And they raised their voices saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” – Luke 17:13

The ten lepers whom Jesus met on his way to Jerusalem seized the moment. They pleaded to Jesus that they be rescued from their deplorable condition. We are not told how long they had been there or how they got the dreaded disease. But we somehow have an idea what it meant to be plagued by leprosy during their time. Their loud voices echoed familiar chords of despondency and urgency! Also of hope and faith. Really?

I am working my way around an abyss. Lack (financial or otherwise) is an experience I try to befriend. Work yields unexpected fruit. A loved one has cancer. Another needs a series of medical tests to identify a suspected serious illness. Someone dear to me is in emotional and spiritual rut; still another is going through a season of confusion. We are familiar with such predicaments. We hear or read about them. We see or experience them ourselves.

The reality of sickness and pain, of darkness and sin, of desert and dire need often renders us defenseless, desperate, and at times numbed. Engulfed by a sense of not having any control, we pray, and cry. We cry as we pray or pray as we cry.

What does it mean to be at God’s mercy?

The cry for mercy is a recognition of one’s helplessness, vulnerability and powerlessness. It is a clear relinquishment of the illusion that one has the capacity to make things better. It is a form of surrender, an expression of a desperate need for Someone to come to rescue, to alleviate the pain, or to alter destitute condition. To be at the mercy of God is to be completely dependent on him, to be acted upon by him.

This plea shows not only the state of the one who cries out for mercy but also beautifully reveals the nature of the One to whom the cry is being made. Mercy is love expressed in response to the state or condition of its object. It is a divine disposition. Often undeserved by the object of affection, mercy springs from the character of the Lover, the ultimate dispenser of kindness and compassion. When we cry to God for mercy we not only embrace our limitedness and helplessness but we also affirm God’s nature being love – His very character on which we anchor our hope and faith. To be at the mercy of God is to recognize who He is and witness Him move as he pleases.

What does it mean to cry out to God for mercy?

For the lepers, crying to God for mercy brought about healing. Jesus, affirming their faith, chose to lift them out of their misery. In our own pits, pains, darkness, and sins, may we know the richness of God’s mercy and grace as we cry out to Him, ‘Lord have mercy on us!.’ When all that remains is a groaning too deep for words, may this profound truth that our God looks upon us with compassion and love comfort and strengthen us.

Written by Mary Rose “Mutya” Febre