On a hillside 26) B5 The rebound

 

(This week I have been working on a dialogue sermon with one of our young people - I will tell you more shortly!)  I know I just need to finish the mercy beatitude B5 because it is a rebound beatitude. But a rebound between whom?  God throws his mercy loving kindness at us…we throw it out to people in need, to people who hurt us.   We may not get thanks back.  It’s often anonymous anyway.  The rebound is not from people - it's from God.  He keeps on throwing his loving kindness out to us. The rebound is between God-us-God.

Just look again at the chilling conclusion of the story Jesus told about the man thrown into prison because he failed to forgive the smaller debt: This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart. 

When we fail to show mercy our hearts become mean and closed off  - we break the loop of God's forgiveness.  When we calculate where and when we are going to share our love and forgiveness we have forgotten how generous Jesus is with us. Always. When in pride we insist we shouldn't have to forgive first we are challenged how much God loved us first. When pettiness threatens relationships God's forgiveness shows us the big picture of God’s great love that has found us.

But when we are in God's rebounding mercy loop we join the happiest people in the world!

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