and a foreigner, no less—returned to praise God. He did not simply offer a silent tribute in his mind and heart for a God of mercy and the good things he now knew; the others may well have done that. But this one went back to where he had received mercy. He came and worshiped Jesus, praising Him for the life He had restored, glorifying Him for the mercy He had shown. And in turn, this man received praise from God. Let us learn from that one what faith is and what faith does. Faith receives God’s grace and then comes back for more! It cannot get enough. It is not simply thankful, though it certainly is that. But it is also hungry for more and desires the one thing needful, the one thing that satisfies, the one thing that justifies us by declaring us righteous for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place. Faith wants what God gives: new life, rest, hope, love, peace—all for free.
Jesus needs nothing from us. We need everything from Him. He did not come to be served by us; that is not the Gospel. He came to serve us, to work for us, to buy us back from death, to restore us to health that we might stand in His presence as His beloved Bride, His Church. That is the Gospel: that we would be His and joyfully live forever with Him.
The fire from those holy Ten Commandments has been quenched. Every single demand has been met. Justice has been served and satisfied. You are forgiven, made clean. And you have come to the right place: to the place of mercy where Jesus serves you in the Bread of His Word and the Bread of His Supper. Come at His Word and receive the mercy He gives. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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