Romans 9:19-29 “Mercy Me

The other week, we had the termite people come out to the house. They are not actually termite people–they are the people who tent houses to get rid of termites in fact. So, the one termite guy, Ira, who has been treating the church for decades says that we have to remove all the plant life around the perimeter of the house. He started pointing out which plants would have to be torn out, as well as the ones that could be trimmed back but would probably die anyway.

Our hearts began to sink. My wife and I have been planting, watering, fertilizing, and shaping the garden for so long now. The garden represents a huge amount of toil and sweat. The lament is that we could have just let nature take its course. WE could have just let the guinea grass and koa grow right up to the house. We could have never gotten out the lawn mower or trimmer. Think of the time and effort we could have saved! When I garden I get covered in the red dirt that I then have to shower off of me. The shower gets all dirty. I have to scrub the shower. My clothes have to be laundered. This all just a lot of work that is going to naught because we have to rip out a path around the house for termite tenting.

I am going to guess that you all understand where I am going with this line of thought. That which separates us from the animals, that which makes us human, is that we lay our hand upon our surroundings and create beauty. I want a garden around the house, not a jungle! The difference between the two is a hand’s touch.

That is why the Garden of Eden was a garden–God gave it a gardener. Please note that we do not talk about the “Jungle of Eden.” And, Adam and Eve were not Tarzan and Jane. They really worked the land as God instructed!

Let me give you another example of this: The difference between having a pet cat or a bevy of feral felines is that care we show. Again, the hand is on that animal; that is what makes it a pet.

We have now only one indoor cat at the house. His name is Liam. Yes, we feed that cat, bathe the cat, and medicate the cat for fleas. However, every evening Liam comes to the screen door on the front of the house and starts crying like it is the end of the world. He does not want water or food. He wants to be brushed. We open the door and he runs to the living room where his brush is and jumps up on the couch waiting for his time for petting.

The Apostle Paul tells us that what makes us who we are as the children of God is not just that we count God as our Father in heaven—if I can use that term—it is that God’s hand is still on our lives. This is a huge jump from the basic issue as to whether there be a Creator God—the subject of Creationism as it may or may not be taught in our public schools. Here Paul tells us that God is still creating through our lives today. God’s hand is still on our lives. Creation does not stop.

Do you recall way back in Genesis when God created Adam and Eve? The Bible tells us that God took the red earth (Adamah), formed it, and blew life into it. That act of creation was merely the start of creation—not the end. Yes, the Bible tells us that God took the seventh day as a day of rest; the Bible does not say that God stopped creating all together at that moment. No, the creation continues. We are commanded in fact to “Go forth and multiply.” This means that the creation that God started is continuing through us by God’s design.

Exodus 17, that part of the Exodus when God instructs Moses to strike the stone so that water might come out. The people are thirsty in the desert. God gives them water. Just like I give the cat water, God gives to God’s creation. The entire Bible is therefore a record of God’s continuing creation up unto our time. It is a record of God’s hand upon humanity.

Soooo, the Bible is not just “the Message” from God—it is also the “Massage from God!” When we read it, we can feel God’s touch on our lives!

God took two lumps of clay way back in the time of Adam and Eve and made the first two humans. Yet, God’s hand is still over creation today. When we look at our own lives, we must admit that we are all still lumpy. God is still creating through us. God’s hand is still on the clay in our lives. Are you feeling as lumpy as I am? Do you feel God molding you today?

Okay, all of this is really good stuff, but what does it have to do with “mercy”? The supertitle in the pew bible talks states “Mercy.” My sermon title is “Mercy me.” This is a different understanding of mercy than we use in everyday speech in English, is it not? We think today as “mercy” being when we “throw ourselves on the mercy of the court when we know that we are guilty.” It is akin to asking for a pardon from a judge. That is not how Paul talks about it here at all. God’s mercy seems to be the recognition that God’s hand is over our lives still. The Creator of the universe is still working on us with the divine hand.

Jesus in speaking of mercy told the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). The story goes that two sons are to inherit from the father. The younger son asks for his inheritance early and goes off and squanders it. He then returns empty-handed to the father later. His father welcomes him home with a big hug and a feast even though the son had wronged the father. The relationship is what matters here. Jesus did not speak of a judge and a criminal. This is a father and child. There is compassion and maybe even pity that is based on a loving relationship.

God was not just our one-time creator. God is the one who loves us still and has a hand over our lives. WE still feel God’s compassion. WE take God’s mercy upon ourselves and offer it back to the world.

If you were a Jew living in Rome hearing Paul’s words in this letter for the first time, you would have understood that when Paul talks about our somehow challenging God that the response comes straight out of the Book of Job. By Job it does! Look at Job 38 and on when God answers Job’s complaints. We do not get to find fault with God! God is too great after all. WE are just a lump of clay before the potter’s hand.

Paul brings up the name of the prophet Hosea. He was told by God to marry an unrighteous woman and be faithful unto her. Hosea had to show mercy, pity and compassion to his wife.

Isaiah is also lifted up by Paul in the letter. He is the prophet who stayed loyal to God even when the whole country started worshiping other gods. He is the one who proclaimed God’s promise of redemption and even foresaw the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. What is God calling for you to do in your life? God saved the people. God did not abandon. Instead, God showed mercy–compassion and pity upon us.

Paul goes on to state that not only are some vessels made for special use, but some are made for destruction. That is hard to understand. Yet, Jesus himself was made for destruction. I have often wondered how Jesus did the ministry he did when he knew all along what the outcome was going to be. Every time Jesus healed somebody or spoke of the glory of God in a crowd moved him one step closer to his own crucifixion.

Likewise, I must consider the faith of those early Christians in Rome. A high probability existed back then that their faith in Jesus Christ would lead them to great suffering and persecutions. When Paul says that some of what God has created might be broken and shattered, it must have really affected their hearts sincerely. We might be broken ourselves one day if the hand of the Potter decides as such.

On the topic of vessels, Paul has chosen this word specifically. Like in English, the word can mean both a pot made of clay, a ceramic vessel, or a sailing vessel. The word in Greek is σκευη (skevy). The English word we get from this is “skiff,” a small ship or boat. So, we are all a bunch of small boats going out in God’s mercy–outon treacherous waters.

This reminds me of the early missionaries who came to Waimea in a small vessel, the Thaddeus. They survived nine months at sea. They survived the rough crossing at the cape at the bottom of South America. Sam Whitney survived falling off the boat. I recently learned that it was one of the sailors on board that caused his going overboard. The sailor untied the knot on the rope that was holding Samual Whitney. But, by God’s mercy he survived. He came to Waimea and was brought on shore by being carried by the locals. The Thaddeus was therefore a vessel of God’s mercy. You,too, can be the vessel of God’s mercy going out to the world.

The church is the vessel of God’s mercy in the world! The central part of the church is called the “nave,” like in the word “navy.” Now, doesn’t that just float your boat?! When you are being drowned and going nowhere in life, the church is the vessel of God’s mercy. Here you can find compassion and love. Here you will be safe. Oh, mercy me!