Scripture Matthew 5:1, 2, 7
Matt 5:1-2, 7
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying: Happy are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
As Jesus expands
Hebrew law to include how a person feels in his heart, he also makes mercy
something greater than a few benevolent acts. He does this type of thing in all
the Beatitudes. He gives big ideas, each of which implies a number of others.
For instance, he does not name loyalty, fairness, courage, wisdom, or
temperance. But his big ideas cover these attributes and others too.
So it is with the fifth Beatitude. It covers more than what appears on the surface. Six hundred years before Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, Micah also talked about justice and mercy. He said: Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Mercy is showing
kindness in excess of what may be expected or demanded by fairness.
Mercy, then, goes beyond ordinary
expectations. To be merciful we must go beyond. We must walk the extra mile.
Jesus is saying that we must exceed the day-to-day standards of fairness. He
could have said, “Blessed are the just and the fair-minded.” But, he goes
further than this. He says, “Happy are the merciful.” Mercy includes justice,
but mercy is justice with something else added.
Mercy also
depends upon justice, because we must be in a position of judgment before we
can show mercy. A boy at school breaks a rule. The principal must judge his
action. Mercy comes into the picture only after a fair judgment has been made.
Then, and only then, can the principal show mercy, if he is so inclined.
Mercy, then,
should be distinguished from pity, compassion, sympathy, or some other emotion.
We can feel these emotions toward a person in trouble, but they do not
necessarily imply mercy. We can be merciful only when we sit in judgment and
have the power to act.
We may pity a
friend who can’t pay his debt to the bank. But we can’t be merciful to him,
because only the banker can extend or forgive his loan. And before the banker
can show mercy, he must understand our friend’s problem. He must also be
disposed (with legal requirements) to forgive our friend’s record. He must show
forbearance, kindness, and consideration.
Or, consider the
case of the chicken thief. It is winter and he is out of work. His family is
starving. He was driven to his act by poverty and necessity. We understand his
plight. We pity him and his family. We feel compassion for him. We feel he
should be forgiven. We feel he should be shown mercy. But, there is nothing we
can do about it, because the chickens he stole belonged to somebody else. - We
can show him mercy only when he steals our
chickens. And that’s a different set of chickens entirely. It is much
harder to show mercy when our own chickens are involved.
Take another
case: A man borrows his brother-in-law’s lawn mower. He uses it all afternoon
and leaves it beside his garage. It rains. The owner happens to drive by his
house and sees the mower getting wet. Right then, he forms a judgment. Never
again will be lend him anything. - Next day, the mower is still there. It stays
out in the weather for a week. When it is used again, a blade is broken. The
owner finally retrieves the remnants, only to discover the thing won’t run at
all. His brother-in-law has forgotten to mix oil with the gasoline. - The
brother-in-law is a bit sheepish about all of this, and says he will pay the
damages. The man takes the mower to the shop, tells the repairman to fix it,
that someone else is footing the bill, that he wants the mower made like new. “Don’t repair it. Put in all new works. Yes, including a
new blade. Let’s teach him a good lesson.” - Now
this is where justice, understanding, forgiveness, forbearance, and mercy come
in: When the brother-in-law finally offers to pay up, the owner tells him to
forget the whole thing. Not only that, he lets him borrow it again when the
weeds at his place have grown up. He even helps him lift the mower into his SUV.
---
That’s being merciful; Could you do that?. It isn’t easy. There are
times, of course, when justice must be done. Nevertheless, mercy is an act of the will. It does not excuse,
it forgives – and we cannot forgive and still hold a grudge.
Mercy, then, is
a step beyond justice, fairness, compassion, and forgiveness. These things come
first. Then mercy is the crowning achievement. It is the gracious, sympathetic,
and understanding act that exceeds what is fair and expected.
Thus, Jesus
teaches his disciples to pray: “forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors.” And on the mountainside, he says: “Happy is the man, woman or child
who shows mercy, because in the end that person will be shown mercy.”
Just what is it that comes into the life of a person who shows mercy? How are the merciful made happy? How does being merciful help develop a richer and more abundant life? The man who cleanses himself of bitterness and resentment and revengeful thoughts against his fellow man is well on the way to a full life. He is richer than the man whose days are spent thinking of ways to get even with his neighbor; or in fuming over lawn mowers and brothers-in-laws. The person who can understand an offense, put it in the proper perspective, and then temper justice with mercy is the sort of person who has peace of mind. Resentment breeds resentment; worry breeds worry; distrust breeds distrust. By the same token smiles breed smiles, good will breeds good will; friendliness breeds friendliness. - The same is true of mercy; Happy and content and full of the joys of life are those who know how to be merciful, because in the end, mercy will be reflected back into their own lives. Mercy breeds mercy. Jesus says so.
We have looked
at some contemporary illustrations of mercy:
now let’s look
at some biblical ones:
Luke
10:25-37
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test
Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what
must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 "What is written in
the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27 He answered: "'Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
28 "You have answered
correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"
30 In reply Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem
to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his
clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be
going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other
side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the
other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when
he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an
inn and took care of him. The next day
he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after
him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra
expense you may have.'
36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
DESCRIBE THE
ROAD FROM JERUSALEM TO JERICHO:
The moment Jesus says a man was going down form Jerusalem to
Jericho, the people could picture it as easily as saying a family was driving
on 280 across the bridge from Toledo to Oregon.
18 miles – barren – Samaritans would rob Jews on their way
up to the feasts. Narrow road. Have to step over the body (not even a shadow).
Priest would become defiled or fear it was a trap to be robbed. Levite had the
same fears.
If the man was alive, Mercy would supersede the paws of defilement, but to check whether dead or not would come int contact with blood. Not close enough to step over in case their shadow fell on the presumed dead man. (suicide by hanging – he is dead).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN IF YOU ARE NOT MERCIFUL TOWARD OTHERS?
It means you are going to HELL!!
Matthew 18:23-35
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to
settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed
him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the
master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be
sold to repay the debt.
The servant fell on his knees before
him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I
will pay back everything.' The servant's
master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
But when that servant went out, he
found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. (100 denarii =
1 talent) He grabbed him and
began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe
me!' he demanded.
His fellow servant fell to his knees
and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I
will pay you back.'
But he refused. Instead, he went off
and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other
servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told
their master everything that had happened.
Then the master called the servant in.
'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy
on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he
should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Matthew
9:10-13
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' (Hosea 6:6a) For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
It is us sinners who have received the greatest mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Who
among us needs God’s mercy daily? I DO! And so does everyone around me. I am happy and full of the joy of living when
I show mercy, because…I will also be shown mercy!
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