Blessed are the merciful ...

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy,”

This blessing naturally follows on from the promise of righteousness which not only applies to actions but also to attitudes. To be merciful to others who demand mercy of us is taken up again by Jesus in the parable of the merciful king and his merciless steward (Mat.18:23-35). This parable is about attitudes which embody mercy. God delights to show mercy to sinful men and women who can only come to Him pleading for mercy – casting themselves upon His benevolent kindness and tender mercy. God delights to show mercy to the penitent sinner, the returning prodigal, the weeping prostitute, the maimed, the broken, the sinner and the rebel. We have to trust in the merciful and kind nature of God that He will receive us in our wretchedness and not speak words of rejection to us. The prodigal had to trust in the nature of his father to forgive him. Each one of us has disqualified ourselves, we have made ourselves unacceptable to God because of our sinfulness and so each one of us, like the prostitute in Lk.7 have to implore Jesus’ forgiveness with uncontainable tears of repentance. Did Jesus ever turn away a repentant sinner? When the guilty adulteress was hauled up before Jesus, He refused to pronounce judgement but rather (it was His prerogative), He chose to extent “loving kindness and tender mercy” towards her. King David, guilty before God, pleaded with Him to show mercy towards him,

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (Ps.51:1).

Remember, how I spoke about the Gospels and how they were formed as a direct result of the preaching and ministry of Jesus. He is speaking here to new disciples and therefore to give these blessings of Jesus an evangelistic interpretation is not out of order. Jesus was teaching on the Mount, and He was calling forth disciples, affirming them in their new found faith and He was challenging them to live according to His teaching. It is true that this teaching provided a manual of discipleship for future followers of Jesus but here Jesus is forming/making disciples as He is teaching. One is reminded of Jesus’ words just prior to His departure and recorded by Matthew,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mat.28:19).

The Gospel (the euangelion) is about forgiveness and requires mercy and kindness in its application.

In Romans ch.1 the apostle Paul describes the awful sins of the people of the port city of Corinth, identifying homosexuality and lesbianism and describing them as leaving “the natural use into that which is against nature” (v26). The chapter is full of content material about how this all came about and the key role of God in it all and His judgement, but also the attitude of those who are equally sinful in other areas of life. These people endorse those who engage in these practises. I am asking the question about showing mercy towards these people. How should the church handle these matters? Blessings are promised by Jesus to those who show mercy to those who come seeking forgiveness. The disposition, or the bent of our heart is to constantly desire to extend mercy to the marginalized and the poor, to embrace those who have been abused by cruel and wicked men and women. We have a merciful God, and the disposition of our heart is to show how wonderful is God’s forgiving nature.