Monday, 17 March

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Jeremiah 7:3

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:36-37

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

This small phrase might jog our memories of a similar phrase in the Old Testament. In Leviticus we read, “you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev 19.2). In some sense, the purpose of the laws of the Old Testament (especially parts of Leviticus) was to mark out the people of Israel as a holy people. The God of Israel was a God of order. We read that God tamed the primordial waters of chaos and brought structure to the world. The laws carried on this creative effort by clearly marking out the world into clean and unclean, sacred and divine. In order to respond to God’s gracious election of them, the Jewish people were meant to become holy. They had to keep the law and so place themselves on the correct side of that profane/sacred divide which embraced all of creation.

But here Jesus says “be merciful.” I want to suggest that mercy is not ordered. It may not be well structured. It does not divide the world into holy or profane. In fact, sometimes mercy may be messy. To be merciful is to transcend any neat categories. It is to make individuals the focus of our attention and not those comforting boxes we like to put people into. To be mercifully is to act with generous compassion, perhaps over turning those religious rules that too easily become all important. To be merciful is to be loving, as our heavenly Father loves us.

Ken Flood

St Clement’s