Mercy Takes The Risk

We all need mercy.  Now some of us need it more than others.  But we all need mercy.  One of my favorite authors defines God’s mercy with these words: “God’s mercy is His tenderhearted, loving compassion for His people.  It is His tenderness of heart toward the needy.  If grace contemplates humans as sinful, guilty and condemned, mercy sees them as miserable and needy.” Millard Erickson

And I would add this:  Mercy doesn’t just see us as miserable and needy, but mercy moves  the heart of God to do something to help us.  That’s why He sent Jesus to die for us, so He could forgive us.  That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit to come alongside us and comfort us. And that’s why God gave us brothers and sisters in Christ, so we might have brothers and sisters to help us and support us in our time of need.

But one thing we don’t think too much about when it comes to helping someone in their time of need is this:  Giving mercy means taking a risk

Have you ever tried to help someone in need only to have them disappoint you by their response?  I’ve experienced that more often than I’d like to admit.  What I’ve learned from these experiences is that THIS is one of the realities of doing ministry with broken people:  I’ve given hours to help people in crisis, only to have them complain I didn’t do enough.  I’ve given financial assistance on behalf of the church to more than one person who got angry because we wouldn’t give them more.  I’ve actually been cussed out on numerous occasions for not giving people what they felt they needed. I’ve even been scolded by street people who’ve made it quite clear they don’t need my help. But for the most part these have been rare instances.  All the smiles, thank yous, hugs and tears, – these far outweigh the negative experiences I’ve had in giving mercy.  But one of things I’ve learned over the years, is that giving mercy is risky.   Much of the time it’s costly.  Giving mercy takes time.  It takes a toll on your emotions.  It takes patience.  It takes expending energy and resources.  Many times giving mercy can be messy and other times quite unpredictable.  But there’s one other thing God’s taught me over the years about giving mercy:  It’s that people who are miserable and in need, don’t always respond the way you hope.  For once in a while when you give mercy – you’ll get a response that’s less than gracious and sometimes quite ugly.  And when you do, it will make you question if giving mercy is really worth the effort.  So, let me ask you: Has that ever been your experience?  Has giving mercy ever left you wondering if the risk was worth the effort?

Well, if it has, then you are in good company.  Because as we return to the gospel of John, we’re going to look at what happened to Jesus when he risked giving mercy to a damaged human. His encounter is recorded for us in John 5:1-15.  So if you brought your Bible today, let me encourage you to find John 5, where we’re going to see what happens when mercy takes the risk. So if you’ve found John 5, let’s pick up the story in verse 1, where John writes:  Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered porches. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. John 5:1-3

Here we find Jesus has once again journeyed to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast.  Now, there are three feasts that Jews were required to come Jerusalem to celebrate: (1) The Passover Feast (2) The Feast of Weeks, and (3) The Feast of Tabernacles. We are not told which feast this is.  However, when Jesus arrives he doesn’t go to the temple as was his custom, but goes straight to a place of great need. He comes to this pool called Bethesda.  Bethesda means “house of outpouring” or “house of mercy.”  This is where mercy leads Jesus: To miserable and broken people who were longing for mercy. Mercy leads Jesus to helpless and damaged people who are living on the margins.

This is what mercy does.  Mercy leads Jesus to the margins, whether it’s damaged goods, like the Samaritan woman, or damaged people like we find here.  Jesus is always drawn to those society ignores.  Instead of ignoring them Jesus embraces them.  That’s the first risk we see Jesus make today:  Mercy takes the risk of getting involved

Among the many looking for mercy that day, Jesus finds a man who is a particularly miserable case: a man whose suffering and isolation is extreme.  John gives us the details of his miserable estate: One who was there had been there for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him there and learned that he had been in this condition for thirty-eight years, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:5-6

Now before we get to the healing, John wants us to notice what Jesus did before he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”  John notes that Jesus saw him there and learned that he had been in this condition for 38 years.  This word “learned” speaks of making a diligent inquiry.  Jesus didn’t just appear on the scene and go to the first person who looked like they were in pretty bad shape.  No, he dug into the history of this man.  He learned of his condition: He was a paralytic.  Life for a paralytic was horrible.  No wheelchairs, no handicap access. No job.  No friends.  No hope. Being a paralytic meant that he had to have family members move him from place to place.  Being a paralytic meant that he had no source of income.  What income he might have – had to have come from begging or from the generosity of family.  Not only that, but being a paralytic meant he did not have bladder or bowel control, so he wreaked of urine. Most  people would avoid him like the plague.  And on top of all this, his hands were a mess. They were his only form of mobility, so they we’re torn and scarred from years of trying to get into the pool. To sum up what Jesus learned about this man was this:  HIs existence wasn’t just miserable it was pure agony.

But it was with this man Jesus gets involved.  He SEES this man and LEARNS his story.  He learns that this man has been longing for mercy for 38 years.  That’ longer than Jesus has been alive. Day after day, for 38 years, this man has watched as others ignored him, and even stepped over him to get to their own healing.  Day after day, this man lay paralyzed, mere inches from hordes of people celebrating the joy of their healing.  Day after day, this man had to endure feelings of resentment, rejection, jealousy and despair.

Yet it is to this man Jesus choses to give mercy. He’s learned his pain, felt his rejection and allowed himself to be moved by his despair.  That’s what mercy does.  Mercy steps out of your comfort zone and risks getting involved in the messes of life…

You see, we instinctively tend to limit our mercy to people like ourselves or people we like.  But Jesus is not like that.  Jesus identifies with the helpless and takes up their cause. That’s what Jesus shows us about his heart of mercy in this scene.

Let me ask you?  When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone and learned the story of a person in need?  When was the last time you let the hurt of another move you to action?  I have to admit, it’s much easier for us to avoid broken people than to engage them.  We live in world where we’ve been discipled to pursue comfort and avoid complications.  We’ve been taught to pursue safety and avoid danger. So, to risk getting involved with needy people means letting Jesus begin to show us what it takes to get involved with broken people.

What I love about Jesus is that he never played it safe.  He always let mercy lead.  He had a whole different internal value system.  He came to serve us, to help us and give mercy to those longing for mercy.  That’s what we see here. And when Jesus learned that this man was truly in need of mercy, he came to him and asked: “Do you want to get well?”

What a question!  It sounds like a dumb question. But it was anything but.  For Jesus’ question was so loving.  Because Jesus’ question respected the dignity of the man lying there.  Jesus had learned of his condition and his struggle.  But he needed to learn one more thing: He needed to learn if this man hadn’t given up.  After all, maybe he had abandoned hope.  Maybe he was bitter.  Or maybe, he felt he got what he deserved.  Maybe he was playing the victim.  After all, he was not born this way.  38 years previously, he had done something that had resulted in him becoming paralyzed.  We don’t know what that was.  But this story is clear that his condition was a result of sin.  Maybe he didn’t really want to be healed.

Which leads to the next risk involved in giving mercy, and that is: Mercy takes the risk of being rejected   Now how did I come to this conclusion?  Well, this man could’ve rejected Jesus at this point.  He could have been so bitter, so disillusioned, so damaged by years of nothing – that he could have told Jesus where to get off.  But he didn’t.

Let me ask you, do you have much experience with damaged people?  One of the things I’ve learned about someone whose life has been traumatized by rejection, abuse, pain and struggle – is that this is often all they know. And sometimes they just don’t want to get well.  They’ve been so hurt, that they’ve learned to protect themselves from more pain.  They learn to shut others out so that no one can hurt them ever again. They have little if any hope of ever recovering or ever being the happy because they don’t know, or don’t remember what that’s like. And that’s tragic.

But look at the respect Jesus gives this man:  The real agony of his life is that he had been IGNORED for 38 years.  Everyone else was out for themselves – no one really cared about him.  But when Jesus asks this one question, Jesus restores a sense of dignity, of value to this man.  I love this about Jesus.  This is how Jesus treats broken, damaged and needy people:  No matter what you’ve done, no matter how damaged you are – Jesus always treats you like you are a priceless treasure.

Mercy treats people with respect, which means when we offer help to the hurting, we too can be rejected.  But mercy takes that risk.  That’s what Jesus did here.  Now let’s see what happened.  Look at verse 7: “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  John 5:7

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.  This is a beautiful picture of how God’s mercy.  He doesn’t just heal him.  He also commands him to pick up his mat.  What’s going on here?  What’s going on here is that part of the healing this man needed was also to be healed emotionally.  His mat had been his identity for 38 years. His mat was his prison.  He had never carried this mat.  His mat had always been carried by others. By telling him to pick up his mat, Jesus gives him a beautiful gift:  Carrying his mat represented this man’s newfound freedom

Jesus didn’t just restore this man’s dignity.  Jesus didn’t just restore this man’s health. He restored his identity.  This man will no longer be identified his condition.  Now he can carry his own mat.  Which means he can carry other people’s mats, if he so chooses.  One of the values of our Church is every person beloved. God wants us to see one another as He sees us: as beloved children who’ve been adopted as His own.  This speaks to our identity.   Jesus doesn’t want you to be defined by your past.  Jesus doesn’t want you to be defined by your brokenness.  No, when Jesus redeems you, he no longer identifies you by your condition – you are no longer a sinner, but a sibling.  And he calls you to pick up your mat and walk.  He forgives you for a purpose.  He restores your life and set your free to live the life He created you to live.  So, I have a huge question for you today:

What’s your mat?  What paralyzes you?  Where are you broken?  Where are your miserable and in need of mercy? Is your mat fear?  Is your mat your past?  Is your mat failure?  Is your mat failing health?  What is it that’s defining you in a way God is not?  Where do you need mercy?  God’s Word tells us that our God is rich in mercy.  His mercies are new every morning.  Jesus doesn’t just want to heal you.  He wants to restore your life in every way.  That’s why mercy takes the risk.  That’s why he comes to us to set us free: “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.”

And that’s what this man does. He gets up and walks away.  His new life has begun.  But it’s at this point – the story takes a turn. Look what happens next:  The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”  John 5:10

How quickly the religious authorities pounce on this guy.  They’re so blinded by their allegiance to the law that they miss the miracle of God’s mercy.  But the man replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.  John 5:11-13  Do you see the irony here?  Not only are they upset that this man is violating their man-made sabbath laws, but they quickly want to know who told him it was okay to do such a thing.  Which leads to the third risk that mercy takes:  Mercy takes the risk of creating opposition

Now, I’m pretty sure Jesus knew this was going to happen.  He knew that these religious experts were more concerned about their rules then they were about God’s mercy, so that when he healed this man on the Sabbath, he knew he would press their religious hot button.  They’d lost the true understanding of the Sabbath: that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27  Sabbath was made for man so we’d be free from the grind of secular work, so that we could not just rest, but would be free to love our fellow man.  But because these religious zealots we’re so wound up in keeping the letter of the law, that when Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, Jesus revealed their fatal flaw – and that is this: Religious people are more concerned about controlling people than helping people.   Religious people are more concerned about external conformity to rules, then they are about the needs of people.  And when Jesus exposed their flaw by his act of mercy, these guys couldn’t wait to condemn him for it!

And if that happened to Jesus, don’t be surprised if there comes a time when you risk giving mercy, and you face opposition. Because there will always be self-appointed judges who feel it is their calling to criticize, condemn or even work against you when you are trying to help the less fortunate. That’s a sad reality, but it happens.  If it happened to Jesus and it can happen to you. For with this act of mercy, we see for the first time that these self-appointed rule keepers were so outraged by Jesus’ blatant violation of their law, that they began to persecute him. But that didn’t stop Jesus, and that should never stop us. Because mercy always takes the risk to help those in need, regardless of the cost or consequences.

Okay.  So, far we’ve seen some interesting risks that mercy takes.  First, mercy takes the risk of getting involved.  Then, mercy takes the risk of being rejected.  And here we’ve seen that mercy takes the risk of creating opposition.  But now there’s one last risk that mercy takes.  Mercy takes the risk of being betrayed Look at verses 14,  Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  John 5:14

Jesus finds this man and calls him to repent of his sins.  Now this may seem a bit harsh, but not really.  Jesus has just worked a miracle in his life.  He’d been lame, now he can walk.  But now he needed an even greater miracle – to have his sins forgiven.  So, what happens?  We don’t know if he turned away from his sins.  But we do know where he turned.  He turned away from Jesus. The text tells us, The man went awayand told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. John 5:15

After meeting Jesus again, instead of repenting, he runs back to the religious power brokers and rats out Jesus. He’s more concerned about pleasing the religious elite than responding to Jesus.  This is pretty sad. Here’s the harsh reality of helping others like Jesus: Not everyone who receives mercy will be thankful. Not everyone who receives mercy will be changed.  Not everyone who receives compassion and care will embrace Jesus.  Some will betray him.  And some will betray you – some will throw you under the bus, just like this man did with Jesus.  Why?  All I can say is this: fear of man is a powerful thing.  This man would rather please men than praise God.

So then, we’ve seen today that giving mercy does involve risk. When you give mercy to the miserable, they might not always respond the way we want them too.  Oh sure, most of the time, your mercy will be appreciated, but many times broken people don’t have the capacity to respond the way we hope.

But here’s the deal: Mercy Takes the Risk.  Why? Because Jesus took the risk for you.  And if you were worth the risk for Jesus to give His mercy to you on the cross, then taking the risk of others will be worth it.

That’s why Mercy takes the risk of getting involved!

That’s why Mercy takes the risk of being rejected!

That’s why Mercy takes the risk of creating opposition!

That’s why Mercy takes the risk of being betrayed:

It’s because Jesus took the risk when He gave mercy to you at the cross.

So let’s let mercy lead…