Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7, NKJV).
Mercy
When I was a younger man, I thought I wanted to be treated justly. Now I know better. I do not want justice. I want mercy.
Justice is getting what I deserve. As a student of the Bible I understand what I, a sinner by birth and inclination, deserve: eternal punishment.
Mercy is not receiving the punishment or judgment I have earned. It is, instead, being shown pity, kindness, and goodwill.
Do not get me wrong. I have no problem with justice being served on those who wish me ill, or whom I dislike, or who are egregiously infuriating. I would be lying if I said any different. But personally, mercy is what I crave.
There is so much that is not merciful in this life: time, disease, poverty, violence, evil people, nature. One mistake and you could very well be toast.
Yet that is clearly not what God intended in the beginning before sin entered the world. He took great pains to demonstrate His goodness and kindness from the onset of Creation, bringing into existence all very good things solely for the benefit of His creatures and His good pleasure. But then the universe through Adam rebelled, and all Hell broke loose.
Even so, God did not withhold mercy, though He could not be God and let sin to go unpunished. Rather than pour out His perfect justice on rebellious creatures who deserved it, He poured it out on His Son who most emphatically did not. Jesus, in infinite mercy, gave Himself as payment for our sin on the Cross. And the Father, in immeasurable love for us, and in perfect accord with His Son, made Christ our perfect substitutionary sacrifice. His death took away our sin. Forever.
Now, if I crave mercy, it behooves me to understand how best to receive that mercy, and that's what the focus verse is about. It is a very short, very powerful distillation of a profound spiritual principle. Basically, you reap what you sow. Do you desire mercy? Then be merciful. Simple to understand but hard to do.
I believe it takes a tremendous amount of self-awareness to be merciful. You have to have no illusions about who and what you are and what you are capable of before you can bestow mercy freely on someone else. In that regard, I'm convinced it is easier to show mercy the older you get. You also need to be convinced that whatever you have, talent, money, good health, a nice pet, are gifts from God, as is your very breath. Your life could change for the worse in an instant, so whatever pedestal of self-importance you've managed to perch yourself upon is resting on a foundation of fog.
In this sense, mercy is almost a twin of forgiveness, but it has another aspect that is somewhat impersonal and even more profound, and that's being kind and showing goodwill to someone not because you know them or they've done something to you, but simply because they are miserable and in need. That too is what Jesus is talking about. It's exemplified in His parable about the Good Samaritan, a man who became the benefactor of a complete stranger for no other reason than that stranger was in need. The Samaritan had no ulterior motives, and no expectation of reward, and lavished kindness anyway.
This is exactly what God has done for us, His children. We are desperately miserable and bound for death; rebels without a cause. In His infinite kindness He showed us the ultimate mercy, sending His Son as our Savior without whom we have no hope of escape from our helpless condition. He did so not because He expected anything in return, but as one of the manifold expressions of His lovingkindness. We are to do the same.
