Imagine this scene…
You are a disciple of Jesus in first century Israel. As your master, you follow him wherever he goes. His reputation precedes him, so you don’t often travel quietly – that is, unless you’re out in desolate places. One day, while on the road, you spot two blind men out of the corner of your eye, camped on the roadside. You pass by without giving them much thought. But moments later, you hear loud shouts coming from behind you, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” As you look over your shoulder to identify the shouters, again you hear, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” Now coming towards you with surprising speed are the same men you just overlooked, crying aloud as they come, “Jesus, have mercy!”
What would your reaction be?
I recently worshiped at Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and heard Pastor Ryan Fullerton expound on this passage from Matthew 9. It encouraged my soul, and I encourage you to take a listen too. In his words, “Your and my greatest need is to actually know God, to actually have the reality of God vital in our own lives. And this happens as he’s pursued! We far too often have not because we ask not. And here, these blind men…show us pursuing Jesus is…something you cry out for until you have.”
Jesus, have mercy.
Hundreds of years prior, this prayer was on the lips of another ancient Hebrew. In Psalm 123, we read:
To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than enough
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
As Eugene Peterson explains, “The basic conviction of a Christian is that God intends good for us and that he will get his way in us… ‘Mercy, God, mercy!’: the prayer is not an attempt to get God to do what he is unwilling otherwise to do, but a reaching out to what we know that he does do, an expressed longing to receive what God is doing in and for us in Jesus Christ.”1 In other words, when we ask for mercy, we are not twisting God’s arm. In reality, we are aligning ourselves with his intentions for us in Jesus Christ.
God is merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Nevertheless, he is seeking “seekers” - those who will pursue him in urgent, desperate, and persevering faith.
Jesus, have mercy.
When we ask for mercy, we are not twisting God’s arm. In reality, we are aligning ourselves with his intentions for us in Jesus Christ.
This prayer has been something of a theme for me for the past few months.
On the one hand, it’s been a prayer that I must have muttered hundreds, if not thousands, of times in moments of silence and stillness with Jesus. Since March, I’ve been working through two daily office devotionals from Pastor Peter Scazzero (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day and Emotionally Healthy Relationships Day by Day), both of which put a premium on silence and stillness. Every office begins and ends with such a time – at two offices per day, that’s four times of silence and stillness per day. And while sitting with Jesus, I have often used these three words to refocus my straying mind, “Jesus, have mercy.”
On the other hand, it’s been a prayer I’ve spoken or shared many times in moments of grief and trouble. As a dear sister slowly watched her husband slip through death’s door, I interceded, “Jesus, be merciful.” To another friend, who lost his grandfather and grandmother-in-law a week apart, I shared these words, “Jesus, be merciful.” Ironically, he told me that they had become his own prayer of late and described them, saying, “Short but captures everything we need for life and death.”
Jesus, have mercy.
Do you need mercy?
Ask Jesus.
Perhaps you’re held back, thinking that he might be put off by your request. Perhaps you suspect he feels like you’re nagging, griping for his help? Do you imagine he is resistant to showing mercy? Do you imagine he responds to such pleas cautiously, calculating how much mercy you’ve already received the past week, or the past hour?
Don’t be deceived.
Jesus is rich in mercy and glad to show it, but it is often received only as it is pursued. Jesus isn’t some candy dispensing machine, but a person who desires a relationship with you. He doesn’t always dispense upon first request (see Mark 7:24-30), but this only proves how much he desires you to persevere in asking! The biblical testimony is that mercy is “something you cry out for until you have”.
So, cry aloud!
Jesus, have mercy!
Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, 64.