The Lord Delights in Mercy

From the reading this week Micah asks an interesting question (Micah 7:18):

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression…?

It’s an important question. Why does God forgive? Do we deserve forgiveness? Why does God forgive our stubbornness and failings?

Micah goes on to describe something about God’s character (Micah 7:18-19):

18 [God] retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy (hesed). 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

What does it mean to “delight in mercy”? And how does God overcome sin? As we’ve been studying the Old Testament this year, I wanted to give some context to how ancient Jews understood these questions.

In 1530 the English scholar William Tyndale started the first translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English. As he was translating the rituals of Yom Kippur described in Leviticus chapter 16, Tyndale thought about how to translate or explain the Ritual of the Two Goats. In this ritual, two goats are selected for sacrifice, one for the Lord, and one for Azazel.

In Leviticus 16 (5, 7-8) it reads:

5 …take of the congregation of the children of Israel two [goats] for a sin offering… 7 …and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for [Azazel].

What to make of that word Azazel? In the Torah, the first goat designated for the Lord would be a sacrificial offering of atonement, the second goat for Azazel would have the sins of the community placed upon it and be cast off a cliff – referred to as Azazel. In Tyndale’s interpretation (which the King James translators drew heavily from), he translated it more symbolically as “the goat that goes away” or escapes (‘ez’azel – compared to a literal interpretation of ‘fierce God’) – coining the word “scapegoote” (scapegoat). So that last verse in many English Bibles (including the King James Version) is translated as:

8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

As we think about God’s mercy this imagery of the scapegoat can help us emulate mercy in our lives – especially as we understand it in the context of Jesus’ gospel covenant. A note that it is not my intention to denigrate ancient Jews. Their rituals were addressing communal sin in the way revealed to them in the law of Moses. But this differs from the way Jesus addresses sin and that is key.

Here we are hundreds of years later, and the term William Tyndale coined is still used to describe a person or group that is blamed or punished for sins or evils of others. What comes to mind when you think of the word “scapegoat”? Have you seen a person or a group be scapegoated before? Have you ever been scapegoated? Have you ever scapegoated? What was the situation? What was the outcome? How did it affect people?

Think about the ritual described in Leviticus. The scapegoat is chosen at random despite it not having sinned, has placed and projected on to it the sins of the community, the community then separates it from them, and finally it is led to its fate to pay the price for those sins.

We see this today, sadly, in harmful family dynamics where a family member is blamed for the problems that family faces; in politics as opposing parties blame one another for issues far beyond either of their control; in classrooms when a child is cast as a “problem”; in work where different teams or individuals are blamed when things don’t a particular way; and in religion where other denominations or non-believers are villainized for not believing or covenanting as we do.

Now, I’m not saying that there are never consequences for actions; there certainly are. And people can, and do cause real harm. But scapegoating is so dangerous because it ultimately sacrifices another on the alter of our ego. And when we consider how God “delights in mercy”, scapegoating turns us away from God.

Jonah is an account in the scriptures that shows how scapegoating affected a prophet of God. And coincidentally it is traditionally read at Yom Kippur. Jonah had a hard time learning to love mercy and overcome the scapegoating that Jews at the time had towards Assyrians. I won’t have time to read the story, but here’s a quick summary:

• God calls Jonah to preach repentance and warn of Ninveh’s destruction if they didn’t repent
• However, Jonah flees to Tarshish – the opposite direction – sailing into the Mediterranean
• After some maritime and sea life drama (with an allusion to scapegoating as Jonah is cast overboard for his sins bringing misfortune upon his fellow travelers), Jonah decides perhaps he should take God’s call seriously
• Jonah calls Ninveh to repentance and they quickly do so

So far, a pretty action-packed book. But the main lesson is in the last chapter. Instead of being happy about that repentance, Jonah becomes depressed and upset at God for being merciful. Jonah was operating with the idea that a prophet is a fortune-teller (someone who tells what will inevitably happen) rather than a forth-teller (someone who warns of will happen if no change is made). See, Jonah didn’t want mercy, he wanted retribution. These Assyrians, after all, are the enemies – a scapegoat for conquered Jews.

In Jonah chapter 4 we have several lessons packed into it:

• Repentance is greater than our judgement
• God’s mercy is more powerful than our scapegoating
• God’s plan, and God’s vision is bigger than our’s
• Prophecy depends on human agency
• God is patient with his prophets when they fall short

Jonah believed God was merciful when he said,

“thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil” (Jonah 4:2)

But that belief couldn’t penetrate the prejudice Jonah had towards the Ninevites. Do we let the prejudices and pressures to scapegoat keep us from the grace and mercy of God? And can we see how we are all immersed in God’s mercies as it says in Lamentations?

22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (Lamentations 3: 22-23)

Early Christians saw in Jesus a fulfilling or disruption of the scapegoat paradigm. In 1 Peter chapter 2 it gives us a glimpse of how Christians thought about Jewish rites and covenants in contrast with Jesus’ gospel Covenant:

21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

There are several parallels here:

• The scapegoat without sin
• The baring of our sins
• Being led out of the city to be sacrificed
• The sacrifice freeing from sins

But the gospel of Jesus Christ breaks this pattern. Since Jesus’ innocence was known by those at his crucifixion, the curtain was pulled back on scapegoating in general. It was powerfully clear that the guilty among us are those of us who scapegoat, not the object of our scapegoating. The crucifixion symbolized the final sacrifice that negated the usefulness of scapegoating. Even though Christianity was founded upon this very idea, we all so often fail to internalize that scapegoating has ended as we revert back to attitudes and systems of scapegoating and retribution. The gospel covenant calls us to overcome and rise above this.

Mercy is a big topic, and I only have limited time, so I’ll just mention one other important lesson we can learn from the example of Jesus which can help us turn from scapegoating and towards mercy.

Back to Leviticus chapter 16, there’s an aspect of the ceremony that describes an attitude of scapegoating that persists today:

26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

Not only was the scapegoat loaded with the sins of the people and driven out of the camp to be sacrificed, but the ones who did so were then impure. This is something that persists today when scapegoating occurs. When we scapegoat, it isn’t enough that we judge another and drive them out, we then consider any who don’t do the same as being infected by the scapegoat.

Jesus’ life provides example after example of Him breaking this paradigm. Note how each time would have made him unclean and required him walking across boundaries:

• He heals a man of leprosy with a touch (Matthew 8)
• He traveled to Samaria teaching and healing (John 4)
• He opens the tomb to raise Lazarus (John 11)
• He ate with sinners and outcasts (Mark 2:16-17)
• He healed a woman with a menstruation condition (Mark 5:25-34)

Perhaps it is this example that helped his disciples overcome the scapegoating of the gentiles (us) and led to Peter receiving revelation from God and declaring to the Centurion:

28 Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28)

Sisters, brothers, and friends, let us commit and recommit to follow the example of Jesus and turn towards mercy, break the scapegoating walls that exist in our groups and societies, and become those that invite in rather than cast out.

As the prophet Micah summarized:

8 He hath shewed thee… what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)

In Jesus’ name, amen.