3. Have Mercy on us!

There is a very interesting story of Hillel, the Rabbi who lived right before the time of Jesus Christ. He was well-known for his knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. A young man once approached him and asked him if he could recite the entire scriptures standing on one toe of a foot. He had already asked this question to another rabbi,who pulled his shoe to slap him. Hillel, however, calmly replied as follows with a smile on his face: Do unto others what you expect from them! This one commandment contains the entire scriptures.

Imagine a young man asking you a similar question about our worship. “Can you recite the entire Christian liturgy standing on one toe of a foot?” I don’t know how you would respond, but I would respond as follows: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner! This prayer is a summary of the entire Christian worship. Let me explain why I think so.  

This prayer is a literal translation of its Greek form, Kuriyelaison, and its Syriac form, Moran (our lord) Esrahaam (have mercy) Alain (on us). This is a variation of what is known in the Greek Orthodox world as the Jesus prayer, which is, Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! This prayer is repeated seven times in the Qawmo, the usual introductory prayer in the Syrian tradition.

When a minister exhorts us “Let us pray to the Lord!” we pray, “Lord, have mercy on us!” This proves to us that this is all that we have to pray, and it summarizes our entire liturgy.

Now let us make an attempt to find out what exactly we mean by this prayer. We are requesting God in this prayer to have mercy on us. It may imply that right now God has no mercy on us, and we are pleading God to change his mind and be merciful toward us. Although this is how it literally sounds to us, we are sure that we are really not asking for God to change His mind, for God does not need to change His mind. We know that God is always merciful to us.

Then what exactly are we requesting here? We are really not requesting anything. We are simply letting God know that we are sorry. “Lord, I am sorry” is a better translation than “Lord, have mercy on me.” In our usual conversation, we seek forgiveness saying, “I am sorry” or “Please forgive me.” Instead of asking God to change His mind, we come to the presence of God with a changed mindset. “Lord, have mercy on me” has probably been  used as a short form of “Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me.”

But why do we have to say to God “Lord, I am sorry” all the time? What are we saying sorry for? Let us answer this question with a few examples from the Bible.

The prodigal son approaches his father with this prayer. He feels really sorry for disobeying his father, for leaving him, and for wasting all the hard-earned wealth. He realized the greatness of his father when he had the opportunity to experience a merciless master who refused to let him eat even the pigs’ food. He blames himself and justifies his father. He admits that he was wrong, and agrees that his father was right (Luke 15:11-32).

Another example is that of the Pharisee and tax collector praying in the temple. The tax collector, who felt sorry for his behavior, prayed, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” He blamed himself and justified God. The Pharisee presented himself before God as a good person comparing himself to the tax collector. He expected God to bless him and curse the tax collector. However, Jesus ends the story saying that in God’s eyes, the tax collector was righteous and the Pharisee was unrighteous (Luke 18: 9- 14).

Another example is how Adam and Eve stood before God after their disobedience. Neither of them was willing to admit the mistake and say sorry. They both put the blame on others-- Adam upon Eve, and Eve upon the snake. Ultimately the blame was redirected to God, for it was God who placed Eve and the snake in the garden. The relationships were broken, and were left broken, for the ones who were responsible were unwilling to apologize. They were not willing to admit that they were wrong. (Gen 3)

We also see a blind man crying to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-52). What exactly was he requesting for? He shared the common belief that his blindness was the result of sin--either his sin or his parents’. He was requesting Jesus, the man of God, to forgive his sins on God’s behalf, so that he may gain his eyesight.

Well, those people had reasons to say sorry to God. What about us? What wrong have we done to say sorry to God? We go to the church regularly, we pray daily, we fast, we tithe, we read the Bible and meditate, and we live a very decent life. We don’t drink alcohol, we don’t smoke, we don’t go to prostitutes, we don’t associate with the so-called low-class people, and we don’t do anything those so-called bad peopled do. If so, why should we say sorry to God? For what do we need to say sorry?

In our own sight we may not be doing anything wrong. But in God’s sight? As the psalmist says, God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God (14:2). When we say sorry to God, we admit that even if we are good people in our own sight, we are not so in God’s sight. We do mistakes knowingly and unknowingly in our thoughts, words, and deeds, for it is human to err. We admit that God alone can be right all the time.

We have already seen how the prodigal son’s older brother claimed to be a good person. He compared himself with his younger brother who wasted all his wealth. He did not recognize God’s sight. In fact he placed himself on God’s seat and made judgments. He pronounced judgments not only upon his younger brother, but also upon his father.

The Pharisee who prayed in the temple acted just like the older brother of the prodigal son. In his own sight, he was a very righteous man, and the tax-collector was an unrighteous man. But what about God’s sight? He did not care for God’s sight. He placed himself on the judgment seat and pronounced judgment.

Adam and Eve also did the same thing. Instead of admitting they were wrong, they pronounced themselves righteous. Eating from the tree of the knowledge good and evil seems to be an allegorical representation of their being self-righteous.

Self-righteousness seems to be the root of all evil. It is a kind of closed-mindedness. Admitting that we can be wrong is open-mindedness. It was regarding such self-righteousness that Jesus has given strict warning not to judge at all. Judging someone for Jesus was like looking for a speck in his eye while ignoring the log in one’s own eye (Mat 7: 1-5).    

We have to admit that God is the only one who doesn’t do any mistakes. That is why we repeatedly affirm that God is holy. In the Qawmo we repeat this affirmation nine times asserting that none is holy except the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We make the affirmation that God alone is holy based on the reason that God alone knows everything. None among men or angels is omniscient. We do mistakes because our knowledge is limited. God is the only one who is free from mistakes because God is the only one who knows everything.

Adam and Eve didn’t know this. The Pharisee didn’t know this. That is why they justified themselves and blamed God. However, the tax collector knew this. That is why he blamed himself and justified God. 

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