Psalm 123
November 16, 2014
“Mercy”
Rev. William G. Utke
Emanuel UCC, HC
A man had just undergone surgery at Mercy Hospital and was in the recovery room. A Sister
of Mercy was at his bedside to reassure him all went well. "You are going to be fine, Mr. Jones,
however we do need to know how you intend to pay for your hospital stay. Do you have
insurance coverage?"
"No, I don't," the groggy man answered.
"Is it possible for you to pay in cash then?" the nun persisted. "No, I'm afraid that's not
possible," he replied.
"Well, do you have any close relatives?" the nun asked. "Only my sister in Texas, but she's a
humble spinster nun," said the patient.
"Mr. Jones, I must correct you. Nuns are not spinsters for they are married to God," the nun
explained. "Well, in that case, send my bill to my brother-in-law!"
The word mercy is a Middle English word from the 12th – 15th centuries. It comes from the
French merci, and the Latin merced, or merces. It has a wide range of meanings in modern
usage. It can refer to compassionate behavior on the part one who is in power, like the mercy a
king might show toward a poor debtor. It can also suggest work donated in a humanitarian
setting such as, “this doctor just returned from a mission of mercy to treat victims of
terrorism.”
Psalm 123 is a Plea for God’s Mercy. Many bible scholars suggest it is part of a larger group of
prayers which were recorded during the Hebrew peoples return to Jerusalem after Babylonian
Exile, about 5 centuries before Jesus was born. But, as the Reformer John Calvin said when he
could not pinpoint psalm 123’s origin, “the prayer calls upon us to trust God as our hope, our
way out when wicked people unjustly persecute the whole body of the Church.” In other
words, this is a prayer for every community in every age seeking God’s justice and peace while
facing persecution.
There is an image embedded in this Prayer which I really like. In verse 3 the prayer says,
“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, Have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of
contempt.” The repetition of “have mercy’ has the literary effect of surrounding the lord with
the people’s pleas for help. In the mystery of God we see how even as God hears billions of
prayers at any moment, yet each and everyone one of those prayers fully consumes God’s
attention. That means my little prayer or your little prayer doesn’t receive a small slice of God’s
attention, it has a full hearing before the Lord.
Luke 6:36 calls Jesus’ followers to, “be merciful as God is merciful.” In today’s world mercy
and law often become juxtaposed, as if they are antonyms of each other. Some treat mercy as
if the world will crumble if we don’t follow the strictest interpretation of the law. Others
worship at the altar of mercy as if it permission to abandon the law entirely.
What if mercy is not a categorical rejection of the law? What if mercy resides is that gray
area? The part which lies open to interpretation and uncertainty.
For instance, according to the law I have the right to overwork a few employees and make
larger profits, but mercy might suggest I hire more workers and take home less profit. If I own
old books or toys I certainly have the right to sell them, but mercy might suggest I donate them
to a family homeless shelter? What if this is mercy? It’s all within the law but in our privileged
society mercy means living closer to compassion and sharing, and further away from egotistical
ways.
Mercy, in this light, could become the place we gather, from our polarized opposites, and
dialogue about what is just and peaceful, instead of simply what is legal. What if mercy is the
space in which we might actually begin to heal the divisions in our world?
Thankfully I don’t have to go through toll booths that often, but I remember one time I did. I
pulled up to a toll booth headed into Chicago. As I stopped at the booth, the arm which drops
along with the red light didn’t go down. I asked, “Having trouble with your electronic arm
today? And the attendant replied, “No sir, you can go through, the person ahead of you paid
your toll.”
Mercy, we might say, is God at work in the cracks. The places where we struggle to figure out
how much do I do to benefit myself, and how much do I do to help others.
God is at work in the cracks in life; those times when we receive or offer undeserved love,
unearned forgiveness, unexpected kindness, or compassion instead of warranted judgment.
We rarely if ever make a mistake when we lean toward compassion.
Finally there is one more image embedded in this Psalm. The author tells us the people cry
out to God, “as the eyes of a servant look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to
the hand of her mistress.” Here we see God imagined as a female head of household. This
image may disturb some of us.
I remember in a former congregation I used the term “Mother-God” as part of a pastoral
prayer one Sunday. The next day I got a visit from a faithful member of the church. She said,
“Pastor I am sick of all this talk about God being a woman, or a mother, Jesus calls God Father
and that is what we should use.” It didn’t matter how many bible verses I showed her where
God is imaged with feminine characteristics, she thought God was male. But since
confirmation days we have known God is not male, nor female, these are limited human ideas
we use to try to talk about a God who is beyond our language or control.
Here in this Psalm mercy is also about how God goes beyond our expectations. In the space
between the comfortable biblical Image of God as Father, and the uncomfortable (For some)
biblical image of God as Mother, the author has filled in the cracks. The author has offered us
mercy, an interpretation that lives between what we know, and what we may have trouble
accepting.
Mercy resides in the cracks of life; where there is nothing else to clearly guide our steps. And
it reminds us that the only life, which is really life at all, is one lived in complete reliance and
dependence upon God, and love for our neighbor.
In this prayer our spiritual ancestors provide us a roadmap to abundant life. Always turn
toward God. Always turn toward mercy. So let us join in this day and age, offering this ancient
Hebrew prayer, “O God, our eyes look to you.”
Amen