The half-century since the assignation of Dr. King stands as an indictment against American society. An indictment because racism is still alive and well. Fifty years on and we still have systemic racism in housing, education, healthcare, and the judicial system. Don’t pat yourself on the back America; we have achieved little in that time period. In fact, at the end of this half-century, we have just found more people that we can oppress and disenfranchise. The immigrant, and the refugee by closing our borders, refusing to see their plight and their suffering. The LGBTQ community by refusing even to accept their diversity, and treating them as though they had leprosy. Women are seen as objects of sexuality and not equality. Lastly, our children, when their lives are worth less than your right to own the gun of your choice. Grown men and I use that term loosely, stamp their feet like a child in a tantrum when they can’t get their own way.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. (Mat 5:4 NKJ)

This text has two parts, first is the mourning that comes from the realization that our sinfulness grieves the heart of God, like any good parent, the Father wants to see his kids do well.  The second part of this text speaks of mourning because we are touched by the heart of God and feel for the things that God feels. There are several scriptures that speak to this but look at this text from Isaiah.

`Why have we fasted,’ they say,` and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isa 58:3-7 NKJ)

The people of Isaiah’s day were very much like us.  They were experiencing problems in their society and instead of inquiring of God they turned to their own financial wealth, military might and others idols.

Twenty-nine times in Isaiah, God address the subject of justice. In chapter 58 of Isaiah, God finds the people going through the religious rituals, fasting and praying, but it was all external.  The actions of their hearts told a different story. God confronts their hypocrisy, “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate.” Their laborers are forced to work because they have no choice.  When a person has few options, it can seem as though they are enslaved, low wages, no benefits or poor working conditions.  God tells the rich to share the wealth, create opportunities so that the poor don’t have to struggle. Today we’re told that to increase the minimum wage would hurt business and put jobs at risk, but is a job that doesn’t allow a person to pay all their bills and feed their families a job worth having?  It is a slave-slave master mentality and an affront to God.

And we haven’t touched the other subjects of creation care, social injustice, and the so-called ‘righteous war.’ Why should we mourn—because God cares and in that fact we can find comfort.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. (Mat 5:4 NKJ)

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, `Show us the Father ‘? (Joh 14:9 NKJ)

In the context of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were all about being seen to be righteous rather than being righteous.  Jesus wanted to combat this falsehood. But what can we learn?

Do you desire to please God? For years, we’ve interpreted holiness as being all about the external, what we wear and how we’re seen by others.  Could it be that God is more concerned about the condition of our hearts, about our relationship with Him and like all relationships, not wanting to hurt those we love?  Jesus tells us ‘Happy are those who mourn when they know they have offended, grieved, hurt the Father.’  The comfort comes because we know that when we blow it, mess up and do the wrong thing, there is a comfort that comes because we realize the joy of sins forgiven.  The joy of reconciliation, the comfort that is ours when we want to do those things that please the Father.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:3 NKJ)

Some people think that being poor in spirit means that you’re weak and bankrupt.  To counteract this weak image, the Church promotes financial gain, ownership of possessions and power, making the message of the gospel hollow.  Being self-sufficient is not where you find the Lord.  Isaiah writes, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isa 57:15 NKJ)

King David showed humility when he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? (2Sa 7:18 NKJ)  or Gideon who said, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (Jdg 6:15 NKJ)  Even Moses showed humility when he said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” The reality was that as a prince of Egypt Moses was trained and educated yet, he felt inadequate for the task that God had for him.(Exo 3:11 NKJ) Finally, Isaiah said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, (Isa 6:5 NKJ)

Poor in spirit means I can do nothing by myself, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phi 4:13 NKJ)

Day 1, Week 1

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: (Mat 5:1-2 NKJ)

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7 NKJ)

At the outset of the Beatitudes, Jesus opens up the conversation by stating the obvious, ‘before I can fill you, you have to empty yourself.  You wouldn’t consider pouring a choice wine into a bottle of old stale wine or placing a new loaf of bread in with a dry, moldy loaf.  You would throw out the old and receive the new, so it is with us. There is nothing in our old selves worth keeping, let us empty ourselves so that we might receive the blessings of the Kingdom.

So you ask, ‘do I have to be perfectly clean before I can receive?’ No, you just have to commit to the process.  It goes something like this:

“God, I want you to change me, mold me and make me into the person you want me to be.  Touch my mind and remove the stinking thinking, help me to be open to learning new things. Touch my heart, my hurts, and my pain.  Keep me from ministering out of my dysfunction and let me draw from you.  Touch my soul. Restore the image of yourself in me, and help me to see your image in others.  Let your love become my love; your compassion becomes my compassion and your mercy my mercy.” Amen!

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.… One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” LUKE 23: 32, 39– 43 NIV

A Friday of mixed emotions. The religious leaders were satisfied that they had removed this troublemaker, a Roman Prefect is disturbed by the whole thing, a mother is losing her son, and only one of his followers has stayed around. The majority of the mob were mocking, but some wondered if he was the Son of God?

Matthew’s writes, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mat 27:50-54 NKJ)

This wasn’t just any Friday, nor was this just any crucifixion. Something was happening! The good news was that Sunday is coming!

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed–in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.  57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Co 15:51-57 NKJ)

Paul is talking here about the mystery of the resurrection and how at the last day change will happen, exchanging mortal for immortality and corruption for incorruption. What a victorious day that will be.  But what about now?  God is in the changing business now, changing all of us from one degree of glory to another. Easter for me is a time of reflection and meditation through the forty days of Lent leading to Easter, where I begin to see afresh what God is doing in my life and those around me.  Realizing that in God there is a diversity of humanity, more than we could ever comprehend. If we allow ourselves to listen to the signature tune placed inside all of us, we will eventually realize that God is writing an opus and not just a chorus.

Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will, therefore, chastise Him and let Him go.” But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. (Luk 23:22-23 NKJ)

William R. Newell, a Chicago area pastor, and also Assistant Superintendent at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago was sitting down at his desk one day, when he penned the lyrics to that well-known hymn, ‘At Calvary.’ The chorus says:

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;

Pardon, there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty

At Calvary.

I am thankful at times that God is God and not man.  Sometimes you’ll meet a Christian, and they live by the letter of the law, rules, and regulations.  They show no compassion, give no grace and offer no mercy—and yet; I’m sure they expect to receive it. The text from Luke gives us an account of the trial of Jesus.  Falsely accused by the religious hierarchy, and yet under Roman law, Pilate could find no wrong, and yet even he was swayed by the court of public opinion to pass a false judgment.  God came in the flesh to visit us, and the hospitality we offered was a place on the cross. If that had been me, I might have brought down judgment on those people, and yet all he offered was grace and mercy, love and forgiveness.  How many times do we pass a false judgment upon somebody based on the color of a person’s skin, the clothes they wear, their political persuasion, sexual orientation or their religion, instead of getting to know the person, showing grace and mercy?

So in my daily walk, as I encounter others who may not match up to what I want or demand, I need to remind myself of the mercy and the grace that I received at Calvary.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matt 9:35-38, NIV)

“The chesed (mercy) of God is a gratuitous mercy that considers no fitness, no worthiness and no return. It is the way the Lord looks upon the guilty and with His look makes them at once innocent. This look seems to some to be angry because they fly from it. But if they face it, they see that it is love and that they are innocent. (Their flight and their confusion of their own fear make them guilty in their own eyes.) The chesed of God is truth. It is infallible strength. It is the love by which He seeks and chooses his chosen, and binds them to Himself. It is the love by which He is married to mankind, so that, if humanity is faithless to Him, it must still always have fidelity to which to return: that is His own fidelity. He has become inseparable from man in the chesed which we call “Incarnation,” and “Cross” and “Resurrection.” He has also given us His chesed in the Person of His Spirit. The Paraclete is the full, inexpressible mystery of chesed. So that in the depths of our own being there is an inexhaustible spring of mercy and love. Our own being has become love. Our own self has become God’s love for us, and it is full of Christ, of chesed. But we must face and accept ourselves and others as chesed. We must be to ourselves and to others signs and sacraments of mercy.” — Thomas Merton, Seasons Of Celebration.

When Jesus looked at the crowd, he didn’t judge them; he didn’t racially profile, or divide up the rich and poor, he had compassion for everyone because everyone’s harassed and helpless. It may surprise many that the harvest isn’t about filling your church, but about telling everyone about the unconditional love of God.

So why are some Christians so judgmental and condemning?  Perhaps they were never shown unconditional love and mercy by those around them and find it hard to receive and dispense God’s love. We need to fill ourselves with all that God has and then give it out with the same measure.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. (1Jn 4:17-21)

O LORD, I have heard your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. (Hab 3:2 NKJ)

The parable of the Good Samaritan is a revelation of God in a word that has great importance through all the Scriptures from beginning to the end. It is a revelation of what the prophet Hosea says, speaking for the invisible God, “I will have mercy and not sacrifices.” What is this mercy which we find spoken everywhere in the Scriptures, and especially in the Psalms? The Vulgate[i] rings with misericordia (mercy in Latin) as though with a deep church bell. Mercy is the “burden” or the “bourdon,” it is the brass bell and under-song of the whole Bible. But the Hebrew word— chesed— which we render as mercy, misericordia, says more still than mercy. Chesed (mercy) is also fidelity; it is also strength. It is the faithful, the indefectible mercy of God. It is ultimate and unfailing because it is the power that binds one person to another, in a covenant of wills. It is the power that binds us to God because He has promised us mercy and will never fail in His promise. For He cannot fail. It is the power and the mercy which are most characteristic of Him, which come nearer to the mystery into which we enter when all concepts darken and evade us. –Thomas Merton, Seasons of Celebration,

Modern evangelical Christianity seems overly concerned about the judgment,  Hell, and eternal punishment. There are several important factors that we need to remember. First, God is far more interested in love and mercy. Second, any judgment that does take place is the prerogative of God alone and has nothing to do with us. Finally, we are called to be lovers, especially to those within the household of faith.

[i] The Vulgate (/ˈvʌlɡeɪt, -ɡɪt/) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that became the Catholic Church’s officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century.

The translation was largely the work of St Jerome, who in 382 had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina (“Old Latin”) Gospels then in use by the Roman Church. Jerome, on his own initiative, extended this work of revision and translation to include most of the Books of the Bible, and once published, the new version was widely adopted and eventually eclipsed the Vetus Latina; so that by the 13th century, it took over from the former version the appellation of “versio vulgata” [1] (the “version commonly used”) or vulgata for short, and in Greek as βουλγάτα (“Voulgata”).

The Catholic Church affirmed the Vulgate as its official Latin Bible at the Council of Trent (1545–63), though there was no authoritative edition at that time.[2] The Clementine edition of the Vulgate of 1592 became the standard Bible text of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church and remained so until 1979 when the Nova Vulgata was promulgated.