Quinquagesima February 11, 2018

Quinquagesima
Luke 18:31-43
February 11, 2018

“Mercy”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

For over 1,500 years, these words have been part of the liturgy in the Church – Kyrie Eleison. Kyrie is Lord in Greek. Eleison is mercy. “Lord, have mercy.” We often sing it three times, once for each person of the Trinity. Lord, have mercy (the Father). Christ, have mercy (Jesus, of course). Lord, have mercy (the Holy Spirit). But just because we sing those words all the time doesn’t necessarily say we know what the words mean. If someone asked you, “What’s mercy?”, how might you answer?

What is mercy? To put it the simplest, mercy is help for those in need. That’s very broad, yes. But that’s how broad mercy is. It’s help for those in need. In our Gospel today Jesus is on the outskirts of Jericho and a beggar is there named Bartimaeus. And when the blind beggar hears all the commotion and finds out that it’s Jesus, he cries out, “Son of David, have mercy!” That was the cry of a beggar. That’s what they said. “Have mercy!” It was a cry for help.

Today the equivalent is the cardboard sign. They can’t yell at us anymore because we’re stuck inside our closed off bubbles with the windows up and the music playing. So they use a sign with words on it. It probably doesn’t say, “Have mercy,” but it’s the equivalent. Maybe the sign says, “Need Help” or “Please Help” or “Out of Work” or whatever else.

So when the beggar Bartimaeus cries out, “Lord, have mercy,” then he’s asking for help. Money? Maybe. Maybe he is asking for money from Jesus. Maybe that’s why everyone in the crowd with Jesus is telling him to be quiet. Stop yelling! Stop bothering Jesus!

But when Jesus hears it, He tells them to bring him the beggar. And here are His words, “What do you want Me to do for you?” When you hear those words, do you think that maybe your and my prayers are too weak? “What do you want Me to do for you? You asked for mercy. I’m the God of mercy. What do you want me to do for you?” For Bartimaeus, the thought of asking for money is now way in the distance. With the God of all mercy standing right in front of him, blind Bartimeaus asks, “Let me see.”

Picture mercy as a big spring or fountain of water that never, ever runs dry. From that spring flow out streams of mercy. God never, ever runs out of it. There are times you think that God must’ve run out of mercy for you. No more mercy for you! You don’t deserve any more mercy, right?

Well, for that we must look back to the wilderness when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. They got to Mt. Sinai and Moses went up on the mountain to receive the ten commandments. All was good. God was merciful. He had brought them out of Egypt. Given them water and food. Led them with the pillar of cloud and fire. All was good.

So Moses gets a whole host of commandments from God, he gets all the instructions to build the tabernacle, he gets the ten commandments on the two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God, and he heads down the mountain after many days up there. And what does he find? After all this mercy God has shown, He finds the people singing and worshipping around a cow! A cow! A cow they had made from gold.

Now Moses is angry. God is angry. Moses throws down the two tablets that God had written and breaks them into pieces. Yet when Moses finally goes back up the mountain later to get the two new tablets, these are the words he hears from God. The Lord passed by him on the mountain and said, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.” The key word there I want you to notice today is “abounding”. This becomes a very familiar phrase throughout the Old Testament. God doesn’t just have mercy—but He abounds in mercy. He has mercy on top of mercy.  The Israelites just built a calf and worshipped it. God even has mercy for that.

Later on the prophet Joel will say, “Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy, and he relents from disaster.” Now you should know that different English translations will use different words to translate mercy—sometimes using steadfast love or loving-kindness or any number of things. That’s fine. But the root Hebrew word is hesed. And that is what abounds in God. Mercy abounds.

So do you think Jesus has enough mercy for you? But you don’t deserve it, right? Well, join the club. It’s called the church and we’re always accepting members. This is the “need mercy” club. The “need help” club. The club for beggars. And Jesus has mercy for you, even you.

What’s remarkable is that Jesus heals Bartimaeus right after saying that He is going to Jerusalem to be killed. Does that sound like a time when you would want to stop and help a beggar? If you’re on your way to Jerusalem to die, do you really want to be bothered by people asking for help? Well, Jesus does. Because He abounds in mercy. He goes to the cross to be killed by us, by our sin, and then is asking, “What do you want me to do for you?”

And we might say, “Jesus, how could I ask you to do anything else for me? You already suffered and died on the cross for me. What more could I possibly ask for?” But this Jesus does want you to ask for more. He is a God abounding in mercy. Abounding. More and more and more mercy.

So what do you want Jesus to do for you? He is here, present among us in His Word and Sacraments. What do you want Jesus to do for you? Bartimaeus asked for sight. What mercy do you and I need?

“Lord, have mercy on me.” Forgive me my sin. That’s probably at the top of our list. “Forgive me, Lord, for not loving You as I should, for my complete lack of trust and lack of prayer. Forgive me for not loving my husband or wife as I should, my neighbors as I should. Forgive me for my words, my thoughts, my actions. Lord, have mercy.” And He does. He gives you His body and blood. He speaks forgiveness to you.

What else do you want Jesus to do for you? “Lord, have mercy. Give me patience, Lord.” The virtue we talked about last Sunday. “Give me patience, Lord. Help me not to want everything right now. Help me to find joy in each day that you give me instead of always looking for a better day. Give me patience.”

What else do you want Jesus to do for you? “Lord, have mercy on me. Help me to forgive. I keep holding on to others sins. I carry grudges. I get angry and fill with hate. Have mercy. Help me to forgive those who trespass against me and You forgive our trespasses. Help me to be kind to my enemies. To show love and compassion even when they don’t deserve it. Lord, give me mercy.”

What else do you want Jesus to do for you? “Lord, have mercy on me. Help me to not be afraid to speak of You to others. Help me to live a life of holiness and joy that will shine a light for others to see Your glory. Help me to be bold in speaking the truth in love even when it will hurt my reputation. Lord, have mercy on me and grant me courage.”

What else do you want me to do for you? How about this one? Our Epistle today from 1 Corinthians 13. “Lord, help me to love. As You have loved me. Help me to love without envy or boasting. Help me to love without being irritable or resentful. Help me to love my husband or wife, my children, my parents, my coworkers, my neighbors—all of them in a way that bears and endures all things, believes all things, and hopes all things. Lord, have mercy. Help me to love as You have loved me.”

In the end, we truly are beggars. But when Jesus is the one we’re begging from—it’s good to be a beggar. We ask for mercy and He is a God abounding in mercy. The same God who went the way to the cross to have mercy on us. So ask for mercy. Beg for mercy. And God will help you in your time of need.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.