"Lord, have mercy..."

In preparation for our September sermon series, "If you could ask God just one question...," we've been soliciting questions from the congregation.

And not just any questions, but deep, challenging questions. We don't want any theological softballs lobbed underhand to homeplate. We want to see 100 mph heat. We want your best stuff. We're looking for the kind of questions that'll make us step out of the batter's box for a minute and wonder what we've gotten ourselves into. And after gathering our composure, widening our stance, and choking up on the bat a little, we'll do our best to swing for the fences.

Now, at the risk of giving our church a big head, I have to say that after looking over some of the questions that have been submitted, I've been impressed. Briarcliff UMC never disappoints when it comes to pushing the theological envelope.

Now granted there are some questions that we've received that are difficult to discern what exactly is being asked. There are others that are some of the most honest and penetrating questions I've ever seen.

But then there are some questions that while they are worthy of an answer, they most likely won't make it to the pulpit. The reason? They're just not meaty enough to write an entire sermon about. Good questions, to be sure--but it just won't take 20 minutes to answer them.

So what I've decided to do is use this blog as a forum to answer as many of those questions as I can.

And the first question that I want to address is one that really caught my eye. It was simple and straightforward, without any kind of explanation as to how the person wanted the question to be answered.

The exact question was written like this: "Romans 9:15- God has mercy on whom he chooses? "

Now, my best guess regarding this question is that the issue at hand is an apparent difficulty in understanding how God can be so seemingly subjective and partisan with His mercy. The verse in question says, "For [God] says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

And to be honest, I can see where one might find such a statement questionable.

Because, on the one hand we think of God as being fair and just and all-loving. And yet on the other, it's possible to read this verse and think that God is uneven and prejudicial with his distribution of mercy. Because it stands to reason that if there are some whom God chooses to have mercy on, there must be some whom God chooses not to extend His mercy to, right?

And that might be a probable conclusion if this were the only verse we had related to God and God's mercy. But thankfully--mercifully--Jesus actually had a lot to say about the subject. In fact, if we were to bring this verse from Romans to Jesus and question him about it, I'm convinced that he would look at it, smile, and say, "Every word of that is true."

And if we pressed him and said, "But Jesus, doesn't that seem a bit unfair? God has mercy on whom He wants? Isn't God being biased here? Doesn't that seem like a form of divine discrimination?"

And again, I picture Jesus smiling and saying, "It's not discriminatory when the "whom" of God's mercy includes everybody. You see, God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). He is kind even to the ungrateful and the wicked (Luke 6:35)."

And given the opportunity, I'm sure Paul--who penned the original verse in question in his letter to the Romans--would affirm Jesus' contention that God's mercy is universally generous.

In fact, once when he was writing to his friend, Timothy, Paul said: "Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. " (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

So, the bottom line is this: God does choose to have mercy on whom He has mercy. And that "whom" includes you, me, and every other unworthy soul in the world.

Therefore the real question, in my opinion, is: "In light of God's lavish mercy, how should we respond?"

And do you know what I think Jesus would say? "Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful" (Luke 6:36).