I am currently reading “Tis Mercy All” , a new book written by Natalie Williams, the CEO of Jubilee Plus, a Christian charity helping churches work with and advocate for the poor. Natalie preached at Hope last year.
In the book, she speaks about the breadth of mercy that was offered by Jesus. He offered mercy to so-called “bad guys”, the oppressing Romans or religious leaders, the unclean lepers and adulterers, the exploitative tax collectors or people like the Samaritans, from the places we despise. He didn’t seem to care about offending anyone by mixing with their enemies.
She challenges us, me, to do the same. Recognising that for some offering mercy to the poor and needy will come easily but offering mercy to oppressors may be more difficult. For some it will be the other way round. Personally, I find it hard to offer mercy to certain people, e.g. the extreme right wing and those I perceive as racist. Yet, I must admit that Jesus had a different attitude to mine and that I need to change to be more like him, having received his undeserved mercy myself.
Similar thoughts were expressed from the stage at the Catalyst Festival where a church leader from Pakistan talked about the oppression Christians and churches in his country experienced from some Muslims and Mosques. Please note it is just some, not all! Despite this persecution, he purposely builds friendships with Muslims and those who oppress him despite the opposition to this from some other Christians and church leaders. He gave the example of the mercy Jesus offered to Paul when he was persecuting the church, saying that his prayer was that mercy shown to those who persecuted the church in Pakistan would have a similar result.
I feel God speaking to me about continuing to spend time with and offer mercy to those I would not have chosen, even if that offends some. Maybe God is asking you to do the same.
Tony Thompson
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