On the Mercy of God and Human Forgiveness

On the Mercy of God and Human Forgiveness

It is "God, who is rich in mercy" whom Jesus Christ has revealed to us as Father: it is His very Son who, in Himself, has manifested Him and made Him known to us. Memorable in this regard is the moment when Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, turned to Christ and said: "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied"; and Jesus replied: "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me...? He who has seen me has seen the Father." These words were spoken during the farewell discourse at the end of the paschal supper, which was followed by the events of those holy days during which confirmation was to be given once and for all of the fact that "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." - Saint John Paul II, DIVES IN MISERICORDIA

 
Saint John Paul II devoted the second Encyclical of his Pontificate to the topic of Mercy, realizing as he so often pointed out that, while men and women have progressed so much in the sciences and technology, they have forgotten the need for God’s mercy.  Unlike previous centuries of human existence, where people found themselves defenseless often to the forces of nature and disease; today’s advancements in science, medicine, civic health and sanitation, etc., has given human beings a false sense of ownership of the world.  The result being that while so much good has come from human progress in these areas, a dark, amoral, self-destructive force has come about also, due to they lack of realizing our daily need for God’s mercy.  

Humanities’ false sense of ownership has also produced a false sense of power over the world, as if we are creators of the universe rather than the “beloved” creatures of time and space.  Rather than seekers of God’s mercy, we see ourselves as the dispensers of mercy and the framers of ethics and morals, be they counter to the Natural Law or not.  Not even the lessons of two world wars, the threatened nuclear devastation of the cold war, and the evil of two atheistic regimes, Nazism and Communism, has taught us that our attempts to usurp the power of God, make for a worse not a better world.  

It is only in letting go of this false sense of human achievement, that we realize we are, as mystically portrayed in Chinese Taoist monumental landscape painting - specks of dust in a vast universe, but Christianity teaches us we are “beloved” specks of dust.  Dust that God breathed life into and claimed as his son’s and daughters, and gave us “stewardship” over the rest of the landscape he had painted into being.  Letting go of this false sense of power over the world means acknowledging that there is a power greater than ourselves.  As long as we see ourselves as lawgiver, creator and judge of life and death, we are beholden to no one, but once as in the Wizard of Oz, we look behind the curtain, we are confronted with fragile, limited, sinful humanity.  At that  moment of truth of conversion of heart, it is then we simultaneously realize our need for God’s mercy.  The need for mercy springs forth from the realization of humility.  We see this illustrated in the Gospel of Luke, where the apostles had been fishing all night and catching no fish.  Jesus appears to them and tells them to cast their nets into the water, Peter believing that they had exhausted their “human will” in trying to catch fish, seemed indignant that the Lord would doubt them, that there were no fish to catch.  The dialogue between Jesus and Peter proclaims the need for humility: 

When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, 'Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; - Luke 5:8-10

 
It is only in seeking and accepting God’s mercy that we also learn the virtue of forgiveness.  At its deepest level forgiveness is imitating Christ, not in usurping his power of divine mercy in forgiving, but in extending in our own limited fashion the limitless love of God that is realized in forgiveness.  Out of countless examples in Sacred Scripture, two examples are given to illustrate the point: 

…while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.  The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.  Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.  When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” - John 8: 1-11

 
In this powerful passage we see that the Law of Christ differs from the Mosaic Law, for the Law of Christ is mercy and forgiveness a Divine Mercy that only he has the power to give and a forgiveness that transforms lives.  The mercy of God loosens the debt and the forgiveness of God changes the heart.  

We find also in Matthew:

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times”?  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. - Matthew 8:21-22

 
Jesus instructs Peter that if he is forgiven by God, then he too must be a forgiving person and that forgiveness knows no bounds or limits.  The same way in which God has responded to our sinfulness with loving mercy and forgiveness, we too much respond the same way to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  

A forgiving heart is a heart that realizes its own desire and need to be forgiven.  This is so necessary for all Christian communities to realize.  How can we draw all men and women to our community of faith, if we do not live the example of Christ by being merciful and forgiving.  In living the life of grace we come to understand that ownership within the Church is not like in the world.  We do not own the Church, we do not own the destiny of the Church, we do not own the holiness of the Church.  The Church is the Body of Christ, founded on the merciful altar of the Cross and in which our sins, against whom we were powerless, have been forgiven and in which we are transformed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.  

If we are to evangelize, then living from the context of thanksgiving for God’s mercy and forgiveness towards us and extending that mercy and forgiveness to others is an imperative.  

Rev. David A. Fisher,