Divine Mercy in the Holy Bible.

Mercy is one of God's essential attributes, if not His very divine name (Francis 2016: 7); it is, in fact, the manner in which the Lord approaches man; it is, as it were, God's PIN. At the same time, mercy is a fundamental aspect of Christian identity: the merciful Father who requests His children to be merciful.

It is noteworthy, for a start, that the theme is quite large in scope. The concept is complex and frequently used throughout the Bible, the latter itself being a library of 73 books. Therefore, a selection is needed in order to come down to certain aspects of mercy only. Secondly, we also need to outline the approach used for such a theme, which is not intended as purely scientific, but rather practical, with a focus on the spiritual dimension. The starting point will be the etymology of "mercy" in the Old and the New Testament; then, we will make a brief analysis in order to identify some of the most significant characteristics of the concept of divine mercy in the Scriptures. Finally, we will make references to Christian life.

What does Mercy represent in the Scriptures?

The Old Testament

In the books of the Old Testament, the idea of mercy is given by two terms: hesed and rahamim. The former, "hesed" can be translated as kindness, grace (Koehler & Baumgartner 1998: 318). It is used 245 times in the Old Testament, especially in the narrative literature and in the Psalms (127 times in the Psalms, 11 times in the Genesis, and 12 times in 2Samuel). From a religious point of view, "hesed" is related to divine fidelity (emet), forgiveness, goodwill (rahamim). "Hesed" is often associated with "emet" (fidelity). In this case, the image of the merciful God relates to keeping promises. In many sections of the Old Testament, hesed-mercy refers to a reciprocal relationship; it envisages especially the relationships within an alliance.

Fundamentally, "hesed" means undeserved favor, friendship, praise, as well as God's grace and mercy (Bultmann 1982: 477-484). Therefore, the word goes beyond mere sympathy with and regret for the human needs, and shows God's free and gracious closeness to man. It is a relationship that indicates not only a particular action, but also an action which lasts in time (Zimmerli 1984: 372-400). As regards God, it goes beyond any mutual loyalty, being an unexpected and undeserved gift of God's grace, meeting with each and every human expectation and category. As the Almighty and Holy God is concerned with the self-induced situation of man, who has so many needs, He sees the misery of a poor suffering man, listens to his complaints, comes down to man's level, so as to know his sorrows and, despite all human infidelity, He accepts man again and, although he would be worth of punishment, is forgiven and given a second chance. All this goes beyond common experience; everything goes beyond human imagination and reasoning. (Kasper 2015: 33)

The second term used for mercy is rahamim, the current translation: to have mercy, compassion, the kind of mercy often shown by someone in a higher position to someone having a lower position. However, the word derives from "rehem" (see "raham"), which means maternal, womb or bowels (Koehler & Baumgartner 1998: 886). So, it is a feeling of compassion that springs from the womb, from the inside, from where feelings are located. Therefore, "rahamim" emphasizes compassion, a compassion that comes from the heart and is manifested through the willingness to help. (Rossano et al 1988: 978)

To summarize, divine mercy coincides with the loving and maternal attitude God shows for those in difficulty, who admit of their weaknesses, sins, faults and infidelities. God not only helps man overcome negative situations, He also sees about healing and helps him recover his dignity as son. Psalms 85 says: God is merciful; His mercy is everlasting!

The New Testament

The term used for mercy in the New Testament is eleos; it initially referred to an emotional feeling, but was subsequently used for the translation of the Hebrew word "hesed," which came in use especially for the description of mercy (Danker 2000: 316). In the New Testament, just like in the Old Testament, the bowels indicate mercy, which comes from the heart.

God's mercy shines on Christ's face. There is a number of quotes where Jesus presents His project, His way of thinking: "I have not come to ... I came to ..." (John 12: 46). Thus, "I have come not to call the righteous, but the sinners." "The Son of man came to save that which was lost." In the Gospels, Jesus Christ describes Himself as "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11: 19). Jesus is actually the sign of Father's mercy, whereas the Holy Cross is the ultimate manifestation of divine mercy towards the entire human race. The Gospel of Luke highlights the Divine Mercy, especially by means of the well-known parables of the merciful Father, and the Good Samaritan. Jesus not only proclaimed the news about the mercy of God, but also lived it. He lived what He proclaimed.

Beyond the Old Testament, the novelty of Jesus' message is that He proclaimed God's mercy for all and for ever. He opened up the way to God not only for the few who were righteous, but for all. There is room for everybody in the kingdom of God; nobody is excluded. God withdrew his anger forever and created space for his love and mercy (Wilckens 2007: 190-195). The sinners were Jesus' recipients in particular; they were poor from a spiritual point of view. Jesus did not come for the righteous, but for sinners. He did not come for the healthy, who need no doctor, but for the sick. Mercy, again, is the PIN of our God. (Kasper 2015: 46-47)

Etymologically speaking, we can already identify some attributes of the Divine Mercy. First, mercy is a gift, a grace, starting with the initiative of God who lowers himself to man's level. Secondly, mercy is connected to fidelity: God is merciful, his loyalty to the promises made considered. Thirdly, mercy is based on relationships: God means to get into a relation of communion and friendship with man, an alliance involving mutual commitment. Divine Mercy coincides with the paternal and affectionate support given by the Lord to those who are in trouble and admit of their weaknesses, sins and infidelities.

What are the characteristics of mercy in the Bible?

God's mercy is revealed in history

What kind of image of God is there in the Scripture? Is it a God of ideas, an abstract concept which we only learn about in the Catechism? Christian religion and revelation have a historical component. Lord manifests Himself and His plan of salvation throughout history. There is a series of gestures and signs indicating mercy in the biblical history.

Before going through the fundamental steps, we should consider a hypothesis. God's mercy is His reaction and solution to the problem of evil and sin. Therefore, we must know what evil means, in order to see how the Lord fights against it. Evil is a mystery, an enigma; where does it come from? How does it have to be addressed to? Genesis 1 to 11 presents the always-present evil that compromises relationships. In Genesis 2-3, the relationship with God is compromised by the sin of the first people. The relationship between peers is affected by Cain's sin when he kills Abel. Evil is increasingly spreading in Noah's times. This evil also influences the social and political structures, a situation reflected in the episode of the Tower of Babel. Consequently, there is a disruption of all relationships at individual, social and political levels. History is permeated by negative elements. Today, for example, media give only negative facts. Therefore, it is necessary to return to basic values.

What is the solution, at least from the perspective of divinity? The solution consists in new beginnings. The Lord does not give in to evil, but fights it. In fact, throughout the biblical history, we can identify a mechanism: on the one hand, the creation or liberation achieved by God; on the other hand, the chaos caused by man. Thus, we have the binomial God's mercy--man's sin or evil.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. There was a refrain after each day of creation: all was good. The first sign of mercy was Creation itself, especially the creation of man who was given the divine blessing and life in the Garden of Eden. But man answered by making chaos, committing sins; most often, his intervention led to disorder. Following the original sin that led to the degeneration of the relationship with God, with others and with nature, God showed His mercy again, promising the victory of the woman's descent. (Genesis 3: 15)

Another gesture of mercy is found in the story of the flood, when every feeling and desire of the human heart was headed for sin (Genesis 6: 5). With Noah, the Lord meant to start a new page in history. Thus, from the very beginning of history, one could see God's counter-action to evil. God's mercy was effective from the very start; it was the way God responded to the aggressive resistance of evil. (Kasper 2015: 34)

The gestures denoting mercy continued with Patriarch Abraham, when God showed His loyalty (as regards people's temptation to build a society without God; see the Tower of Babel). The story of Abraham is actually a starting point of the history of salvation; it is a new beginning. After the era of the patriarchs, we will see one of the most eloquent gestures of mercy and a new beginning: Israel's deliverance from slavery (the Exodus saga). In the book of Exodus we can find the image of God who grieves over the fate of the people and feels mercy when seeing the oppressed people about to be exterminated. God hears the cry of the oppressed, sees their misery, and intervenes because He feels compassion: "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians" (Exodus 3: 7 ff). Mercy is associated in this case with an intervention for deliverance. God is not a dead or deaf God, He is the living God who takes care of people's misery; He speaks, acts and intervenes, releasing and saving. His divine name will be: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery," a fundamental confession of faith (Kasper 2015: 35) in the Old Testament (Exodus 20: 2; Deuteronomy 5: 6; Psalms 81: 1, etc.).

The name of God was revealed in Exodus 3: 14: "I am who I am!" It is about a God to you, with you, paying attention to the suffering of the people (God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, a living and dynamic God).

Confronted with the divine action, people still get into disorder and chaos: the well-known golden calf. Moses intervenes as mediator and reminds God of His promise; he asks for grace and mercy. At the meeting, the Lord again gives His name to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Exodus 33: 19). God's mercy is now hardly intended as closeness without distance, but rather as His expression of absolute sovereignty and freedom. Yahweh does not fall under any scheme, not even in that of retributive justice; by his mercy, He only corresponds to Himself and to His name revealed to Moses. (Wilckens 2007: 96)

Subsequently, there will be another revelation of the name. God descends to Moses by way of the cloud, as a sign of His mysterious presence, and says: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love (hesed) and faithfulness" (Exodus 34: 6). Here, mercy is not just an expression of God's sovereignty and freedom, but also an expression of His fidelity. In His mercy, God is faithful to Himself and His people, despite the infidelity of the latter. (Kasper 2015: 35-37)

A new manifestation of mercy comes forth with the monarchy. God gives a king to the people, thus bringing order at social and political levels. History went on. In the time of the prophets, God manifested His mercy, but not in the human manner. In the book of Hosea, God's passion was burning, but He did not want to succumb to His anger, which was about to burst. God's mercy won over justice: "I will not carry out my fierce anger. For I am God, and not a man; the Holy One among you" (Hosea 11: 9 ff). This is an amazing statement which expresses God's holiness, His way of being-totally-different from what is human is shown neither by His rightful anger nor by His inaccessible and impenetrable transcendence; God's way of being God is shown by His mercy. Divine Mercy is the expression of His divine being.

It is obvious that, as early as the Old Testament, God was not the divinity of wrath and justice, but the God of mercy. Nor was He an apathetic God, who ruled beyond all suffering and sin of the world; He is a God who had a heart that in anger burst into flames, and then literally turned into mercy.

A new beginning in the history of the relationship between God and His people was made in the Babylonic exile. Further, another beginning was introduced by God's desire to show mercy to all people, an example being the story of Jonah who ran away from the prophetic calling. However, he was sent to Nineveh, the city of the enemies: interesting enough, all inhabitants converted. Jonah could not understand how the Lord might be merciful and patient, slow to anger and with much love. In fact, Jonas's attitude of anger for the plant that brought shade is compared to God who had to show compassion to the great city of Nineveh, with many people.

The ultimate manifestation of mercy is to be found in the New Testament, in Jesus Christ. Jesus not only proclaims the news about the mercy of Father, He also lives it. He cares for the sick and those tormented by evil spirits. He could say about Himself: "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11: 29). He feels compassion when He meets the man with leprosy (Mark 1: 41) or when experiencing the pain of a mother who has lost her only son (Luke 7: 13). He feels compassion for many sick people (Matthew 14: 14), for the hungry people (Matthew 15: 32), when He sees the two blind men who ask mercy from Him (Matthew 20: 34); He feels compassion for the people who are like sheep without any shepherd (Mark 6: 34). At the tomb of his friend Lazarus, Jesus is deeply moved and cries (John 11: 35-38). In the great speech about judgment, Jesus identifies Himself with the poor, the hungry, the suffering and the persecuted (Matthew 25: 31-46). Thus, He always comes across people who shout "Have mercy on me!" and "Have mercy on us!" (Matthew 9: 27); (Kasper 2015: 102-105).

In brief, mercy has a historical and existential dimension. God is not an abstract, theoretical deity, but a person who intervenes in the concrete events of life. He is not a distant God who dwells in His transcendence or can be found only in a place of worship, but the God of history and the living God. "God's mercy is not an abstract idea, but a concrete reality in which He reveals love similarly to a father and a mother who are deeply moved for their own son. It can indeed be called visceral love. It comes from inside as a deep natural feeling resulting from kindness and compassion, indulgence and forgiveness." (Francis 2015: no 6)

In the Old Testament, divine mercy is the response to evil, to a negative situation; it is the reaction to such a situation. What is the evil in the world today? What kind of chaos does the contemporary man create? How can one fight it off? The answer is: by "mercy."

Divine Mercy and justice

The God of the Old Testament is sometimes considered to be negative, harsh, vindictive, punishment-prone and tolerating violence. A God who must make justice (Ravasi 2011: 53-55). As regards the two concepts, justice and mercy, they are closely connected. God's mercy serves His justice and accomplishes righteousness. In fact, mercy is God's own justice. (Francis 2015: no 20-21)

The Catechism tells us that God is right: He rewards what is good and punishes what is bad. It is worthy of note that God first grants rewards and then punishes. However, this is rather more connected to the moment of judgment, when it comes to showing divine holiness. In fact, throughout history, God has not implemented its retributive justice. This is Saint Paul's vision.

In order to understand how justice is done, we need to appeal to the biblical language, namely the concept of shedakah (Quell 1982: 192-209). The idea of law and justice is essential in the Old Testament. Only God is righteous, whereas man is unrighteous. Psalm 146 states that no human being can rely on the state of righteousness, as man's heart is most often a source of sin. In this case, only God can make us righteous.

Then, following the biblical history, one could see that the Lord did not intervene to punish the sins of the people who often interrupted the alliance. God's intervention was made through mercy and forgiveness, always forgiving Israel's wrongdoing. If the Lord is the righteous one and makes us righteous, He asks the same from His people. God expects us to be righteous and to do the right thing (Amos 5: 7-24; 6: 12) or, in other words, to do right and be His friends (Hosea 2: 21; 12: 2). Therefore, mercy is not contrary to the message of justice. In His mercy, God would rather withdraw His anger, would even withdraw Himself. He does this to give man a chance to conversion. God's mercy grants the sinner a period of grace and means conversion; it is, ultimately, the grace to reach conversion. (Kasper 2015: 39-40)

The belief that God's justice is not a justice that punishes, but one which renders the sinner righteous, is the great reforming discovery of Martin Luther, a discovery that also released him from the fear of sin and the burden of conscience. God's justice is His mercy, and His mercy is His justice. It frees one from any fear for a new life, new hope, for a life of love and for love. (Kasper 2015: 53-54)

In brief, mercy develops through kindness and forgiveness. The Christian God is not necessarily a God who punishes, who acts by punishment of mistakes. Our God forgives and loves; it is the God who always gives a second chance (Ratzinger 2007: 189-193). God's sovereignty is mainly expressed through His forgiveness. Forgiveness can only be granted by the one who stands above the requirements of pure law, and thus is independent of just punishment and can provide a new beginning. Only God can forgive, and forgiveness is inherent to His being. "You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you" (Psalm 86: 5). "He is magnanimous in forgiveness" (Isaiah 55: 7). "He loves kindness." (Micah 7: 18)

The Church also addressed the relationship between righteousness and mercy. There is a certain discipline, the clergy or just the believers who prefer to judge and use legal criteria. God, however, grants mercy effectively, without judging.

Divine Mercy and Holiness

God is different from people, He is totally different and separate; God lives in His transcendence, yet He comes down to people. We should leave behind the idea of an immutable, passive, static God. God does not change, does not evolve, but is, nevertheless, dynamic.

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word for holy (qadosh) is to cut, to separate. Therefore, God's holiness is His radical distinction and greatness as compared to what is worldly and evil (Proksch & Kuhn 1983: 88-110). God's holiness is mostly expressed in the prophet Isaiah's vision of the throne, where the seraphim sing three times: Holy! Holy! Holy! This vision awakens a holy ecstasy in the prophet; he is made aware of his sinfulness and unworthiness. "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6: 3-5). Thus, God's mercy should not be underestimated, and God cannot be considered a naive person, who generously and kindly overlooks our mistakes and wrongdoings, and simply accepts them with no comment. We should not make jokes about God; He does not allow to be mocked at (Galatians 6: 7). In His compassion and mercy, He shows holiness and greatness.

Thanks to His holiness, God's desire is to reject evil only. The Holy Bible calls this the wrath of God. There is now the question of the relationship between God's wrath and mercy. Some might be troubled by and find inappropriate the statement of a God who grows angry. However, God's wrath is not emotional anger and angry punishment, but rather fight against sin and injustice. Anger is the active and dynamic expression of His holy being. (Kasper 2015: 39)

In the Scriptures, God shows His anger and punishes sin. It is worthy to note that human anger is not tolerated, it has to be tempered off; in case of an access of anger, reconciliation is required. However, God's anger is accepted. It is an attitude of indignation, a state that is irreconcilable with sin. His holy wrath is actually intolerance to evil. Although God is angry on man's sin, he does not follow the path of anger, but that of kindness.

Although God cannot tolerate sin and evil, there is a paradox about the too many evils in this world; sometimes it seems that God is absent from or silent to so much injustice, oppression, violence, etc. One of the major problems today is helplessness to evil: the modern man does not know how to fight evil and the negative elements (he resorts to magi, sorcerers, etc.). He believes that evil and sin cannot be forgiven and healed; the distrust in the possibility of healing and saving could account for the fragility around and about us. God heals the wounds of evil with His mercy. (Francis 2015: no 32)

Summing up, mercy is characteristic of the essence of the divine being. God is complacent in showing His love: "For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath" (Hosea 11: 9). Nevertheless, the announcement of judgment cannot be removed from the message of the Old and the New Testament, nor can it be superficially interpreted. Sin and evil will be judged (Gnilka 2000: 103). Divine Mercy means abolishing sin and leading man to holiness.

Illustrations

The first answer is Faith

God's merciful justice must raise in man the response of faith. How shall we introduce ourselves to God? With our actions and merits? From a human point of view, there is this temptation. However, we should stand up to God as sinners in need of grace and divine forgiveness.

This is where the connection between mercy and fidelity comes up. The word emet contains the root aman which means to "stay safe" and "gain support" (Koehler & Baumgartner 1998: 60-61). Thus, God's mercy is in keeping with His fidelity; His alliance, once offered out of kindness, is reliable; it provides support and safety. Mercy is the expression of God's inner obligation, freely and graciously accepted before the people He has chosen. In His absolute freedom, God is completely reliable. We can trust Him, we can rely on Him in any situation; He is worthy of total trust.

The words "emet" and "aman" are contained in the biblicalliturgical confirmatory formula "Amen." In the New Testament, "aman" is translated as "pisteuo," which means "to believe." To believe does not merely mean considering true, but implies keeping true by trusting in God, abandoning oneself to God, standing firm in God and trusting God (Soding 2008: 309). Faith is one's confident abandonment to God's fidelity and mercy. "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all!" (Isaiah 7: 9). "Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld!" (2Chronicles 20: 20). In other words: To believe is to say amen to God and, thus to trust in His kindness and fidelity, as well as His endless mercy. By faith, man obtains support and stability; by faith, man is offered a confident living space. (Kasper 2015: 40)

Repentance and Conversion

The ultimate example of the manifestation of mercy, which goes hand in hand with repentance and conversion is presented in Psalm 50, in which we are told about the need to acknowledge personal sin. We are imperfect and subject to sin; to ask for the grace to stand up when failing and to drink from the fountain of mercy. Hence, the importance of the sacrament of confession. The Pope quotes the words of a person who stood in line to confess: "Without mercy, without God's forgiveness, the world would not exist" (Francis 2015: no 40-41). This is God's logic that supports, embraces and changes evil into good, transforms and redeems sin, turns condemnation into salvation. From this perspective, there is a significant difference from law and tradition.

There should not be only a kind of generalized mercy: we are all good, everything is overlooked. One must be aware of one's sins, which must then be corrected. Judgment cannot be deleted from the message of the Old and the New Testament, nor can it be superficially interpreted. Sin and evil will be judged upon. And after judgement and forgiveness, divine mercy should be praised and exalted according to the phrase "Everlasting is His mercy!" repeated 26 times in Psalm 86.

Mercy to be shown: acts of mercy

The text in Luke 6: 36 urges us: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!" (Matthew's phrase is: "Be perfect." Actually, in Matthew, perfection is obtained through the exercise of mercy, imitating the merciful Father). Interestingly so, the evangelist uses the Greek verb "ginomai," which also involves the idea of becoming. Therefore, become merciful (saints)! Merciful par excellence is God the Father, He grants this gift. We are in the process of growing in mercy. Anyway, we are in the process of becoming merciful. The idea of road is important: life is a pilgrimage; it can even be compared to an exodus.

What are the ways of exercising mercy? The spiritual and bodily works of mercy, works that spring from a compassionate heart. Perhaps it is necessary to show greater sensitivity to the suffering and sorrows of others (mercy in the meaning of compassion), especially in this here world which promotes individualism.

What are the categories of people who need mercy? In the Old Testament, they were the widows, the orphans and the strangers. Today, everybody needs mercy. The Gospel states that blessed are those who act with mercy: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Mercy is of the essence of the divine being. "God is complacent in showing His love" (Penna 2004: 170-171). However, this mercy does not remain an abstract concept, being manifested in events all along history. God's mercy is a reality acting throughout history, as well as in one's life, in personal and community existence. It is the gift of His kindness, the love which has to be felt in the moments and events of our lives.

The best way to experience mercy is by the sacrament of reconciliation, when man admits of sin and asks for forgiveness. A significant model is provided by the customer's prayer in the Gospel of Luke: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" (God is great when He makes people convert). Reconciliation leads to the restoration of the relationship with God, with oneself and with the neighbor. Finally, mercy, as directed towards the other, to peers, must be practiced by acts. Mercy is actually an exercise of love, love being one of the names of God (God is love!), and the supreme law of Christianity.

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Iulian Faraoanu, PhD; Professor of Catholic Theology, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University; Iasi, Romania; [email protected].

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Author:	Faraoanu, Iulian
Publication:	Romanian Journal of Artistic Creativity
Geographic Code:	1USA
Date:	Sep 22, 2016
Words:	5080
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