The God of the new Testament - Part 3 - The face of mercy
In this section we pick up on where we left off at the end of part 2. See Catholic Questions 8
As we noted there, we see in the New Testament that not only is Jesus God, but that he is also the fulfilment of the promises God has made throughout the Old Testament.
“The statements made about Jesus may be broadly listed under two classes. First, we have statements about Jesus’ function – what God has done for us in Jesus. Second, we have statements about Jesus’ identity – who Jesus is. The two are, of course, closely connected. His achievements are grounded in his identity; his identity is demonstrated in his achievements” (Alister McGrath, Theology: The Basics. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 65 – 67).
A few years ago Pope Francis drew attention to Jesus as the one in whom the mercy of God is revealed. By becoming one of us, God takes on the vagaries of human life that we all experience, including suffering and death, so that we can no longer say that God does not understand our situation. However, there was more to this than merely allowing God to say “see, I do understand”. Instead, he showed us that in Jesus, suffering and death have no more hold over human beings. In Jesus, God brings hope and life to the world. Two quotations from Pope Francis are helpful in this regard:
Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him. [Misericordiae Vultus, no. 1]
Jesus is the central point of the story that began in the Old Testament. He is the one who brings it all together. For everything that is taught to us about God in the Old Testament comes to birth in him, and is revealed in his life, death and resurrection. In Jesus, the storyteller who is God becomes one of us. God’s story becomes aligned with ours.
In the parables devoted to mercy, Jesus reveals the nature of God as that of a Father who never gives up until he has forgiven the wrong and overcome rejection with compassion and mercy. We know these parables well, three in particular: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the father with two sons (see Luke 15:1-32). In these parables, God is always presented as full of joy, especially when he pardons. In them we find the core of the Gospel of our faith, because mercy is essential as a force that overcomes everything, filling the heart with love and bringing consolation through pardon. [Misericordiae Vultus, no. 9]
Jesus is the pivotal point in God’s plan for humanity. Prepared for by the prophets of the Old Testament, proclaimed by the Apostles and their successors in the New Testament and beyond, Jesus is the cornerstone around whom the whole plan of salvation is arranged (see Ephesians 2:20).
Catholics have no excuse when it comes to understanding who God is, what God is like, and what God is asking of us. If we are in any way confused about these things, let’s remind ourselves: we are to become the merciful presence of God in the world. We are to allow Jesus Christ to be reborn in us. We are to proclaim our faith with every fibre of our being. We are to live loving, truthful, prayerful and nonjudgemental lives. We are to look after the poor and anyone else who is in need. And when we fail (and we do, regularly), we are to turn again to the mercy of God.