Quick! What’s the answer?
Over the past couple years a good number of evangelical pastors and theologians have sparred over the church’s call (or not) to engage in mercy ministry. Much has been written about how to relate gospel proclamation with doing good deeds. Differing sides look askance at folks on the other side as if the issue isn’t obvious.
I confess to looking at the entire discussion with a little puzzlement. That has a lot to do with being an African American I suppose. In the Black church context arguing over whether to church qua church should engage in mercy ministry is unimaginable. The “obvious” answer has always been an emphatic “Yes!” To a great extent, Black churches with no visible community involvement are regarded as ineffective and even disloyal to the community’s needs. All of this–both the emphasis on mercy ministry and the attitudes that require them–can, of course, be taken too far. That’s why I raise the title question to this post.
What is the New Testaments first text on mercy ministry?
I think it’s Zechariah’s prophecy regarding his son John in Luke 1:76-79. Under the inspiration and control of God the Holy Spirit, Zechariah proclaims:
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
John’s ministry expresses and is motivated by “the tender mercy of our God.” The first “mercy ministry” in the New Testament is God’s mercy in salvation through forgiveness of sins. We deserve death. God punishes us less than our sins deserve. In fact, the Lord treats us far better than we deserve because of His “tender mercy.”
That’s why the Father anoints John a prophet. That’s why John goes before the Lord to till the ground. That’s why the Father sends One greater than John, His very own Son. That’s why Jesus was marked for death even from birth. And that’s why the Father raised Him from the grave three days later. And that’s why the sun from heaven shines in the land of darkness and deathly shadows. That’s why that light guides our feet into the path of peace. That’s why of all the mercy we show our neighbors, the mercy of gospel proclamation is greatest. That’s why that most honest and basic of prayers, “Lord, have mercy,” is always and forever answered.
Mercy. Tender mercy. From our God. In the gospel of our Lord.
The whole of the Christian message and the Christian life is a dispensation of divine mercy. May that mercy light our way!
