He is mercy to me

Friday, January 27, 2017

“I had no fear when I saw him,

for he is mercy to me.”

This comes from a second century Jewish-Christian text known as The Odes of Solomon.

Think of that moment sometime in the future when you and I will actually be standing before Jesus Christ and seeing Him for the first time. I think my immediate reaction would be to repeat the words of Saint Peter when the Lord had told him to cast his nets into the sea and he hauled in so many fish that the nets were breaking: Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. (Luke 5:8) Standing before Jesus, I would be so aware of my unworthiness, of all the thoughts, words, and deeds that would fill me with shame and regret that I would truly be afraid; afraid that I would burn up and be extinguished when standing before the ultimate bearer of goodness and virtue and holiness, afraid that He might cast me far from His sight. I would want to hide behind all the good things I had done, all the times when I did, with His grace, speak, think and act in a way that followed His example and His teaching; I would want to hid behind those things and hope they would cover the darker parts of my being and the darker parts of my own history.

But no. The text I quoted above does away with all of that. He is mercy to me. We must reflect on that mercy every time we come to Him in prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. We need to pray those words so many times that they become a part of the fabric of our souls, so much so that when we ultimately meet Him we will see and understand that He Who is mercy stands there to meet and answer our own plaintive cry for mercy.

I admire the faith of the one who wrote those lines, one who could look upon Jesus and see the fullness of mercy; not accusation, not condemnation, not blame, not reproach, but rather overpowering mercy so great that our minds can hardly conceive it. The faith of one who understood that the eternal Christ became human so that He could meet us where we are, so that in Him could be united both divinity and humanity.

I close this reflection by quoting an expanded version of the text. And by the way, if you would like to discover some of ancient texts of our faith in a way that would enlarge and enlighten your understanding, I refer you to a book that I have mentioned in the past, and that I am re-reading these days: The Roots of Christian Mysticism by Olivier Clément.  Anyway, here is the expanded text:

His love for me brought low his greatness.

He made himself like me so that I might receive him.

He made himself like me so that I might be clothed in him.

I had no fear when I saw him,

for he is mercy to me.

He took my nature so that I might understand him,

my face so that I should not turn away from him.

The Odes of Solomon 7, quoted in Clément, p. 37.

God bless you! Have a nice weekend.