Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Take a moment and read Luke 6:32-38. Take another moment and read it again. Read it a third and a fourth time too.
Such a simple, beautiful, and convicting passage. Eugene Peterson in his Message translation of the bible puts it this way:
Here’s a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the loveable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that. I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting in return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way your Father lives toward us; generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind. Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults – unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, nut not merely given back –given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting is the way. Generosity begets generosity.
I’m not sure this passage needs a lot of explaining. Nor the corresponding passage from Romans 12. Sometimes the plain sense of scripture and the clarity of Jesus’ own words speak directly to us and our condition.
It so happens that I’m preparing this sermon during the same week as the first debate between President Trump and former Vice-President Biden. I didn’t watch the debate. From what I hear there wasn’t much beatitude in it.
I don’t think there’s much that I can do to explain this beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” I simply want to draw two connections with other parts of scripture.
First, it’s worthwhile to take note of the first time the word for mercy occurs in the bible. It occurs in Exodus 22:27. Earlier in the chapter, God is giving laws through Moses about right worship. There are laws that warn against idolatry and condemn reprehensible, cult-like, and dehumanizing forms of worship. It corresponds to the first part of the greatest commandment to love God.
Then comes the passage that contains Exodus 22:27. It corresponds to what Jesus identifies as the second greatest commandment, which is like the first – love your neighbor. Exodus 22:21-27 speaks of the proverbial widow, orphan, and immigrant. We see God’s special concern for these vulnerable groups of people.
Exodus 22:27 says if a person gives you their coat as a pledge, you must give it back at night because it might be their only blanket. The reason not to keep it overnight is that God sees their plight, God cares for that person, God hears their cry, and God is MERCIFUL.
That means that the first time the word for mercy occurs in scripture is in a social and economic context. Mercy is the experience that one feels in the presence of another person who is experiencing hardship. The corresponding verb to be merciful is the action that results from that emotion. To be merciful is to have pity and help a person out.
God is merciful. And that mercy isn’t just an internal feeling of God, but a concrete action. God didn’t just look down on fallen humanity and say, “wow they’ve got a rough life and they are in a tight spot.” No, God’s mercy was backed up by God’s action. God came to his people through Moses, the prophets, and the psalms and wisdom writings of Israel. Finally, God came to his people through a Son – the very embodiment of God’s love and mercy and righteousness.
It’s significant that the first instance of the word mercy in the bible isn’t just a feeling. The feeling is good, but only so far as it is backed up by action. As Jesus says in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
The second thing to draw your attention to is another teaching of Jesus from Luke 16:19-31. This is a parable that involves mercy.
There was a rich man who never in his life was moved by mercy to help poor Lazarus who sat at his gate every day. Eventually, in the afterlife, Lazarus is in the arms of Abraham and the rich man is in Hades. The rich man begs for mercy but receives bad news instead. In the end, the rich man begs that Abraham send someone back from the dead to warn his family and friends to live different lives. But Abraham says that if a person can’t be moved by simple mercy to help others, then not even someone coming back from the dead can help them.
This parable is about mercy, but it foreshadows the resurrection. It gives a warning. Does it say that if a person can’t understand basic mercy, then how will they possibly understand and see and believe the greater things of God?
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.
How many times do we easily sacrifice mercy at the altar of being right and winning an argument?
How many times do we, like the hypocrites, act mercifully in person, but behind closed door gossip and stab others in the back?
How many times do we rationalize that mercy sounds nice, but in business/sports/life/justice you have to be cutthroat to be successful?
These are all things I’m guilty of. So I challenge you, and I challenge myself, with the simple words of Jesus.
Be merciful.
Have pity.
Help a brother or sister out.
Try it this week.
Be intentionally merciful to a family member. Then, be intentionally merciful to a neighbor or friend. Then, be intentionally merciful to a stranger. Finally, be intentionally merciful to someone who bothers you, or as you watch, say, a presidential debate, for example. I’m just saying.
You may find that it’s not always easy. But mercy, like the other beatitudes, is sort of like a muscle. The more we work it out, the stronger it gets.
Perhaps you can’t muster up the ability to show mercy. OK. I’ve been there too. I’ve had moments in my life where I’ve been in such a pit that I’ve been unable to rise above. I don’t think that’s unusual. But if that’s the case, one thing you can do is to open yourself to the realization of God’s mercy. Call to mind a moment or two when you’ve received mercy from God. Or call to mind a moment or two when you’ve received mercy from another person. Simply remember that, and allow that realization to wash over you. We can’t show mercy to others without knowing God’s mercy in our own life. Sometimes we need to be reminded of God’s mercy.
May God, who is rich in mercy, transform us into people of his mercy so that we might give witness and honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And thanks be to God, who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. For therein lies peace, joy, and life everlasting.
AMEN.
Joel Shenk is the pastor of Toledo Mennonite Church and lives in Toledo with his wife and two daughters. Originally from Scottdale, PA, Joel studied at Hesston College, Eastern Mennonite University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 2010 and is also an amateur blacksmith apart of the RAW Tools disarming network turning guns into garden tools. He likes baseball and is an avid fly angler.
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