Lord of the Streets, Houston
February 2, 2025
4 Epiphany, C
Hebrews 2:14-18
Psalm 84
Luke 2:22-40
To free those who are held in slavery by the fear of death, that’s why we are told in Hebrews today that God became human. Jesus, who is God living among us as a human being, shared all parts of our lives with us, including death, so that death itself has been joined to God. “Do not be afraid,” we hear God telling us. Do not be afraid even of death, because when we die, we continue to be joined together with God, our lives changed from one form of life to another.
Do not be afraid God became human as an act of mercy for us all. Hebrews states that Jesus is the sacrifice of atonement for our sins. Our sins are ways of disconnection, ways we harm one another, ways we harm ourselves. As we attack, and harm, and hurt one another, we put up barriers and become more and more isolated, more and more disconnected from one another, and more disconnected from God. So, Jesus is the sacrifice of atonement for our sins, our ways of harm and disconnection. Atonement means “to make one.”
Jesus makes us one with God and each other in his sacrifice of atonement for our sins. Jesus does this on the cross by uniting not only our death to God, but by uniting even our sins to God. All of our disconnection from one another has been united to God in Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement.
Why did God do this? Because we are God’s children, and God loves us and offers us mercy, rather than what we necessarily deserve.
There’re a couple of ways I can look at what we deserve for the harm we do to others.
We tend to hurt other people because we have also been hurt. We hurt others our of stress, isolation, and fear. As we hurt others, they hurt others, and they cycle continues on and on, forever.
So, on the one hand, we hurt others because we are first victims of being hurt. We need mercy. On the other hand, we’re still responsible for the hurt we inflict on others. We deserve judgment.
There’s a singer-songwriter named Mary Gautheir, and she wrote a song called, Mercy Now. She was asked about this song in an interview with Sarah Silverman, and she said the song began during a time when she was feeling pretty sorry for herself. She was having trouble in her music career and feeling she wasn’t getting what she deserved. When she talked about it with a friend, who said, “Well Mary, considering all your past behaviors, I’m not sure you really want what you truly deserve, do you?” She thought about it and realized, “Nope I don’t particularly want what I deserve; I’m good thanks.”
Then she thought about others. What if everyone got what they deserved based on the worst days of their lives? What if churches got what they deserved based on the worst days of their life? What if America got what it deserved based the worst days of its life.
She thought, rather than all of us getting what we deserve, what we really need is a little mercy. That’s what God offers in Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement for our sins. God offers mercy by joining all of our beauty and all of our crud with God.
Now we can, of course, spit in the face of God’s mercy, say we deserve it, that God has to give it to us, and with contempt, demand what we think is ours, and I’d say, “Good luck with that.”
God’s mercy is a gift offered, a gift which we receive, not demand. God’s mercy is given freely because we need it, because we do harm others out of our own harm. God’s mercy is also tied to God’s judgment, because as much as we are victims of sin, and harm, and hurt, we are also perpetrators of sin, and harm, and hurt. God’s mercy comes as we recognize that, as we realize the hurt we’ve caused and actually care about those we’ve harmed.
God knows, we do deserve judgment for our sins, the hurt we’ve cause, and God knows we need mercy.
So, I’m going to finish by singing Mary Gauthier’s song, Mercy Now.
Mary Gauthier
The fruits of his labor, fall and rot slowly on the ground.
His work is almost over, it won’t be long, he won’t be around.
I love my father, and he could use some mercy now.
He’s a stranger to freedom; he’s shackled to his fear and his doubt.
The pain that he lives in, it’s almost more than living will allow.
I love my brother; he could use some mercy now.
As they sink into a poisoned pit that’s going to take forever to climb out.
They carry the weight of the faithful who follow them down.
I love my church and country; they could use some mercy now.
Only the hand of grace can end the race towards another mushroom cloud.
I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now.
I know we don’t deserve it, but we need it anyhow.
We hang in the balance, dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground,
And every single one of us could use some mercy now.
Every single one of us could use some mercy now.
Every single one of us could use some mercy now.
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