Mercy

I was doing a bit of stretches today morning and as I was stretching my arms, I realised that I couldn’t stay with my arms stretched out for even ten minutes, wow am officially unfit. But then again I remembered that Jesus was crucified with His arms stretched out wide and He stayed for hours before He died. The book of Mark puts it at 6 hours, Mark 15:25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him; v33 At the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, v34 And at  the ninth hour, Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Imagine that! six good hours with His arms stretched and nailed to the cross, a crown of thorns and feet held together with 9 inch nails, I can only imagine the pain that He underwent, it must have been excruciating, yet He endured it all for us. Jesus cried out asking God why He had forsaken Him; it is because at that moment, He was full of sins our sins! and because God cannot stand sin, He looked away!

 

His life was simple, nothing to write home about, He didn’t have flashy cars, no fancy houses, wasn’t born in a flashy hospital no! nothing about Him was flashy, but everything about Him was simple. However, this simple man packaged in all humility performed the most amazing miracles the world has ever seen! He raised the dead, He healed incurable diseases of (His) time, He fed so many with so little and every time that He spoke, even the most learned Pharisee or Sadducee was amazed by His teaching.

We can learn so much from the life of Jesus, a simple guy who endeavoured so much to please His Father in Heaven; that to Him was more important than anything else. What about us? do we endeavour to please our Father in Heaven? do we strive to work hard to make Him happy and do His will? or are we consumed by our own desires! desires to do our will and fulfil our own flesh, then we miss the mark! we miss the point! Hosea 6:6 says “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” So what does this mean? The Pharisees put so much emphasis on sacrifice and burnt offerings, ritual cleanliness and Sabbath observance. The word mercy, means; ‘Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. With all our faults and sin, the truth is we deserve punishment from God, but He has shown us His mercy! Instead of the Pharisees showing mercy, they kept insisting on following the law of Moses. What about us, do we show mercy? do we think of ourselves too highly than others? what have we learnt from the life of Jesus? Do we walk ‘godly,’ or do we see ourselves as ‘gods’?

Jesus died on the cross and this was the greatest sign of love that anyone could ever show us, question is what are you doing about it? are you walking in His Light? are you a child of the dark? 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son, purifies us from all sin.