Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Matthew 5:7 (NIV)
The Jews defined mercy in two different but related ways: First, as the forgiveness of wrongs done to you, and secondly as the giving of alms or charity. Both definitions of mercy are fine as far as the outer manifestation of mercy goes. But even someone who actually has no real mercy in his or her heart can, from time to time, perform acts that are merciful. The real meaning of mercy that Jesus had in mind seems to go deeper than the surface behaviors all the way to the attitude of the heart that underlies them.
At the core of genuine mercy is a heart that is tender and loving, inspired by agape love, the same kind of love that God demonstrates toward us. It is this genuine merciful heart that results in honest forgiveness, and acts of mercy and charity that aren’t motivated by self, but motivated purely by the need of the one ministered to.
That this mercy is a reflection of God’s mercy and agape love is explicitly stated in Luke 6:32-36 (NIV): “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
So Jesus defines mercy as loving action toward others, even those whom you would consider enemies. And He also points out that this kind of merciful action is exactly what God demonstrates toward us, providing for our basic needs, giving us good and not evil, even when we had placed ourselves in opposition to Him.
Obviously, it is easy to show mercy to those we like, or to those whom we consider innocent victims of circumstances; most people have no problem giving food or clothing to a homeless child. But we have a harder time being purely merciful to those whom we don’t like, those who have hurt us, or even to those who we consider to be responsible for their misfortune. But that’s not the way that God responded to us. When we were spiritually broke and naked and hungry because of our sins, He still showed unmeasurable mercy to us by giving Himself fully on the cross so that we could come in out of the cold night of death into the warm light of life. He gave Himself so that we could get rid of our old raggedy self-righteousness, and instead be clothed with the glorious warmth of His own holiness. He gave Himself so that we could be healed of our spiritual blindness and deafness, and instead be able to see His face and hear His voice every day, from now on into eternity.
It really does make sense, as Jesus points out here, that when we have received such great mercy from God Himself when we were totally undeserving of it, that we, as God’s people, must show that same level of mercy to those among whom we live. If we do, then we continue to keep the floodgates of mercy open in our own lives, always receiving far more blessing than we could ever give. But if we close up our hearts to another person, then we close up our own hearts, and we can’t then receive the mercy that God has paid such a high price to provide for us.
Only those who are merciful can receive mercy. And, as Jesus pointed out, they are very blessed indeed!