The Fifth Blessing - Matthew 5:7

I think the first time I remember the word “mercy” is from the game some kids would play on the playground where you would bend someones fingers in the opposite direction until they would cry “mercy”. Not exactly the best way to start thinking about such a profoundly important word. 

Mercy is when you show compassion or forgiveness to someone when it’s within your power to punish them. Mercy is not earned or deserved, its simply a gift that is given. Sometimes we don’t like to think about mercy, especially in human terms, because it means that one person is  more powerful than another. But mercy makes us equally uncomfortable, even when we acknowledge that God is more powerful than us. The idea that we are given the gift of forgiveness when we deserve punishment does not always sit well with us. 

Jesus says in this particular scripture that those who show mercy will receive mercy. Think back to someone in your life that you have shown mercy to - shown unmerited forgiveness to. What was that experience like for you? Now flip the situation around and think of a time you were shown unmerited forgiveness. What was that experience like for you?

There is not just truth but deep wisdom in what Jesus is saying in this portion of the Beatitudes. As we show mercy to others, we realize more about the mercy of God and understand our deep need for that mercy, the healing mercy of Jesus Christ in our lives. It is almost as if mercy is like looking into a mirror, but seeing past outward appearances into the very state of our souls. 

The problem is that we will often twist mercy around and try to put limits on it. We say we forgive someone, but what we really means is that we wish that they would be more like us. But that isn’t truly showing mercy is it?

A few weeks ago we talked about the words of Peter found in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where he asks Jesus how much he should really have to forgive a brother or sister. Peter put the upper limit of forgiveness on seven times, but Jesus blew that out of the water by saying, no, think more like seventy-seven times, a number that seemed unbelievable, and in so many ways, untrackable. Jesus in what he was saying to Peter demonstrated what it looked like to extend mercy. 

Of course, there are differences between mercy and forgiveness, though so much of their meaning overlaps. Mercy showing compassion, which can happen in so many situations. Forgiveness is something that we can offer when we have been wronged or hurt. 

When we think of mercy as compassion, it extends beyond this teaching about forgiving others found in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and we can see how it takes root in other passages of scripture. In Matthew, chapter 15, we find this uncomfortable story of a woman whose daughter was in need of healing. She cried out to Jesus, “have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David”, only she wasn’t an Israelite. She was from Cannan. And Jesus answered, telling her that he was sent first and foremost to the children of Israel. But she knelt before him and continued to plead for help and mercy. Jesus did heal her daughter and spoke of the woman’s great faith. Mercy in this particular story, came in the form of healing. 

Or think of the story of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help an Israelite man who was injured along side the road. He stopped even when others had passed. He stopped even though he, himself, was a Samaritan. He took the man and paid for his care, telling the inn keeper watching him that he would pay the whole cost, no matter what it ended up being. Mercy in this story was noted, even by the lawyer trying to trip Jesus up, as being a good neighbor. 

But, Church, there are so many ways that we can show mercy in this world. And let’s be honest, this world is in need of a little more mercy, grace, and hope. We can show mercy when we truly listen to each other. When we sit down in each other’s homes and list to our stories, because they reveal so much of both who we are and what we value. 

I have sat around many deathbeds, friends. And you know what is often shared there - stories. Stories of who this person is. What they loved. How they showed care to others. But such stories aren’t just relegated to places of death and resurrection, but are woven into the fabric of our every day lives. When we listen to each others stories, specifically as an act of mercy, we are setting side our preconceived judgments in order to truly learn who that person is.

Sometimes we show mercy simply by showing up. Sometimes when people are going through a hard time they don’t really need us to physically do anything for them, so much as just sit there and be with them. I was listening to an interview lately with an author who wrote about her struggle with mental illness. She was saying, when things were really hard, her husband made a schedule of people to just come over and sit with her. Most of the time they didn’t talk. Or do anything. They just sat in each other’s presence. That is an act of mercy.

And is that not the heart of this beatitude, friends? We often think of beatitudes as something that we do, but more often than not they are more about being. More about how we show up and live in the world. And this particular beatitude is calling us to be people of mercy. 

But here’s the thing about being people of mercy - it still requires so much of us. Requires things that we may not even think about. Mercy demands that we slow down in order to set aside the particular lens we use when we see the world. We need to shift away from our lens of intolerance or indifference in order to see the world as God sees it. There’s a praise song by Brandon Heath that says, “Give me your eyes for just one second, Give me your eyes so I can see, Everything that I keep missing, Give your love for humanity.” When we slow down and shift our lens, we can see as God sees, see people in such a way that we don’t readily brush them aside, but instead show mercy. 

Mercy also demand that we get to know one another. Do you think its easier to show compassion to a stranger or to someone you know? We may each answer that question a little differently, but for me, its a lot easier to show grace and mercy to people I know. Because when I know their background, know how they think, know their story - when I have a relationship with them, I want to show them mercy and compassion and forgiveness. 

Church, as we show mercy, we have have the opportunity to look at our own selves and see where we, too, are in need of such compassion. One of the most memorized verses of scripture is John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. But, friends, the scripture goes on in verse 17 to say this: Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 

God sent Jesus into this world to show us forgiveness and lead us to the way of salvation. Is this not mercy? And a mercy that we all stand in need of! What if this week, each of us, as followers of Jesus Christ, would try to intentionally grow in mercy? What if we prayed for opportunities to hear people’s stories and get to know them better? What if we prayed to have the eyes of God and the heart of Christ that led us being people of mercy? How could the world change? Amen.