9 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
A couple of weeks ago in the Time magazine, there is a cover story about, “Why we should teach the Bible in the public schools.” The point the author tried to make was that the American society uses a great deal of biblical words and thought that many none Christians don’t understand. The politicians often quote the Bible in the speeches; the comedians often quote the Bible in the jokes. It leaves the biblically illiterates behind. When I was young, learning English in Burma, I was told my teacher that, “If you haven’t yet read the Bible, you haven’t learned English.” In that classed the teacher was a Muslim and half of the students were Muslims. There is a major disadvantage to live in the English speaking environment to not to know the Bible.
This week Mike sent me a story about biblical illiteracy. It is about three men that died and are at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter tells them that they can enter the gates if they can answer one simple question. St. Peter asks the first person, "What is Easter?" He replies, "Oh, that’s easy! It’s the holiday in November when everyone gets together, eats turkey, and are thankful..." "Wrong!," replies St. Peter, and he didn’t let him in.
St. Peter proceeds to ask the second guy the same question, "What is Easter?" The second one replies, "Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a nice tree, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of Jesus." St. Peter looks at the second guy, shakes his head in disgust, tells him that he’s wrong, and send him away.
Then he peers over his glasses at the third guy and asks, "What is Easter?" The third guy smiles confidently and looks St. Peter in the eyes, "I know what Easter is." "Oh?" says St. Peter, incredulously. "Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper and Jesus was later deceived and turned over to the Romans by one of his disciples. The Romans took him to be crucified and he was stabbed in the side, made to wear a crown of thorns, and was hung on a cross with nails through his hands. He was buried in a nearby cave which was sealed off by a large boulder." St. Peter smiles broadly with delight. Then the third man continues, "Every year the boulder is moved aside so that Jesus can come out...and, if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter."
Don Emmitte said, if Easter says anything at all to us it is that Jesus will always be with us. The pyramids of Egypt are famous because they contained the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptian kings. Westminster Abbey in London is renowned, because in it rests the bodies of English nobles and notables. Mohammed’s tomb is noted for the stone coffin and the bones it contains. Arlington cemetery in Washington, D.C., is revered, for it is the honored resting place of many outstanding Americans. The Garden Tomb of Jesus is famous because it is empty!
In today’s scripture reading, Paul said that Jesus is the first fruit. His resurrection is our forerunner. The resurrected Jesus is the sample of our future. Jurgen Moltmann, the German theologian, said that Good Friday to Easter covers the entire human history—past, present, and future. Good Friday is our past. Easter is our future. We are now living between Good Friday and Easter. He said, "God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him." That is the greatest example of mercy.
This week we are focusing on the fifth beatitude. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” This topic fit perfectly on the Easter message. Today I want you to take home three characteristics of a merciful person.
If you want to be bless by God as a merciful person,
1 – Put yourself in others shoes
The word ‘mercy’ in the Bible is often translated from several different Hebrew words with subtle difference in meaning. However, in general, mercy means having compassion for the miserable. One of the Hebrew words for mercy (rāham) shares a common root with the “womb,” which seems to connote that taking someone else suffering into our womb and feel the same that person is feeling and treat that person accordingly.
When Jesus asks us to love others as we love ourselves, he is describing the meaning of mercy. In English, we often use the word “in someone’s shoes.” Using this image, we can paraphrase Jesus’ Great Commandment for us to love others as we love ourselves as “if you were in his or her shoes, how would you like to be treated? Then treat that person that way.” That’s being merciful.
In the same way, God shows mercy by coming on earth in Jesus Christ to personally experience human suffering to the worst condition and to save us through his grace knowing that human beings have no means to get out of this by themselves. When we show mercy to others, we are Christ-like and blessed by God.
Hebrews 2:9b said, “Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.” This is the great example of mercy. The mercy of Jesus Christ in the message of Good Friday and Easter is that God has put himself in our shoes. As the followers of Jesus Christ we need to be merciful to others by putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes.
2 – Forgive Even the Unforgivable
Mercy, according to the Tyndale Bible Dictionary, is a “divine quality.” We are reflecting God’s image most when we are merciful. The most prominent act of mercy in the Bible is forgiveness. Forgiveness was probably the hardest lesson for me to learn because I had been wounded so deeply by some people that made me so difficult to forgive, even though I was raised with the Christian teaching of forgiveness. Knowing the teaching of Christ is one thing, but doing another.
It is even harder to forgive someone who never repents and continues to gloat over our suffering. I had someone like this in my life and there was just this yearning in me that I wanted to teach such person a lesson and to make him or her cry uncle. The opposite of forgiveness is revenge.
As I grew up, this person wanted to destroy me. I didn’t know why then, but later I realized that I had been an obstacle for this person to get my grandmother’s love and most importantly her inheritance. Behind my grandmother, this person would abuse me, but in front of my grandmother this person would treat me very nicely.
This person appeared so nice that my grandmother told me one day, “You must grow up and repay this person with gratitude.” I retorted, “This person will be lucky if I didn’t revenge!” My grandmother was very mad at me for saying that and scolded me for being thankless. That person won my grandmother’s trust and the abuse continued.
Growing up as a Christian, I prayed to find a way that I could forgive. I haven’t seen this person for eighteen years now, I wonder if I saw this person again what I would say and how I would act. I am sure this person has never repented and would never admit any wrong doing.
Mercy is not only part of God’s righteousness, but also an image of God’s kingdom. Read Matthew 18:23-35. The difficult part for most people is to realize that we owe God more than what others owe us. If we have been through the first and second blessings (Matthew 5:3-4), we would not have any problem recognizing how much we owe God and have received God’s mercy, and realized that we will continue to need God’s mercy to lead a fruitful life. That enables us to forgive others.
One of the dangers of not forgiving is that our anger and bitterness can chock our life and become fruitless. Jesus said our fleshly desire can be like a seed growing among thorns. It can choke our spiritual life to death and never able to bear fruit. He said “but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” When we read this verse, we tend to think Jesus was talking only about materialism, but he was in fact talking about egoism.
3 - Seek to understand before seeking to be understood
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36
One of the most useful strategies to building good relationship is to seek to understand before seeking to be understood.
The word “compassion” in the above scripture is translated from a very descriptive Greek word to describe Jesus’ mercy toward human beings. Like the Hebrew words for mercy that we previously discussed, this word literally means, “to be moved in one’s bowels.” The Hebrews regarded the bowels as the center of the affections especially that of the most tender kindness.
Jesus came on earth to experience and to understand human sufferings personally, but he never sought to be understood. One of the most common reasons for human relational problems is when we seek to be understood before trying to understand. When we speak, we try to make other people understand us, while the other person is finding words to make us understand him or her. As a result no one is really listening and no one feels heard.
A merciful person does not seek to be understood, at least not at the beginning, but open his or her bowels to be moved by the need of the other person. We might feel this demand unfair, “Why it is always me that is to sacrifice?” However, our mercy never ends without reward. At the minimum, we receive God’s mercy—God’s understanding of our deepest feelings.
In most cases when the other person feels understood, he or she begins to open up to try to understand others. This is one of the most useful strategies of relationship building. When we feel someone is not listening, it is often that person wants to be listened to. When I listen to that person until he or she feels understood, he or she is ready to listen to me.
During the seminary years when I was taking courses on family counseling, I tried to focus on understanding the difficult personality. I wanted to know why that relative of mine treated me so mercilessly when I was young. I wanted to know more about that person so that I can find a reason to forgive.
Then I found out that most difficult personalities have had a difficult life when they were young. They were once victims. The person that abused me grew up in a war time and had to run away many times at a very young age to hide from the bombers. Maybe that was what caused that person to become so merciless.
When I begin to see that person from that backdrop, I was not only able to forgive, but also feel “moved in my womb” and become merciful.
