The Merciful
“Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
Mercy is a practical response to another’s need. The cost is borne by the person showing mercy. There also needs to be a willingness to receive the kindness being offered. True mercy seeks the welfare and good of others. The mercy of God has its source in His love: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
This relationship with love is significant. A lawyer tested the Lord with the question, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). I think Jesus quoted the second commandment to challenge the heart of the questioner. Our behaviour towards others is a measure of our love for God. The lawyer was simply asking an academic question. The Lord was describing His life.
The Lord’s ministry was characterised by mercy. It was shown to the broken-hearted, blind, deaf, mute, crippled, lame, diseased, frightened and hopeless, and it even conquered death. It was established in love and grace. But the time came, in the words of Psalm 69:20, when the Lord Jesus experienced reproach which broke His heart, and He could say,
I am full of heaviness;
I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;
And for comforters, but I found none.
The Person whose mercy ensured our salvation was never relieved in the sufferings it cost. Now, in resurrection glory, His ministry of mercy continues. He is our merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17), able to come to our aid in time of need with a heart which understands our sufferings and can relieve them:
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Overwhelmingly in the New Testament, mercy is something which we receive from God in abundance. But in receiving such rich mercy, it compels us to show it. Today’s verse establishes that we should be merciful. The Epistle to the Romans reminds us to show mercy with cheerfulness (Romans 12:8). James writes of the wisdom from above being full of mercy (James 3:17). In essence, we are encouraged to show mercy eagerly, cheerfully and plentifully.
In Luke 10, after telling the story of the Good Samaritan, the Lord asked the lawyer which person was neighbour to the man who fell among the thieves. The lawyer said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” The Lord wasn’t just challenging the lawyer: He was speaking to me.
