For Those Who Cry Out For Mercy

When I was a kid, we had a huge backyard. One summer my dad put together a jungle gym for us four boys. We had loads of fun climbing it and especially jumping off of it.

One afternoon we were inspired to play superheros. I jumped off with a big shout, “Superman!” When I landed my mouth was full of blood – I had bit my tongue while shouting and landing. I had a hard time calling out for help, but my mom quickly figured it out and mercifully took care of me.

Sometimes when people get hurt, they have a hard time asking for help. Not just because of bitten tongues, though. Sometimes people are wounded in such a way that they drive away the very people who could help them. Sometimes we can know how to help them, but they make it really hard to do so. What to do?

In the gospels we read that Jesus came across a man calling out for mercy, a dangerous exile who had terrorized the region, who was tormented within. The authorities tried to bind him hand and foot with chains to keep him out of sight and sound. His cries echoed off the hills as he cut himself with the ragged stones. What would you do with a dangerous man like him?

Jesus musters up his power and commands the tormenting spirit to come out of the man. It resists, begging Jesus not to torture him. Jesus asks him, “What is your name?” he replies, “My name is Legion for we are many.” The demons beg Jesus not to be sent out of the area, and so he casts them out of the man into a large herd of pigs feeding on the nearby hillside.

When Jesus cast Legion out of the exiled man, he was not only healing him, but giving him a glimpse of what can happen when his kingdom comes. Mercy is is how Jesus subverts the rule of tormenting spirits, and mercy is how the tortured are transformed. Mercy is what triumphs in Jesus’ kingdom.

Everyday we come across people who are crying out for mercy in some way. They may not necessarily use those words, but deep in their soul that is what they cry for. The tormented man who met Jesus on the shoreline was confrontational, anguished, and bleeding. It was not an easy encounter for Jesus. But mercy is what Jesus does. And it’s what he calls us to do.  Mercy transforms both ways.

Roman legions had tormented this region for many decades. Rebels were commonly crucified along the highways, reminding the people to submit or die. The pigs of the region were likely sold to the soldiers, thus catching the local citizens in a merciless trap – they made their livelihood off of feeding their enemies.

No wonder the people were afraid and pleaded Jesus to leave immediately. If Jesus was regarded as a king, and he had just sent the legions food-stock into the sea, they feared this was a politically motivated terrorist act. Reprisals would be swift and brutal.

Jesus understood, and he left as they asked. But when the healed exile asked to come with Jesus, he was given a mission: “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

The man healed by Jesus’ mercy was given a mission of mercy: go back to the ones who beat you, chained you, exiled you and proclaim the mercy of God upon them. Teach them the kingdom way of mercy, help them learn to be merciful to their oppressors, just as the exile is doing to his exilers. Mercy transforms both ways.

Whoever you meet, even if they are a difficult person, look to extend them mercy. With patient resolve and firm kindness, through the merciful power of the Spirit of Christ, don’t misunderestimate the healing you can bring to them through listening, being present, even fighting for them. It’s often the least of these that need mercy the most; and it is here where we will find Jesus. Mercy that heals, frees, and sends.

Surviving Storms

When I was in high school, my best friend and I took our small speed boat out onto the lake with some friends, even though we knew a storm was coming. We were hoping to have some fun skiing and tubing before the rain came.

As it started to drizzle, we decided it was a good time to head into shore. But it was too late! The winds became vicious, the waves big, we made it back to the dock – soaked and scared.

Storms are part of our life on Earth. It’s nothing personal, just part of how the ecosystem works. With some accumulated wisdom, preparation, and cooperation, we can survive most storms.

But as we know, there are storms that swamp us unexpected. And not just windstorms, but also soul-storms, hearts breaking open with tears of sorrow, hopes battered by rains of disappointment. What then?

 

This was the kind of stormy political and personal place the disciples of Jesus were in as they crossed the furious Sea of Galilee with him one evening. As people of Israel, their souls ached for God to return the nation to their former days of glory when a son of David reigned as king, ruling with justice, mercy, and humility.

Instead, they struggled to survive under the violent thumb of the Roman Empire – prior to that it was enduring the turbulent rule of the Greek Empire, and before that putting up with the powerful Persian Empire, which had inherited Israel from the Babylonian Empire. Imagine trying to survive amidst those political terrors.

The gospel that Jesus was preaching centered on the announcement that God had indeed returned to Israel to reestablish the throne of David – the kingdom of God was coming, so be prepared. It was difficult for the people of Israel to believe that Jesus was the king come to save them. Slowly Jesus would reveal who he really was, usually in decisive moments, often times in the midst of personal, political, and powerful storms.

For the disciples in the boat with him, they were terrified that they were going to die. The furious squall stirred up fear, and it swamped their faith. That’s what storms can do. Interestingly, even with Jesus in the boat, they still had no faith in him.

Sometimes we think that if we could only see Jesus, it’d be easier to believe in him. But that wasn’t the case with the disciples or the people of Israel. Seeing is not always believing.

Jesus asks his disciples, “Why are you so afraid?” Why are you so afraid of death? Why are you so afraid of chaos? Why are you so afraid…? To his disciples who had been with him, he spoke straight: “Do you still have no faith?”

Storms not only reveal our fears, and our lack of faith, but also the faithfulness of Jesus to us. Some storms he will calm. But he can’t and won’t still all the storms of our life. Storms are part of life, and through them we can see our fears and become open to the faithfulness and presence of Jesus.

Jesus is present to people in this stormy world by his Spirit and by his people who are faithful to him. When we have storms, we must receive the people God sends to be with us.

But when others are swamped by their storms, will we let God send us to be with them, to bring the presence of Christ to them amidst their fears and drowning faith?

Whether the storms are personal, political, or powerful natural phenomena – may Jesus’s faithfulness calm our fears when we barely believe, may our surviving make us braver, that we may extend the presence of Christ together in bigger storms to come.

God Starts Small

As we reflect this week on the aspirations and achievements of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we can remember this description that Jesus gives of what serving in the kingdom of God is like: God starts small.

Maybe like Martin Luther King Jr. and like Jesus, your heart is grieved by the brokenness of men, women, and children in your community who are afflicted by injustice and hatred. Jesus saw the people of Israel as sheep without a shepherd, and he had compassion on them. Martin saw the riots and despair of black people in America, and taught them the way of love.

But it started small. Before Martin was famous he was a nobody, just a student, a young minister, a family man and friend. Before Jesus was famous, he was an outcast, a refugee, a scandalized boy, a backwater laborer, but a good son and neighbor to all. And you: you don’t need to be famous for the kingdom of God to take root in you. God starts small.

Do you ever see injustices in your community? Do you have any friends who must fight off the oppressive despair that pervades in our culture towards minorities and immigrants? Does your heart ever get stung by the tears of those close to you who get the shaft? Do you ever wonder what you could do about it? God starts small.

But in God’s kingdom, when God starts small, well, it doesn’t stay that way. When God goes about sowing seeds of justice and peace, righteousness and truth through our serving, it may start small but it will grow. Jesus describe the kingdom of God like this:

“It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Many of us who sit on the branches stretching forth from the seed of the tree that men and women like Jesus and Martin planted. What will we do with the seeds God has given us?  Will we start serving, or do nothing?

Doing something usually means joining in on what is already at work to bring healing and justice to what is wrong and wounded in our world. But to do something first starts with being present with those whose cries you hear. Martin was a pastor, Jesus was a shepherd, and you as a friend must be with those and hear their stories, their pain, their prayers.

God starts small. And we must strive to protect what gets planted, for there are always those wanting to uproot saplings of justice to preserve their power and wealth. In our city there are those who profit by the oppression of our neighbors. As they say, follow the money. Start serving. Search for truth. Seek righteousness for all.

As we remember the life of MLK, a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us recommit to planting the seeds of the kingdom of God – being present to what has been sowed in us and our neighborhoods- nourishing it, fighting for it – for all God’s children.

What can you do, if you were to start small? Volunteer in your school with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Get to know a neighbor through NeighborLink. Help build a home with Habitat for Humanity. Mentor with the Urban League, Blue Jacket, or the Rescue Mission. Teach adults to read with Literacy Alliance. Invest in youth at your local YMCA or Boys and Girls Club. And so many more!

Pay attention to your local school board, city council and county council, then vote. Walk the sidewalks and greet neighbors. Pray for people at church and in your community that you’ve gotten to know.

Visit prisoners in the county jail. Donate to Redemption House. Figure out how to start or support small businesses in the south side of town like Bravas, George’s International Market, Friendly Fox, and so many more. God starts small. Start serving, dream big, join God in what he’s doing in our community, work for justice, for all.