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Commentary
GEN-X RISING: Loving your neighbor a real ‘means of grace’ Andrew C. Thompson, Dec 11, 2007
Andrew C. Thompson
By Andrew C. Thompson UMR Columnist
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a four-column series on the means of grace in Christian practice.
True religion, according to the Epistle of James, consists of “caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (James 1:27, NLT).
In a biblical worldview, widows and orphans are the prototypical examples of vulnerable and needy people. Cut off from a family structure (in a world with no government aid for the poor), they were completely at the mercy of their neighbors.
Offering shelter and material assistance to widows and orphans meant the difference between life and death for them. It represented a true form of mercy. So for James, care for widows and orphans embodied Jesus’ second great commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31, NIV).
In my last two columns, I shared a Wesleyan perspective on the means of grace. These are practices—what we call spiritual disciplines—that work as channels whereby God pours grace into our lives.
The means of grace are important for our faith because they are the ways that God shapes us into spiritual maturity. For a Christian, receiving God’s grace is akin to a flower getting an abundant supply of sunshine and rain. Grace causes us to blossom and grow strong. It sanctifies us, and by doing this it helps us to become more and more like Christ.
In my last column, I looked at works of piety. Today, I will consider works of mercy. And just as works of piety are acts that express our love for God, works of mercy are acts that express our love for our neighbor.
The importance of works of mercy goes back to Jesus, who connects showing compassion for the “least of these” with showing compassion to the Son of God. Anticipating the final judgment, Jesus teaches, “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40, NKJV).
John Wesley took Jesus at his word regarding works of mercy. For Wesley, Jesus’ specific examples in Scripture are intended to serve as a sort of catch-all for all types of love for neighbor. In Wesley’s “Upon our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, VI,” he interprets Jesus’ command about alms-giving as recorded in Matthew 6: “The feeding the hungry, the clothing the naked, the entertaining or assisting the stranger, the visiting those that are sick or in prison, the comforting the afflicted, the instructing the ignorant, the reproving the wicked, the exhorting and encouraging the well-doer; and if there be any other work of mercy, it is equally included in this direction.”
Wesley followed Jesus in focusing on individual acts of compassion. We would probably want to also give due attention to larger, systemic works of mercy. We might think of such actions as working to alleviate widespread poverty, fighting preventable disease or searching for solutions to climate change.
Christians often want their faith to make a visible difference in the world and works of mercy are an ideal way to do just that. They are also excellent tools of evangelism for the church. When we are out in the world demonstrating our faith in tangible ways, we proclaim the gospel through our deeds. And that can be compelling for people who are unsure of whether they want to commit their lives to Christ.
But works of mercy have an even deeper meaning than the effects of good deeds. When we engage in them in a regular and sustained way, we are practicing a very important form of spiritual discipline.
They also have the effect of making us more holy. As we show love and compassion to others, we are made more loving and compassionate ourselves. We grow into the spiritual maturity Jesus desires for us.
And in that way, works of mercy are a real means of grace in our lives.
Andrew C. Thompson
