I wonder whether there is a currency in the Kingdom of God. To replace money there is another currency we use. While money talks to our bodies and their needs, this other currency talks soul to soul, without the need for language because the currency is so obviously good; (talking in tongues). When two souls pass this currency between them they seem to become permanently bonded, a link which suggests eternity. To give or receive this currency is a wonderful joy, suggesting a sense of participation in the life of the Trinity. This currency re-forms us, as if it snips the threads of doubt within us, as a tailor re-forms a suit of clothes. This wonderful currency is mercy.
Mercy is the only logical attitude towards my suffering fellow man. Furthermore, it would be logical for mercy to come after resurrection and judgement because St James tells us that ‘Mercy can afford to laugh at judgement’, James 2:13. Perhaps that is why Jesus had to be crucified, to show man how far away he is from the currency of the kingdom.
I wonder whether God plans to give man a full understanding of reality. The huge power which that would entail could only be successfully expressed through the currency of mercy. God is the Father of mercy so ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’; Luke 6:36.
Peter Coates