Christian Character - The Merciful

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Next we look at Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

What is merciful?  As used in this verse, Strong’s defines it as “full of pity” and “compassionate”.  Webster defines merciful as “treating people with kindness and forgiveness: not cruel or harsh: having or showing mercy: giving relief from suffering”.

Let us address the elephant in the room.  Nowadays “pity” is seen as negative and in some cases it actually is.  When pity is shown in an “I am better than you” spirit, then it is a negative.  This is not the kind of pity being used here.  Instead we are talking about sympathy or sorrow born from empathy.  This pity is the understanding or trying to imagine another person’s feelings.  This lines up with compassion which is also used to define merciful.

When we talk about being merciful, we are combining a couple of things.  The first is being able to recognize and emotionally relate to another person’s circumstances and the other is a desire to help that person.  I think all of us can think of situations where we were able to really understand the pain someone is going through and tried to help that person through it.  Maybe it was understanding the dire straits a person was in after losing their job and what we did to help that person through that difficulty.

When I think of someone being merciful, I remember the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-39.  I think it is worth including that here.

“But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'

In reply Jesus said: 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.''

'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?'

The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.'

Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'”

Samarians at the time were looked down on by the Jews.  They were a race of people that were a mix of Assyrians and Jews.  They did not believe everything the Jews believed and chose Mt. Gerizim as their “Jerusalem”.  They created a counterfeit religion and are an enemy to the Jews to this day.  This parable was definitely an attention getter and did not necessarily endear Jesus to the Jews.

It is not known if Jesus told this parable in response to a similar event that really occurred or if it was simply the way he chose to answer the question he was asked.  Regardless, the Samaritan was the hero of the story because he acted mercifully toward the injured man.  His actions went far beyond simply being a nice guy.  He dressed his wounds, allowed him to ride his donkey to the inn, took care of him that night, and then paid to have him looked after.  He even promised to return to settle any outstanding debt that may occur while he was away.  This was a man who truly understood this persons suffering and did all he could to help that man without any expectation of reward or repayment.

Now this Samaritan apparently had the wherewithal to do what he did.  Many of us are not in position where we could offer that much support to someone in need.  But I think the point here was that the Samaritan went out of his way to help this man.  He obviously had someplace to be and this changed his plans.  Rarely does compassion fit into our normal day to day plans.

Since we are talking about followers of Christ, will they obtain mercy because of the good deeds they have done?  I don’t think so.  I think they are merciful because they understand what mercy is because of the mercy God has shown them.

God’s mercy is in contrast to His Grace.  Grace is giving something good that is not deserved.  Because of Sin, we do not deserve eternal life, but God is willing to give it to us; “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Ephesians 2:8.  Mercy is withholding what we do deserve.  As sinners we deserve hell.  God did not give us what we deserved, but instead showed us mercy through Jesus Christ; “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 1:21.

As Christians we know that we do not deserve salvation and we know that there is no way in and of ourselves we can obtain it.  By ourselves, we are utterly helpless and undeserving.  It is mercy that has provided us a way to salvation.  We have come face to face with our depravity and unworthiness.  We know that we are utterly dependent upon God’s mercy through Christ.

I believe the mercy spoken of in this verse goes beyond acts of kindness.  I think at the core it is the ability to recognize your own sin and the mercy God has shown you and approach others from that perspective when in situations where you have the opportunity to show mercy.

It is easy to understand mercy as doing something helping someone that you did not have to.  The world is full of this type of example.  So let us look at mercy in a different way.

Maybe someone lashed out at you for something you did not do.  You understand that there is a deeper pain that contributed to that action.  You may feel that you did not deserve that attack and walk away justified from that person.  You say to yourself that you did not deserve to be treated that way and turn away from that person even though you know there is more to it.  Instead you act mercifully.  You forgive that person because you know of the forgiveness you have received.  You understand pain and how God has helped you overcome it so you show kindness and try to help with what the real issue is.  That help may or not be accepted, but mercy was still shown.  You did not withhold your forgiveness and compassion.

The merciful are ones who are compassionate and forgiving.
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