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The Context
The sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew deal with action: things we do or say or think. The premise on which the whole Sermon on the Mount is built is the heart attitude. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has put it well, “A Christian is something before he does something.”
People often want to take this Beatitude in a humanistic way. They say, “Well, if you’re good to everybody else, everybody else will be good to you.” One writer paraphrased this Beatitude this way: “This is the great truth of life, if people see us care, they will care.” But it’s not that simple.
A Roman philosopher said mercy was “the disease of the soul,” a sign of weakness. The Romans glorified justice and courage and discipline and power; they looked down on mercy.
Two merciless systems, Roman and Judaic, united to kill Jesus Christ. We think of mercy so much in terms of forgiveness in salvation, but it is really a much broader term. It goes beyond sympathy. It means sympathy and compassion in action toward anyone in need.
Of course the world—at least when it is true to its own nature—is unmerciful, as indeed also the church in its worldliness has often been.
The Model of Mercy
God is the source of mercy, but only for the people moving through the four preceding Beatitudes. Mercy is not a normal human attribute.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the most merciful human being who ever lived. He reached out to the sick and healed them. He reached out to the crippled and gave them legs to walk. He found prostitutes and tax collectors and those who were debauched and drunken, and He drew them into the circle of His love. He took the lonely and made them feel loved. Never was there a person on the face of the earth with the mercy of this One. As Luke 6:36 put it, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
After Jesus gave His disciples what we call “The Lord’s Prayer,” he said, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14). To forgive and to be forgiven, to show mercy and to receive mercy: these belong indissolubly together, as Jesus illustrated in His parable of the unmerciful servant.
When the Scriptures describe God’s mercy and compassion, we see that He looks compassionately upon our weakness. He is patient and restrained in His dealing with us. It is His mercy that rescues us from the destructive power of our rebellion and sin.
Titus 3:5 tells us that “He saved us…according to His mercy.” In Ephesians 2:4-9, we learn that God has saved us “being rich in mercy.” It is God’s mercy that allows Him to redeem us. So mercy is behind forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness belong together.
But forgiveness is not the only expression of mercy. We cannot narrow mercy. Mercy is infinitely bigger than just forgiveness.
The term mercy and all its derivatives always presuppose problems. Mercy offers relief from punishment; grace offers pardon for the crime. First comes grace. Grace removes the sin. Then mercy eliminates the punishment.
Mercy is special. It is more than forgiveness. It is less than love. It is different from grace. And it is one with justice. The merciful one is sympathetic. He is forgiving. He is gracious and loving. He is not so sentimental that he will allow sin to go unpunished or unconfronted just because somebody is sort of sad or tragic.
The mercy and compassion that are the defining qualities of Jesus’ character will be expressed through you. As you yield yourself ever more fully to Him, mercy becomes your natural response.
Mercy in Action
What does it mean to be merciful?
- We can be merciful physically. For instance, mercy is seeing a man without food and giving him food. Mercy is giving a poor man money, a naked man clothes, or a bedless man a bed.
- We can also be merciful spiritually. We look after their spiritual needs through pity, prodding, prayer, and preaching. Mercy is seeing a person begging for love and giving him love. Mercy is seeing someone lonely and giving him company. Mercy is meeting the need, not just feeling it.
If somebody offends us, we should be merciful. Be compassionate. Be benevolent. Be sympathetic. If somebody makes a mistake or a misjudgment or fails to pay a debt or return something they’ve borrowed, be merciful. We must live the character of the kingdom.
Solomon wrote, “The merciful man does himself good, but the cruel man does himself harm” (Proverbs 11:17).
The Mercy Cycle
The sequel to mercy is obtaining mercy. What a beautiful thing. Do you see the cycle? God gives us more mercy, we are merciful, and God gives us more money. Second Samuel 22:26 says the same thing, that it is the merciful who receive mercy. James 2:13 says it negatively, “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy.”
Some people think being merciful is how we get saved. But this is not the way to earn salvation. We do not get mercy for merit. Mercy can apply only where there is no merit, or it is not mercy. If you are a merciful person, you give evidence of being God’s child.
Mercy can be contagious. It usually is. Simply said—a person who gives mercy, gets mercy.
Credits:
- John MacArthur’s The Beatitudes: The Only Way to Happiness (1980);
- Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s Set Apart: A 6-Week Study of the Beatitudes (2015); and
- John Stott’s The Beatitudes: Developing Spiritual Character (1998)