Megan Ashley was riding on the plane from San Diego to Nashville when she overheard an older woman telling a young man how nervous she was about this flight. For her first flight in 15 years, the ninety-six-year-old woman needed someone to talk to and reassure her. There was no expectation that this man she had just been assigned to sit next to would hold her hand through takeoff and landing, speak kind words of reassurance, or even escort her with her luggage off the plane until she connected with her daughter. His mercy and compassion caught Megan’s attention and the attention of over 150,000 people, who shared it through social media. No one would have given a second thought to the young man saying “Hi” and putting in his ear buds.
As we have opened up the book of Judges this month, we have seen our own story reflected back at us. We have seen that humanity has generational sins that have been handed down from one to the next. We have frustration that bubbles up in us and needs to find voice at someone. Our anger lies in wait for someone who has wronged us. The cycle of oppression and delivery is personal and communal.
The Israelites were hungry, ragged, and oppressed under the rule of the Midianites for the last seven years. Seven long years. They had cried out to God for relief. When would they have food? Where was their protection? Where was Yahweh? Without knowing when God would send a judge to deliver them, they had begun to seek their own way. As in the covert ops, they were even beating out bits of wheat they had in the winepresses as to not draw attention to their resources. This is where the angel of the Lord finds Gideon. Hoping against hoping that God will come through. Gideon, similar to Abraham with the guests in Genesis 18, speaks right to the angel and the Lord. Gideon asks and receives confirmation of God’s presence, battle plans, and the merciful nature of God.
The Game of Thrones found an eager audience and loyal fans in eight seasons that it aired on television. And now there is a possibility of a spinoff and prequel yet lingering. The morally complex characters and complicated plot lines were accompanied by periods of insightful dialogue. The books of George R.R. Martin, tomes of at least seven hundred pages each, depict violence and exacting justice, the pursuit of power, the human condition, and perceptive discussions. In the second season, the courtier, Varys gently offers a riddle to Tyrion Lannister, Hand of the Queen inviting reflection on mercy and justice.
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“Power resides where one believes it resides”. The power to offer mercy or exact punishment both indwell the same person. However, it much more familiar and default to expect reprisal. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The powerful stop at nothing to achieve their goals, and usher in victory. “A Lannister always pays his debts” became a motto and expectation. If you cross a Lannister, you can expect retribution. Vengeance is a part of the code of conduct. So, you have heard it said, that a Lannister always pays his debts, but I say to you a judge always pays his debts. The biblical judges acted in much the same way.
Beyond the passage we read this morning in the sixth chapter of Judges, we learn that Gideon is ruthless! Remember that the judges were not chosen, because they were super faith heroes to emulated in every way. Judges were charismatic leaders with primarily military control, who experienced the movement and power of God. Prior to being chosen by God, Gideon was a worshipper of Ba’al, a local Canaanite god. When he came to worship Yahweh, he followed God with incredible devoutness and commitment. Out of the zealous devotion, he sought to punish the Midianites who both oppressed the Israelites and worshipped the Ba’als. Gideon was ruthless against Midianites. Where was mercy? Did Gideon have to be so ruthless?
As we seek to unpack the narrative, Rachel Held Evans reminds us: “War is a dreadful and storied part of the human experience, and Scripture captures so may shades of it – from the chest- thumping of the victors to the anguished cries of the victims…For those of us who prefer to keep the realities of war at a safe, sanitized distance, and who enjoy the luxury of that choice, the Bible’s war stories force a confrontation with the darkness. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. ”
The darkness of ruthlessness calls us to reflect on our propensity to act with spite or revenge, even when God calls people of faith live with mercy. Mercy is when we do not give someone what we think they really deserve to get. You and I can be merciful in small and seemingly subtle ways like the way we name and call someone. Our names and identities shape us.
In his book, The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis tells a story of his time as a parish priest in Argentina when he met a mother with young children who had been abandoned by her husband. Without steady income and scarce opportunity for employment, her life included prostitution in order to feed her children and provide for her family. During that time, she would visit her church, whose food pantry supported her. At Christmastime, the mother requested to see priest, the future Pope. He thought she was going to thank him for Christmas package of food the parish had sent.
“Did you receive it?” he asked her.
“Yes, yes, thank you for that, too,” the mother explained. “But I came here today to thank you because you never stopped calling me Señora. ”
Ask anyone who recalls the taunts of being teased. This mercy is not small or subtle at all. It is no less than shaping our worth and value. When we offer mercy, instead of anger, frustration, or spitefulness, we reflect God’s mercy. Our actions are unexpected surprises, even when the first action deserves punishment.
In the early days of his presidency, Calvin Coolidge awoke one morning in his hotel room to find a burglar going through his pockets. Coolidge spoke up, asking the burglar not to take his watch chain because it contained an engraved charm he wanted to keep. Coolidge then engaged the thief in quiet conversation and discovered he was a college student who had no money to pay his hotel bill or buy a ticket back to campus. Coolidge counted $32 out of his wallet — which he had also persuaded the dazed young man to give back! — declared it to be a loan and advised the young man to leave the way he had come so as to avoid the Secret Service! (Yes, the loan was paid back.)
Our responses, our language, our action all have the opportunity to reflect God’s mercy. God’s mercy extends to us compassion when we deserve penalty and consequence. As Jesus followers, we are called to shine the light on God’s mercy and love. Where is God calling you to show mercy in your language with others? Our identities are impacted by the language of others. Is God tugging on your heart to be a shower of mercy for someone else like the young man on the plane? Can you dream with God where mercy can transform a life like President Coolidge did? May our merciful God tenderize your heart and inspire your creativity as your follow the great God of mercy!
This is the Gospel, the good news of our Lord, Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
(1)https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/strangers-kindness-towards-senior-leaves-passengers-wiping-away-happy-tears/
(2) Evans, Rachel Held. Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again. Thomas Nelson: 2018.
(3) Pope Francis. The Name of God is Mercy. Random House. 2016
(4) Today in the Word, October 8, 1992.
Old Testament Lesson: Judges 6:11-24
Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”
So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
Gospel Lesson: Luke 16:19-31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, September 15 ~ Saturday, September 21
Sunday: “The angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior.” Judges 6: 12. Listen for the voice of God. God is still speaking.
Monday: “Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.” Judges 6: 17. Gideon sought confirmation and a sign from God. Never was Gideon chided or belittled for this request. Some of us need more confirmation than others.
Tuesday: “Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” Judges 6:22. Pray for those who live in fear and anxiety. May ways of light and hope filter into their lives.
Wednesday: “But the LORD said to Gideon, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.” Judges 6: 23. God provides. God gives Gideon everything that he needs. Have you asked God for what you need?
Thursday: “The rich man said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house.” Luke 6: 27. The rich man wanted mercy for his brothers. Where are you called to extend mercy to your family?
Friday: “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ Luke 16: 29. Pray for how God is calling you to share mercy and love, so that others might know God.
Saturday: “Father Abraham said to the rich man, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Luke 16: 31. Consider that God continues to share God’s love with you every day. Where have you seen the love of God today?