Passover Psalms Day 3: Mercy
by Pei Zuan Tam
Today we will conclude the Passover story in John 12, together with the final part of Psalms 113, the Passover Psalms.
Yesterday, we learned that God is always present in our lives. He lifts up the fallen and brokenhearted. What is in the heart of hearts of God when He helps us? What does He desire us to be in His act of benevolence? Let’s pray and begin exploring the scriptures to tackle these questions.
Scriptures
“He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people.
He settles the childless woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.”
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
Lesson
For me personally, this is perhaps the hardest study in this Psalms 113 mini-series. Everyone feels oppressed or unjustly treated at one point or another. Our oppression comes not from God, but from our own kind. No one likes an oppressor. The tragic truth is that, often, the ones who are oppressed are also the oppressors to other children of God in different occasions. We appoint ourselves as judges even as we feel judged (Genesis 3:12-13). The untamed desire to be THE judge and the arbiter of right and wrong is the first departure of righteousness and the beginning of all evil. (Genesis 3:4-7)
But the hardest study is also the most uplifting one. Throughout the history of hypocrisy and mutual-infliction in humankind runs a parallel story of mercy from God. God hears the cry of the oppressed and rescues us without fault-finding(Exodus 2:23, John 8:11). Humankind hypocrisy ultimately resulted in the killing of Jesus – we judged the only Lawgiver (James 4:11-12) and Judge! Even then, God matched our ultimate offense with the ultimate act of mercy by allowing Himself to take the place of judgement. He answered our self-righteousness with complete self-sacrifice, by dying with the most unjust and undignified death so that we may regain the dignity as His children (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we ponder this, we ought to feel God’s calling to break our self-righteous ways, and in baptizing into Jesus’s death and raising with Him into a life anew (Romans 6:3-4), to begin a life desiring mercy. (James 2:12-13)
Question/meditation
Begin and end today with humility and mercy. Be the change that we want to see.
As a conclusion to this Passover-Easter mini series, I urge you to also pray and ponder: what joy do you look forward to? What challenge do you see ahead? As you pray, seek the spirit of redemption and renewal in Christ to define you outlook today.