4:1 Therefore, since we
have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose
heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not
walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of
God.
What ministry have we received? Is it not the ministry of
mercy? I have been accused recently of cherry picking the parts of the Bible
that make God look good and skipping over the parts that make Him look bad.
Specifically God told Moses to essentially step aside so He could let His rage
burn the rebellious Israelites to a crisp in the desert for dancing around a
golden calf.
It is true that God spoke those words (more or less) but
there is much more to the story.
In the New Testament Jesus was traveling with his disciples
in Sidon. A woman came begging for Jesus to help her sick daughter. Jesus flat
out ignored her. For a while the disciples said nothing either but the woman
was persistent and kept asking and asking. Finally the disciples had had enough
and one of them blurted out "Master send her away, she is annoying!"
At this point Jesus stops pretending she doesn't exist and tells the woman He
is only here for the Jews, not for Gentile dogs. Not the words you would expect
to fall from the lips of Jesus but they were a pleasant sound to the disciples.
Finally He was getting his priorities straight.
Then the woman responded in a most gracious way. "Yes,
but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table..."
"Woman" said Jesus, "I have not seen such
faith in all of Israel. Go in peace, your daughter is well."
A surface reading of the story is confusing just as a surface
reading of the aftermath of the golden calf is confusing. Is God enraged or
abounding in mercy? Is He racist and prejudiced or does He love all people the
same?
Could it not be that in both stories the words from God we're
simply echoing the thoughts of His audience? In so doing was He not trying to
help them see how ugly and wrong those thoughts were? Haven't you ever thought
something and then when you began to hear the words tumble out of your mouth
you immediately were struck with how awful they were?
If Jesus really thought the people of Sidon were dogs why was
He there to begin with? If God really wanted to consume Israel in a fit of rage
did He need Moses to step out of the way first?
It was Moses who assumed God was fed up with Israel. It was
he who smashed the covenant before even discussing the issue with God. It was
Moses who killed the slave master in a fit of rage. It was Moses who assumed
God was not so different from us...
It was the disciples who found the woman annoying. It was
they who felt all Gentiles were dogs. Jesus just wanted them to see the
ugliness of their hearts before demonstrating the mercy in His.
For anyone with an unveiled face, His mercy is beyond
evident. We are still here aren't we? God stood back while we killed His Son
and still extended us His mercy. What more evidence do we need? And where do we
get off thinking that after such a limitless, boundless, extravagant display of
unconditional love we have the right to withhold mercy from others, to
"teach them a lesson" by making them wallow in their shame?
We have been given the ministry of mercy. It is for us to
renounce shame. To bring our brokenness out into the light and experience full
healing for ourselves and our enemies in the recovery room of His grace. When
sinners tangled up in shame come to any person who claims to be an ambassador
of Jesus Christ they should see and find the same thing Moses found and saw
when he was in the cleft of the rock - Mercy.
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