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Monday
Reading: Matthew 5 v 7
Reading:
This week we move on in our study of the Beatitudes to verse 7, “Blessed are the
merciful, for they shall receive mercy”.
Let’s talk today about THE MESSAGE of mercy. Jesus came at a time when the
world was not big into mercy. He lived in a merciless, political system where the
Romans who governed Israel at the time gloried in power, strength and courage.
They considered meekness and mercy to be signs of weakness. The political power of
the land at that time was put into the hands of unmerciful people. They created so
many crises in the country as a result of their cruelty. At the same time a merciless
religious system was being enforced whereby in the Jewish system it was all about
the “law”. The religious leaders of the day were meticulous in their teaching of the
law and ruthless in their punishment to supposedly unlawful behaviour. It was into
the midst of this environment that Jesus came preaching the message of mercy. It
was no wonder that the authorities of the day did not listen to him, to them the
message of mercy was totally counter-cultural and was also completely counterintuitive.
Even today there are other misnomers associated with the issue of mercy. We tend
to think that if I give mercy to others then they will give mercy to me. This, even in
the time of Jesus, was quite obviously not true. If mercy given meant mercy received
then they would have made Jesus the King, but instead they took Jesus, falsely
accused Him, then beat Him, spat on Him, and put Him to a cruel crucifixion death
– they killed the most merciful person who ever lived. Jesus was clearly, in His
lived.
teaching, not saying if you be merciful to others, they will be merciful to you. What
He is saying, if you be merciful to others then God will be merciful to you (or God
will have been merciful to you), I will explain this in more detail later.
As I watch the news and read the newspapers, I realise that the times in which we
live are not that much more different from the times of Jesus. Acts of mercy are very
seldom seen to be news worthy, but at the same time the concept of mercy is not
nearly as devalued as it was in the time of Jesus. As God’s people coming under the
kingship of a most merciful King, how important it should be for us to evidence to
the world the qualities of our King. It is these qualities that bring credibility to our
faith, especially in the realm of mercy, where mercy is not nearly as much a noun as
it is a verb. Mercy is easy to talk about, and even to applaud, but in the humdrum of
normal living, showing mercy is not nearly as high on our personal agendas and “to
do lists” as maybe it should be.