The Gift Of Mercy
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Jesus Sends Out The Twelve
Have you watched The Chosen? A few scenes stand out among them all to me. The one where Jesus sends out the twelve challenged me. You can watch it below. All the disciples sit around the table and Jesus pairs them up. He tells them where they will go and what they will do. Jesus instructs them to heal the sick, cast out demons, and share what He has taught them. The scene gets comical. The disciples get disgruntled over their traveling companions (not shown in this clip). Some question Jesus’ faith in them. They say they are not ready and so on. I have to believe it’s quite accurate, because we all do the same things as well. God tells us to go and we find all the reasons we are not qualified to go.
The Great Commission
Jesus leaves us with the command, the great commission, to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Not only does He tell us to go, but He gives us all the tools we need to do so. He gives us gifts and these are for the building up of His kingdom. We get a glimpse of a few of these gifts in Romans 12.
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
Romans 12:6-8 NIV
I want you to notice something here. Paul does not say God gives gifts to some. It says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” We each have gifts. Different gifts and at various extremes, but we are all given gifts. And I love that like a parent, He encourages us to live them out cheerfully.
If we look at just this list, we find the gifts of prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and mercy. This is just a few of the gifts Paul shares throughout the Scriptures. I want to look at just the list from Romans here and see how much God’s kingdom would grow if each of us would put our unique gifts to work.
Mercy
Let’s begin with the last one on the list, mercy. What is mercy again? Not getting what we deserve. We deserve the wrath of God, but Jesus came to save us from His wrath. Because of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and accension, He rescued us from the fate we deserve. (For further reading you can read “Grace and Mercy” here.)
It also is worth looking at the original language here and seeing what it means. In the Greek it is, “ἐλεέω eleeō” which can mean, “to have mercy on, pity; to show mercy to, show pity to another who is in serious need, usually with a focus on an act of kindness that will help meet the need:– have mercy” (BibleGateway.com).
Extending Mercy
How do we extend this mercy to someone else? A teacher I follow shared she was in a drive through line and the lady behind her had several kids in the car with her. The lady was driving an old dented up car and the teacher sharing the story drove her brand new Denali. Not paying attention, the lady behind her rear-ended her. We all know what our first reaction is here. It usually contains four letters. She did as well, but God calmed her as she got out of her car. The lady who hit her also got out of the car, crying and panicking, saying how sorry she was.
Now the teacher could have gotten out of the car and continued the expletives, yelled at her, and made the entire situation worse. Instead, she saw no damage had occurred, and she reached out for the hands of the frightened woman. Holding both her hands, she said, “It’s ok. It was an accident. There is no damage and we are all ok. Have a wonderful day.” The teacher said she watched the panic drain from the woman and a small smile came across her face.
The lady who hit from behind was at fault. She could have been held accountable, and most people would feel justified in yelling at her. But when we come with mercy, remembering the mercy we have received, we can extend it to others. We too can get out of the car, hold someone’s hands, and extend mercy.
We Are Called To Live Differently
Most people in our world today have little concept of this at all. We say one thing wrong or have an accident and we get jumped on. As followers of Christ, we are called, just like the twelve, to live differently. We should look different. Others should see something in us that is different. Those around us should see all the things we are for and not just the things we are against.
As we go through some of these gifts Paul mentions, I encourage you to pray for God to show you what gift or gifts He has given you. You may already know, and you may already live it out without realizing it’s a gift. Some gifts we have for our entire lives, and some we have for only a specific time and place.
I would like to pray for each of us that when we see a place where mercy is needed that we will extend it. That God will pour this gift over us and allow us to exercise it, even when it’s against our very nature. If we all began extending mercy, just imagine where this world might be.
Thanks, Jennifer, for these beautiful pictures. I know that hike made your day. And thanks for sharing about mercy. This is a gift we want given to us but not always willing to extend to others who may wrong us.
Love your pictures, Jen! Thank you. Your message touched me as well. I know I have gifts–God has blessed me and I don’t want to try and deny the fact that I have skills and talents I use in service to God and His people. But–I also know that I sometimes resist the call to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Instead I’ll retreat into my servant mode to avoid the terrifying aspect of witnessing to people. Your message is leading me to a lot of thoughts, prayers, and reflection. Thank you (I think).