Blessed are the Merciful

Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy."

Matthew 5:7

Do you know the difference between justice and mercy?  Justice gives what people deserve.  Mercy withholds what people deserve. 

Justice looks like this.  A father bought a bike for his twin daughters.  He assumed they could easily share that bike.  But then one day both girls wanted to use the bike at the same time.  The battle was intense. The father had to step in.  With great wisdom he announced, “It’s Sarah’s bike on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  It’s Monica’s Bike on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. “But who gets the bike on Sundays?” asked one of the girls.  “On Sundays,” said the father, “the bike belongs to your little sister Rachel.” That’s justice.  The father tried to make sure everyone got their fair share of the bike, that everyone’s rights were honored.  

People spend a lot of time demanding justice.  Someone insults us and we get indignant.  “She has no right to talk to me like that.”  A child’s voice screams, “That’s mine.  I had it first.”  “Finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers” pits one person’s rights against another’s.  We do it with God too.  Bad things happen and we assume some right has been violated.  One man told me that he didn’t believe in God because it just wasn’t fair that people should end up living in a nursing home.  People have a right to expect better of God.  After all, isn’t that the purpose of God – to defend our rights against every injustice?  Bad things happen and we wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?  God you aren’t being fair.” “Fair?”  God answers.  “Didn’t I create the world and you in it?  Didn’t I give you life, and every blessing of survival and strength as my free gift?”  But then you answer, “Sure - don’t think I am ungrateful.  But I have tried hard to live a good life.  I want what I deserve?”  Is that really what we want?  What do you… what do I deserve?  Do we really want justice from God?

Or would we rather have mercy?  Mercy and grace are two sides of the same heavenly coin.  Mercy is when God withholds the punishment we have deserved.  Grace is when God gives us the salvation we had no right to expect.  That is what God gave to the world when He gave His only Son, Jesus.  In Jesus God’s mercy is put on display.  Think about the way He works. When they brought Him the woman caught in adultery, He did not stone her.  He forgave.  When your parents brought you to baptism, God did not turn His back.  He forgave you.  He accepted you.  When the Gentile woman begged for scraps from the masters table, He did not ignore her as she deserved.  In mercy, He healed her in body and soul.  He does the same for you when you come to His table.  He gives you no scraps. He gives you Himself to eat and drink.   On the cross Jesus didn’t call down vengeance on those who put Him there.  He had mercy.  “Father,” He prayed, “Forgive them.”    His very dying there was an act of mercy towards you.  He accepted the punishment we deserved… so that instead of punishing us, God has mercy.  Jesus prays for us too.  Father forgive them.

Once a long time ago I heard a Pastor preach on the word that starts every beatitude – the word “Blessed.”  He told us that the root of the Greek word is the word for a volcanic eruption.  His theme was that God’s blessings are like a flow of lava from an erupting volcano.  Nothing can stand in the way of the Lava.  Even so God’s blessings  are an eruption of unstoppable goodness.  That is really true in this Beatitude.  Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.  Think what He is saying.  God’s mercy flows into our hearts and lives and changes us.  How can we who have received mercy refuse mercy to others?  Even so His mercy flows through you with unstoppable power to bless

those who persecute you, to bless and not to curse.  God’s mercy flows through you so that if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, you let him have your cloak as well. God’s mercy flows through you so that if someone forces you to go one mile, you can offer to go with him two miles. God’s mercy flows through so that you  give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  God’s mercy flows through you as it did through a soldier who was witnessing to his non-Christian roommate.  The non-Christian got so angry about the man’s faith that he punched him.  The Christian fell against the table.  His head cracked open.  Blood was everywhere.  The roommate yelled at him, “Now will you leave me alone about this Jesus.”  The Christian looked at him, held up his blood soaked hand.  If Jesus loved you and me enough to shed His blood for us, how can I love you any less.”  That’s how the mercy of God changes your outlook on things like justice and rights.  His mercy begets mercy in you and leads to God’s final act of mercy… to His words to you on the last day , “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Yes. blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  It really is an eruption of God’s unstoppable goodness.  Amen.