St. Paul makes a stark statement about God's mercy and to whom shall be the one to receive His mercy. St. Paul gives us a preview of God's authority and His sovereign will. Paul writes that God will have mercy upon who ever He chooses. I think this bothers people at times especially when we think certain people do not deserve His mercy. In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the prodigal son returned home and his father ran out to meet him and declared a feast honoring his return. His brother was jealous and angry that so much was done for the prodigal son. But it was the love and mercy of God that caused this young prodigal son to return and it was a loving father that ran out to meet him in his return. We should never question God's mercy, rather we should celebrate the opportunity we have to witness it and receive it.
The illustrations from the Old Testament are there to declare that God in His authority has the right to choose whatever He wills and we are the ones without rights to question His will. In the case of Isaac and who is the real Israel, Isaac is chosen not for his goodness or his descendants and Jacob was desired over Esau in the same arbitrary way. But what if God were arbitrary, does He not have the right to choose whatever He wants within his foresight. As in the case of Israel who is to say that God is finished with Israel or the Church has replaced Israel. We as people do not have the insight or foresight to say what God has intended for His people.
The conflict between Moses and Pharaoh is a perfect example of how God's mercy works in the struggle of Israel under the mighty hand of Pharaoh until God raised up a deliverer in the calling of Moses. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is as much the resistance of Pharaoh as it is the willingness of God to let an individual extend all of his free will. It was Pharaoh's willingness to disobey God that resulted in the prolonged hardening of his heart to the point of destruction. God revealed his power to Pharaoh and Moses and all of Egypt yet Pharaoh's desire to resist only hardened his heart more. But in all of this show of power God would be revealed to Israel and Egypt forever. Paul even raises the question who can resist God's will the human heart can if it chooses. And when it chooses to resist, does not God have the right to continue in righteous choices regardless of what man chooses. God is obligated in Himself to be just. We can always count on the justice of God. When God chooses to tolerate what might be a condemned sinner in order to show on one hand His wrath and on the other His kindness this is His privilege and we have nothing to say of it.
His servants and yours,
Gerard & Yolanda Cleffi Directors
Oratory of Divine Love
Behind all the divine justice, there is the first merciful ministering by God to our nothingness. It was the divine mercy that filled up our emptiness from the plenitude of divinity by creation's summoning of the world from the abyss of nothingness. Men had to be before there could be any question of a claim in justice to truth, to beauty, to virtue's helps. Without mercy, there is no justice for there is no one to whom there can be something due.
Walter Farrell, O.P.S.T.M. Martin J. Healy, My Way Of Life, Confraternity of the Precious Blood, Brooklyn NY, Pg. 40
My God and Father, You want me to be a true child of Yours. You wish me to prove my love for You as You have proved Your love for me; that is, by my daily actions. My Jesus, you have called me friend. Your friends are those who strive to please You in their daily lives. I can never do as much as You deserve of me, but at least I will try to do as much as I can to please You. Frequently throughout the day, I will pause to cast an interior glance at You. You love me more than I could ever love myself. You are my closest companion in my daily journey toward Heaven. Amen.
-Anthony J. Paone, S.J., My Daily Bread, Brooklyn, N.Y., Confraternity Of The Precious Blood Of Jesus, pg.373