Weaver1has's Blog

We have all sinned and gone astray from God yet one of the chief characteristics of God is to show mercy:

“Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” Exodus 34:6-8

 In a court of law if you have been shown mercy then perhaps you have been set free even though one deserved a harsher sentence:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

And negatively it could be:

“For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. “James 2:13

I’m using James here because James was the Lord’s brother and the leader of the Jerusalem Church before he was executed.

If any religion (including Christianity) lacks mercy as part of its primary teachings, then it will hurt a lot of people.  Jesus is the prime example of showing mercy in that he was going to die a cruel death on a cross so that in Him we could walk to God’s throne.  Mercy is something that all humans are able to do but for some reason things such as pride, greed, hunger for power, ambition, and many things get in the way, so we do not reach our true human potential. 

Jesus was well aware of the Pharisees:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” Matthew 23:23

As you can see with the various quotations that mercy and justice cannot be separated.  The religious and political leaders of the day in Jesus’ society in a sense are like leaders in our own time.  You can get the good, the bad and the ugly doers.  Mercy is not only a major characteristic that God has.  We ought to remember that we have been created in the image of God and we too as humans have this natural universal characteristic.  Do your local and national leaders exhibit and prove compassion in their daily lives?

If they don’t have this, then vote for people who genuinely care about fellow human beings.  Are the needy people in your locality being cared for or are funds being channeled into their own bank accounts be new corrupt laws?

I’m not making any political claims for this or that party, but I think Jesus’ teachings on mercy hits right at the core of how we ought to live before a Holy God.

Let us now dig deeper into this beatitude.  We have already learned a lot through looking at some key texts:

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

Last time we looked at how as we go through the beatitudes, we get closer and closer to God:

Vines Definition

“Merciful eleemon (1655), “merciful,” not simply possessed of pity but actively compassionate, is used of Christ as a High Priest, Heb. 2:17, and of those who are like God, Matt. 5:7 (cf. Luke 6:35, 36, where the RV, “sons” is to be read, as representing characteristics resembling those of their Father). “ Matthew 5:7

 ( From Vines Dictionary; olive Tree Bible software)

Interpretation

‘Blessed are the merciful’

‘Merciful is an adjective’ but even in the Greek it has the definite article ‘the’.

Blessed + the + merciful are all in the plural so Jesus is saying to all of his disciples that we ought to be actively practicing mercy even as he was a prime example of this.

‘Will receive (obtain) mercy’

This is a verb, and it is in the future plural tense.  The actions we do today will have eschatological significance when we stand before the throne of God. 

Jesus is our prime example:

“Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17

Reflection

Christianity is a religion of mercy.  If the Christianity, you have met does not practice mercy and compassion then it is not Christianity but some cheap fake element of Christianity.   

God himself is merciful and Jesus being the Son of God became our Passover lamb and died for us so that we too could have eternal life.  We live by faith in the covenant that Jesus made with his people (The Church). Jesus practiced mercy and if we follow in his footsteps we too ought to follow in his footsteps.  When we walk this walk and show mercy, we become closer and closer like Jesus.  We also get closer and closer to God’s own heart. 

For me the period of lent is more about thinking about what Jesus did for us at the cross.  When I think about mercy it makes me think about these events surrounding the death and resurrection of Christ and this is our hope that one day he will come back for his disciples from all ages (The invisible Church = believers from the past, present and future).  Jesus for Christians is the ultimate example of Mercy.  I realize that in my walk with God I have only just begun but by the Holy Spirit we are brought closer and closer to be with Christ for all eternity.

This entry was posted on March 19, 2022 at 3:06 pm and is filed under JesusLifeAndTeachings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.