Kingdom Living 5: The Merciful

Matthew 9.10-13 “While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.””

THE BLESSED are “The Merciful” [Matthew 5.7a]

MERCIFUL: Compassionate, Showing Pity

The Gospel according to Matthew 2. The Beatitudes, 5:3–12

The adjective for merciful (found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Heb. 2:17) means those whose bent is to show mercy, not those who engage in an occasional merciful impulse.

[Author: Leon Morris]

“Those whose bent is to show mercy”

Luke 10.25-37 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring…”

Luke 10.36-37 ““Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.””

TO WHOM SHOULD WE SHOW MERCY???

This Beatitude gives no indication of limit of scope (like don’t you dare show mercy to an atheist…or to refugee…or…).

The parable reminds us that our neighbor is indeed “the people that you meet when you’re walking down the street…they’re the people that you meet each day.” [Sesame Street, “Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?”]

**Those suffering from sin and sorrow.** [Forgiveness for the guilty and compassion for the needy/suffering.]

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 5:1–12; Luke 6:20–26)

Christ says that those are happy, who are not only prepared to endure their own afflictions, but to take a share in the afflictions of others,—who assist the wretched,—who willingly take part with those who are in distress,—who clothe themselves, as it were, with the same affections, that they may be more readily disposed to render them assistance. He adds, for they shall obtain mercy,—not only with God, but also among men, whose minds God will dispose to the exercise of humanity.

[Author: John Calvin]

THE BLESSED “Will Be Shown Mercy” [Matthew 5.7b]

MERCY: Pity, Compassion, Favor

In conjunction with grace — “Grace takes away the fault. Mercy takes away the misery.”

The Blessed “will be shown” — will be given, receive!

God gives…delights to give…

Exodus 34.6 “The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,”

[Psalm 145.8 “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love.”]

Jesus regularly emphasizes that those who have received mercy (& grace, & forgiveness) will prove it by being gracious, forgiving, and merciful with others!

Matthew 6.14-15 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.”

Matthew 6.12 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Mercy for the merciful, grace for the gracious, and forgiveness for the forgiving is NOT conditional…it is evidential.

The ultimate promise of God’s mercy toward us…

Psalm 23.6 “Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.”

Psalm 23.6 [ESV] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

CONCL—

‘Remember’ … Matthew 9.13 “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The beautiful interrelatedness of the Beatitudes:

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 5. The Merciful (7)

Or, interpreted in the context of the beatitudes, it is ‘the meek’ who are also ‘the merciful’. For to be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners; to be merciful is to have compassion on others, for they are sinners too.

[Author: John Stott]

INVITATION:

…Salvation

…Assurance

…Faithfulness

Matthew 5:7 CSB

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

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