A Touch from Jesus by Rocky Fleming

Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13 (ESV)

Think about this.  Jesus values mercy over sacrifice.  Maybe it’s because giving mercy to someone often requires sacrifice on our part?  What do we sacrifice?  How about sacrificing our leverage over a relationship, when we could be making them squirm?  We must sacrifice getting even or feeling justified or vindicated, when we turn the other cheek.  That’s a hard thing to do, isn’t it?  We would rather hit them back.  We sacrifice our emotional need for justice or revenge, when we give mercy to someone who doesn’t deserve it.  Why would we do this?  We would do it if we realize that God has been so merciful to us.  That’s the main reason.  He has modeled His mercy to us, and we know that it pleases Him when we show mercy.  It also gives us a way to live out our thankfulness for His mercy to us.  

Mercy is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of Jesus, although He came down pretty hard on the Pharisees.  They epitomized a system based on their rule of right and wrong rather than a merciful system based on Jesus’ grace and mercy.  In essence, Jesus is saying that He values His way of doing things rather than the hard-hearted legalism of the Pharisees.  They valued their sacrifices with a purchase mentality.  Their motivation for following the rules was driven by what the good God would do for them in return.  It was an attempt to be given the blessing rather than blessing the GIVER.  Mercy was not in their thinking because it was not tied to what they would get in return.  Jesus was telling them, and us now, to give mercy because we’ve have been given mercy from God, rather than thinking we are purchasing favor from God by being merciful.  However, this is where it gets interesting.  I’ve discovered that my act, or maybe even my gift of mercy returns back to me with me experiencing mercy from others.  It seems to reproduce and perpetuate.  My grandmother would say, “What goes around, comes around.”  In other words, we get back what we give, whether it is good or bad.  I see this to be true.

As is the case most of the time as I write a blog, I find myself self-examining my own life.  Am I being merciful to others as I should? Do I go out of my way to show mercy and build someone else up and not consider myself in the equation? I have family and friends and people I don’t like who make mistakes as I do, and who need that touch of Jesus to forgive, or overlook, or build up by showing them His mercy through me.  That mercy flowing through me is a touch of Jesus that we can dispense with joy.  We become a flow-through conduit of His mercy to others.  It changes lives.  It heals many relationship breaks.  It restores self-esteem. It soothes anger and replenishes joy.  The touch of Jesus flowing His mercy through us shows people what Jesus is like, and Jesus is the best we have to offer.

Through the years I have seen how my self-interest has limited my giving away God’s love and blessings to me.  It’s easy to get into that mode, only giving back to others what we’ve been given by them.  But I’ve also seen how I cheated myself from so many blessings from God that He wanted to give me because I wanted some kind of payment before I would give a blessing to others.  Thank God He has shown me and proven to me that He wants to do more through me than I could ever do for Him, and I need to trust Him to do so.

As we approach the Christmas season, this is a time to give.  But it is also a time to give to those who have no capability of giving back to us.  Look around you.  Will there be food for them?  Will there be presents for their children?  Will there be voices that sing to them and value them simply because they are created lives formed in the image of God?  This is a great time to give to Jesus those things that are needed.  Here’s what He said about it: 

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’  Matthew 25:40 (ESV)

Yep, it’s true.  Like my grandmother Mu would say, “What goes around comes around.”