Before moving directly into the second half of the Beatitudes it is important that we reflect on a number of things that will prepare our hearts to better receive the teachings found in these Beatitudes. We have learned that the first four Beatitudes take us through a step-by-step process to receive salvation and consciously live a life filled with God’s spirit. The first four Beatitudes are to lead us to a place where we are able to enter into a living relationship with Him. Jesus states clearly that one of the aims of His teaching is, “so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10).
God wants us to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. He created man to have fellowship with him. Christ died for our sins so that fellowship could be restored. These next four Beatitudes reflect the four primary areas He desires us to have fellowship and participate with Him through our union with Christ. These four areas are:
HIS LOVE: Mercy
HIS HOLINESS: Purity
HIS MISSION: Peacemaking
HIS SUFFERING: Persecution
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
This follows up well from the last Beatitude: He who is to help others and contribute to the common well-being and success, should be kind and merciful. He should not be ready to make a disturbance should something go wrong. True holiness is merciful and compassionate, but false holiness can do nothing but be angry.
The noble tree is known by its fruits. Jesus is giving a necessary warning against those who are sham followers of God. These are those who do not think of instructing and improving anyone.
This warning directed at the Pharisees and unbelieving Jews also shows God’s mercy. Giving a chance to rectify their way of living and be forgiven. This is one side of mercifulness, forgiving sinners. The other is to be beneficent towards those who are eternally in need or require help, which is called works of mercy.
Mercy always involves action. Mercy is different my mere pity, which needs to be no more than just a feeling. Mercy more relates to compassion, where compassion involves kindly feelings as well as action. Mercy goes beyond compassion. Mercy is extended towards another despite feelings of anger or hurt towards that person. Compassion is accompanied by a positive feeling that goes out to the object of mercy, as act of mercy itself does not have to be accompanied by positive feelings.
Mercy is always related to our interaction with other people. We can either plead mercy from others or we can extend mercy to others. We don’t have mercy on ourselves. A murderer cannot say to himself after killing someone: ‘There, there John, don’t worry. I forgive myself and have mercy on myself!’ Mercy always has an object other than self. This is why mercy is so closely related to God’s love. Love centered on self is no soil for producing the fruit of mercy in one’s live. Self-giving love that puts others before one’s self will automatically produce acts of mercy.
Man is a fallen creature in a fallen world. We have wronged others and we have been wronged by others. We meet people who are in desperate need, and at times we are in desperate need ourselves. We are social creatures, and are dependent on others whether we like it or not. Although we make great effort to be independent and self-sufficient, there are countless times where we need help and support from others. Mercy is intimately tied into relationships and our interaction with others.
True God-inspired and motivated mercy and love are commodities that are desperately needed in this world. The deep social, economic and spiritual needs of the world are clear to see. Many people find themselves in terrible situations.
There is a difference between mercy and goodness. Mercy is seen as focusing on kindly benevolent actions towards those who have wronged you or are undeserving of such treatment. Goodness, however, is seen to focus on general acts of kindness towards others who may or may not deserve such kind acts.
There are two primary words in the Old Testament related to mercy. The first, hanan, related to the unmerited gracious favor of a superior to the inferior. Where God, who by every standard we wish to gauge it, is totally in His right to judge un most severely, yet He chooses to treat us kindly.
In the other Old Testament word, hesed, we find a number of concepts and meanings that overlap to give the richness of the word mercy. Three of the meanings are closely related and give the general thrust of the word.
The grace, favor and kindness of God. Hesed primarily relates to these three words where God acts kindly towards us in a way that are beyond what is due or deserving. He showers His unmerited favor on us when we actually deserve His wrath and rejection because of our rebellion and sin towards Him. He shows His tenderness towards us and seeks to lead us in paths of blessings rather than sorrow.
Hesed also contains the meaning of solidarity. In His mercy, God shows empathy and identifies with what He has created. This obviously is brought into its fullest richness through the coming of Christ. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). This, and Christ’s death on the cross, reveals the depths to which God was willing to empathize and identify with us.
Finally Hesed also conveys the meaning of devotion. When God shows mercy towards us it involves a commitment and service on His part towards the objects of His solidarity. In other words, mercy also issues from commitment and service. If I feel no commitment towards a person or situation, it is very difficult to be merciful. Indifference is the enemy of mercy. When we do not identify with a person’s plight we are unable to commit ourselves to that person or serve him, which in turn stifles acts of mercy.
The New Testament adds one other dimension to the concept of mercy not so clearly defined in the Old Testament. It is a subtle difference but an important one none the less, the added dimension is related to God’s grace.
In the New Testament, God’s grace primarily relates to His gracious dealings with man in relation to man’s guilt. Mercy is more related to God’s concern for man in his misery. In other words, grace relates to God’s concern and kindness for the sinner, whereas mercy is God’s concern for the plight of man as a result of his sin.
Ii is the second emphasis that is found in this fifth Beatitude. Jesus encourages us to focus on helping the spiritual and physical needs of others. As God has worked grace and mercy in our lives, so we are encouraged to allow this to overflow into the hearts and lives of others through our acts of mercy. As we do this, God’s grace and mercy can increasingly flow in and through us. This in turn allows Him to be a blessing through us in a needy world.
This happens as we become God’s channel of mercy to others. God rarely heals us, or feeds the staving, or gives a hot cup of soup to the homeless, purely by divine intervention. It is primarily through His agents, both spiritual and secular, that He works. As we offer our hands and hearts to others, so, through us, the hands and heart of God are extended into the lives of others. It is a wonderful thought, that I am God’s hands, heart, feet, ears, compassion, kindness, gentleness and love, to a needy world. In being such a blessing, I will be blessed. This is what Jesus is saying in this Beatitude.
As Christians we would never deny that many acts of mercy, sympathy and kindness can, and are, shown by unregenerate people (Acts 28:2). We have all been at one time or another, the recipients of kindly acts from unbelievers. In fact we sometimes are put to shame in that they can outshine us in acts of kindness.
However, the mercy spoken of in this Beatitude primarily grows out of a believer’s experience of God’s mercy in his own life. The principle is the same as 1 John 4:19 where John states, “We love because he first loved us.” In this verse we learn that if God hadn’t loved us first we would never have loved Him. Though a certain quality of love was present in our lives before we became Christians, Christ’s love, poured into our hearts through salvation, brought us into as experience and dimension of love altogether different. Agape love is now present. We can, in Christ, love the unlovely. This is what makes Christians different from the world.
God’s display of mercy towards us through the sacrifice of His Son forms the basis or our acts of mercy towards others. We can show a new dimension of mercy through our lives because we have experienced a new dimension of mercy. We know what heavenly mercy is like because we have received it, and we are called to parallel our acts of mercy with that of God’s grace and mercy towards us.