Mercy. It’s a much maligned and often misunderstood word. We normally use the word to refer to not giving a guilty party the punishment he deserves. The word evokes, for instance, images of prisoners in the Tower of London asking their Sovereign to spare them out of mercy. However, the opening words of today’s Gospel lesson — “Be merciful, even as Your Father is merciful”– have more depth than our common use of the word “mercy.” It is not the same word used in our Kyrie, “Lord, have mercy.” Indeed, here we have a word for “mercy” that is used twice in this Gospel lesson, but nowhere else in all four Gospels. It could be translated “pity,” “compassion,” or even “heartfelt compassion.” Tracing it through the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit this morning will help us understand the mercy of the Triune God toward us and our mercy for our neighbor. “Be merciful, even as Your Father is merciful.”
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