Mercy Mercy Me
Introduction
7. The first four beatitudes express in one way or another our dependence on God; the next three the outworking of that dependence. This beatitude is relatively straightforward: people who show mercy on others will themselves be the recipients of mercy.
Mercy is defined as having a feeling of sorrow over someone’s bad situation and trying to do something about it. People who are merciful can be said to be “kind” or “forgiving,” or to be “people who take pity on others,” “people who show mercy to others.”
THE MERCIFUL
The basic idea of the Greek word translated merciful is “to give help to the wretched, to relieve the miserable.” Here the essential thought is that mercy gives attention to those in misery. From this we make the important distinction between mercy and grace. Grace is shown to the undeserving; mercy is compassion to the miserable. Thus the synonym for mercy is compassion. Mercy, however, is not simply feeling compassion. Mercy exists when something is done to alleviate distress.
merciful describes one who forgives and pardons another who is in the wrong
The only reason they had not murdered him as a boy was that as they were ready to perform the act, they saw an approaching caravan and decided to sell him into slavery instead. Years later, when Joseph had his guilty brothers literally “at his mercy,” he showed them exactly that. There was compassion as he wept for their misery, and then action as he met their needs. There was forgiveness as he restored them all to his grace, saying, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Love has respect to men universally, whatever their condition be; but mercifulness has respect to them as objects of pity and compassion. Now “the merciful” man sympathizes with persons in affliction, and desires to relieve them. He looks with an eye of pity,
What this Beatitude means is that those who are truly God’s children, and as such are objects of his mercy, will themselves be merciful and will receive mercy in the end. Showing mercy is evidence that we have received mercy.
when God’s grace comes into our hearts it makes us merciful. Forgiveness demonstrates whether we have been forgiven. So the telling line is this: If we refuse to be merciful, there is only one reason—we have never understood the grace of Christ. We are outside grace and are unforgiven.
Jesus taught this in the Parable of the Unmerciful Slave (Matthew 18:21–35). The slave owed his master an immense sum—in today’s currency about twenty million dollars. The debt was impossible to repay, so he pleaded with his master who, with astonishing compassion, forgave him the entire debt. Incredibly, however, the wicked slave went out, found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 2,000 dollars, and threw him in prison. When the other slaves reported this injustice to their master, he summoned the wicked slave:
“ ‘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. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:32–35)
