The Call to Mercy: Unto the Least of These

The Call to Mercy

Unto the Least of These

 

February 18, 2023

Larry R Evans

 

Introduction

He [Jesus] stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:17-18)

These are the words Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth when he announced the beginning of his ministry. He was identified as “the Servant of the Lord” of whom Isaiah spoke. (Isa. 42:1-7, Isa. 61:1-3).

 

We know that Jesus came to bring forgiveness, grace, and assurance. What we sometimes fail to realize is that the very gift of forgiveness, grace, and assurance produces or motivates within our hearts the desire for the correction of injustices that are contrary to the character of Jesus. 

 

Being merciful, we understand but correcting justice by showing mercy is not always understood. How did Isaiah reveal? Notice how the grace of the coming Servant would bring restoration to what God had initially said would be our experience. He comes comforting the oppressed and announcing that the Lord had heard their prayers.  Using contrasts Jesus shows that he grants them glory, joy, and praises. Not how He did this in Isaiah 61:1-3.

Isaiah 66:1-3

 

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to . . .   (Isa. 61:1)

 

God Has Heard Their Prayers

Isaiah 61:1,2

Poor	Goodness
Brokenhearted	Bind up
Captives	Freedom
Prisoners of Darkness	Release
Year of God’s Vengence	Year of Lord’s Favor
Mourn	Comfort

 

“for those who grieve  . . . “

Isaiah 61:3a

Ashes	Crown of Beauty
Mourning	Oil of Joy
Spirit of Despair	Garment of Praise

 

 

A New World Order

 

“They Will Be Called Oaks of Righteousness”

(A People Restored by the Righteousness of the Christ-Servant)

Isaiah 61:3b-4

Rebuild	Ancient Ruins
Restore	Places Long Devastated
Renew	Renewed Ruined Cities

 

What a description of God’s grace! What a promise for those who have been victimized, oppressed and imprisoned both literally and by scornful stigmas. As we see the beauty of God’s grace revealed in the ministry of Jesus, we are changed from the inside out.  By experiencing God’s grace in us, we in turn seek fair and just treatment of others.

 

“The Quartet of the Vulnerable”

 

Micah 6:8 is a summary of how God wants His people to live despite how some may treat others. 

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

The Hebrew word for “justice” is mishpat and the word for “mercy” is chesedh.  In Micah 6:8 justice places the emphasis on action while chesedh puts it on attitude or motive behind the action.

 

This is born out in Leviticus 24:22,

You are to have the same law [mishpat] for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’”

The joy found in the LORD is built on the assurance that no matter who you are, what you have or don’t have, and what you can or cannot do, God will treat you with fairness and mercy.  Micah simply reminds us that we have a responsibility to treat others with the same, mishpat and chesedh, justice and mercy.

 

With these principles in mind, consider the implications of Zechariah 7:9-10.

“This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

These four vulnerable groups, symbolic of many others, were unable to stand up for themselves. 

 

We do justice when we recognize God as not only our Creator but also the Creator of all others. We, therefore, recognize that dignity is inherent in every person because all are created in the image of God whether they like godlike or godless lives. “Doing justice includes not only the righting of wrongs, but generosity and social concern, especially toward the poor and vulnerable.” (Tim Keller, Generous Justice,p.18)

 

A Just and Merciful Community

 

Deuteronomy 15 is an amazing chapter. I would invite you to read the whole chapter this afternoon. This chapter is a familiar text that has become almost like a proverb or saying shared quite freely as we see those who are destitute.  The text is found in verse 11,

“There will always be poor people in the land.”

What we must not overlook is verse 11,

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

One way this was achieved is seen at the beginning of Deuteronomy 15. Note verses 1-2,

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite.

And then we read in verses 7 and 8.

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.

What becomes obvious is that God has a great concern for the vulnerable, the poor. He named the four groups so easily abused: the widow, the fatherless (orphans), the foreigner, and the poor.

The LORD is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

The LORD is good to all;

he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:8,9)

It is in this context that the fullness of 1 John 3:16-18 comes alive.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

God’s Mercy Towards the Outcasts

 

We must not read the Bible by segmenting people into different classes. Because of the world around us, we may be conditioned to see the rich as the villains and the poor as the virtuous.  This is not always the case with either! The ministry of mercy is a living experience filled with God’s grace.

 

While the Bible does speak about the shortsighted and selfish focus of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-30) it also speaks of wealthy Zacchaeus’ humility and generosity (Luke 19:1-10). It is so easy to classify people by popular stigmas!  As Christians, we must be alert to the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle politicization or the weaponization of human needs.  Note the insightful unmasking of the narrow motives of some.

The ideology of the Left believes big government and social reform will solve social ills, while the Right believes big business and economic growth will do it. The Left expects a citizen to be held legally accountable for the use of his wealth, but totally. Autonomous in other areas, such as sexual morality. The Right expects a citizen to be held legally accountable in areas of personal morality, but totally autonomous in the use of wealth. The North American “idol”--radical individualism--lies beneath both ideologies. A Christian sees either ‘solution’ as fundamentally humanistic and simplistic. (Tim Keller in The Call of the Jericho Road, p.26)

 

Francis Schaeffer, a theologian, wisely cautions us about siding with the above action groups whether it be the Right or the Left.

“If we need order, say we need order . . . But do not align yourself as though you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different from either--totally different. (Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, p.37)

Ellen White’s counsel broke out of the confining and narrow political realms when she wrote, 

“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another.” Thus Christ on the Mount of Olives pictured to His disciples the scene of the great judgment day. And He represented its decision as turning upon one point. When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering. (The Desire of Ages, p. 637)

Job the Outcast

 

All seemed to be going well for Job.  He had financial security, his health was good, and he had a good family life.  The future looked good until one day Satan blamed his happiness on God’s generous mercy and favoritism.

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? (Job 1:8-10)

Life changed suddenly for Job but he was never told why.  He never knew his life was under a cosmic microscope.  He could only believe but that was not easy. He lost much of his wealth and many of his family.  His health was replaced with extreme pain.  The family members who did remain seemed to make life even worse. Those looking on were described by Job this way,

But now they mock me,

men younger than I, (Job 30:1)

But Job was not forgotten. He had left a pattern of living that stands as an inspiration for each of us (Job 29:11-17)

Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me commended me,

because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

The one who was dying blessed me;

I made the widow’s heart sing.

I put on righteousness as my clothing;

justice was my robe and my turban.

I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy;

I took up the case of the stranger.

I broke the fangs of the wicked

and snatched the victims from their teeth.

And Job shares even more . . .

Have I not wept for those in trouble?

Has not my soul grieved for the poor? (Job 30:25)

·      What kept Job merciful?  

·      How did he survive the attacks of Satan not knowing that all eyes of the universe were watching his struggle with the feelings of rejection and when his faith was severely challenged? 

·      How did he hold on when he lacked the understanding of why this was happening to him?  

·      What was it that throughout his life motivated kindness and an openhandedness to others? 

 

I believe Job tells us what held his faith intact during his time of trouble.  We find this glue described in Job 19:25-27.

I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him

with my own eyes —I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

A Reflective Thought

 

The life of Job reminds us that come what may, the more we look upward, the more we look outward. We are called to be a light in times of darkness, a merciful representative of God’s kingdom--a place where the “the least of these” can find love, acceptance, and a purpose for living.  We are called to a ministry of mercy where we too can become an inspiration for others to find shelter in the security of God’s love.