SO, YOU WANT TO BE MERCIFUL!
Matthew 5:7

In this Beatitude, Jesus instructs His disciples that they were to show mercy to others.  In our previous study, we observed that mercy was greater than forgiveness.  And we recalled those great words about God's new mercies each day.  But mercy is also not justice.  Justice gives exactly what is deserved.  Mercy gives less punishment and more help than is deserved.

However, mercy does not ignore sin.  Today's philosophy can be summed up with this thought:  It is unloving and unkind to hold people responsible for their sins.  Yet, friends, when we overlook sin, we leave the sin.  We cannot offer hope to people today apart from their repentance from sin.  We must face the issue of sin squarely.  We must call it for what it is.  We must deal with it as God deals with it.  To do anything less, is not to show mercy, but to show a cowardice in the face of the enemy.  It was a merciful Jesus who looked the Pharisees in the eyes and told them that they were white-washed tombs full of old decaying bones.  Jesus was not glossing over their sins.  He confronted them in their sins and told them of how God could change their lives if they would yield control to Him.

Now, to whom are we to show mercy?  First, we are to show mercy to those who have been overcome by disaster.  I think of the story which Jesus told of the man we have come to know as the Good Samaritan.  He certainly showed mercy to the poor man who lay critically wounded along the Jericho Road.  He gave of himself to help a man in need.  That is mercy.

Second, we can show mercy to those who are less fortunate than we are, those who are sick, hungry, outcast.  In 2 Kings 5:3, we are informed about a little girl, being held in captivity, who had mercy upon her captor who was suffering from leprosy.  She could have harbored a grudge against this man and secretly wished for his death so that she perhaps could be freed.  But, she told him about Elisha and how the prophet of God could make him well.  Friends, this little unnamed girl knew the power of showing mercy.

Finally, we are to show mercy to those who have wronged us.  What a better example than that of Jesus, as He prayed that God would forgive those who were putting Him to death on the cross.  Later, Stephen would pray a similar prayer for those who were stoning him to death (Acts 7:60). 

Friends, Jesus has instructed us to show mercy so that we might receive God's mercy.  The English poet, Alexander Pope, wrote these words which capture the essence of this Beatitude:  Teach me to feel another's woe To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.

Father, You are the God of all mercies.  How we need to be taught to be merciful to those around us.  We need to be observant of those in need and reach out and touch them with Your mercy.  Father, help us to never forget how merciful You have been to us.  You have showered us with Your mercies each day.  May we, in turn, shower mercies upon another.  We pray this in Christ's name.  Amen.

 

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