Beatitude – Oh Yeah the blessing of being merciful!
James Bond, there’s something about James Bond, not that he’s got the same surname as our general, but that he’s a spy, that he is a man of intrigue and wonder, the British secret service, licence to kill, Austen Martins that drop oil and fire rockets, and fly, Bond James Bond. What other spy movies or spies can you think of? Jason Bourne, Salt?
The truth is though that spies exist in real life, There’s a story about two Russian spies a couple who were tried in the United States of America in 1953,
Judge Kaufman presided at the trial of the Russian spies, the Rosenbergs. They were charged with and convicted of treason against the United States and sentenced to death.
In his summation at the end of the long and bitter trial, the lawyer for the Rosenbergs said animatedly, “Your Honor, what my clients ask for is justice.”
Judge Kaufman replied calmly, “The court has given what you ask for—justice! What you really want is mercy. But that is something this court has no right to give.”
In the Rossenbergs case justice was a separate as it possibly could be from mercy, how do you see justice and mercy?
Are they separate or one thing that goes hand in hand with the other?
The knowledge that we have of God is that he is a God of both Justice and Mercy. We have a depiction of God as he appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, that reads like this,
“Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him (Moses) and proclaimed his name, the LORD.
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love towards thousands, and forgiving the wickedness and rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation’”. (Exodus 34:6-7).
So we have this description of God from his own lips as one who is loving and faithful, who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet on those who are not willing to repent from their wickedness, rebellion and sin is also one who will bring punishment not just on the sinner but on generations to come to the third and fourth generations.
Now if you’re anything like me and you may be; you’re probably thinking that’s a bit rough, the sins of my Great Grandfather may affect the way my life is turning out. Well it’s true, one generation’s life style, one generations sin will affect the next and on, this is called a generational curse. Often we see the results of sin of a grandparent working its way through a family until a member of that family comes to Christ and the curse is broken.
The thing to remember though is that God is just and he is merciful, one passage in Psalm 103 states it this way; “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him…” (Verses 12-13) The King James version uses the words “Like as a father pitieth his children, So the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” The reason I used this passage is that both compassion and pity are components of mercy.
Jesus words of blessing the beatitudes also talk of mercy.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated, “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
So the merciful what do they look like, what do the merciful do?
1) “Merciful” embraces the characteristics of being generous, forgiving others, having compassion for the suffering, and providing healing of every kind. (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Mt 5:7). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc)
Now to me this sounds very much like a description of Jesus, he was generous he brought life to those lost in their sins, he forgave others, I always think of Peter and how even after he denied Jesus three times, Jesus forgave him. Jesus had compassion for the suffering and provided healing of every kind. Those that others in his society would treat as outcasts Jesus healed and made whole, the sinful woman, the leaper, the paralytic, the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, the Roman, The Samaritan. Those who were outcast from that society or in some way were isolated and looked down on in society, Jesus treated with compassion and mercy, he was merciful.
Here’s an example of Jesus mercy: 27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. (Matthew 9:27-31)
The thing with Jesus is that he practiced mercy, our presence here today is tied to his mercy and the forgiveness of our sins, not because of something that we did but because of his mercy, the price he paid for us through his blood poured out for us.
So really the merciful are those who practice what Jesus practiced. Mercy is an active thing it is something that is practiced (SBI).
Jesus did this by lowering himself to show mercy to all mankind, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, and that he might make an atonement for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)
So how do we practice mercy and how does it affect us?
2) Paul talks about God’s mercy as something that established and invigorated his ministry. He said this, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not loose heart.”
It’s like that with Paul because he had received mercy he was able to give mercy
BUT
Jesus said “blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy”. This gives an indication that mercy is something we are to practice.
This takes me to the parable of the unmerciful servant. In this parable found in Matthews gospel chapter 18 verses 21-35. (Read) After being asked how many times one should forgive a person who sins against them, Jesus tells this parable. What Jesus is pointing to is that we are in the position of this servant. None of us can pay the price, none of us have enough wealth to compensate for our sins, so the King himself has paid our debit, and notice the part in that parable about the man his wife and children all being sold, for this is what happens when we continue in sin, it effects families through the generations.
So the king paid the price now it is our place to practice mercy with our fellow man, forgiving them. For when we do mercy continues. . Mercy is an active thing it is something that is practiced (SBI).
This is kingdom building stuff.
Mercy is encompassed in three Greek words all of which seem to be linked to this verse seven of the beatitudes of which I have already touched on. athese words relate to the atonement for sin and compassion which is that attribute of God. The third is something that we are to practice…are you ready for this, blokes in particular…this can be a bit scarey for, it is this.
3) “The emotional response and resulting action after encountering the suffering or affliction of another: ‘to have mercy, feel sorry for, have pity’” (Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary)
When we practice this we will be seen to be practicing mercy – this is a way in which we are called to act, now this can be a bit hard when we’ve been brought up hard, or by tough parents, it can take a bit of practise to get this right. Not giving the other bloke a bit of stick for showing his emotions, not using the words that so many of us heard growing up, “cry and I’ll give you something to cry about” or “come on stiff upper lip” or “take a concrete pill and harden up.”
We can also extend these feelings of mercy into action supporting those who are battling in life, those who are caught in a trap, the things of this world and that is a list that goes on and on, but acting for those people relates well to our Corps vision statement of “Living for God, serving all people.” But what an opportunity this gives us for mercy is an active thing it is something that is practiced (SBI).
This also becomes a point where as Christians justice meets mercy through our actions, when we can look around us and be thankful for what we have in Christ and act for those who don’t have or are treated differently because of who they are what they believe, opportunities to be part of this mercy come through so many channels, ‘Voice of the Martyrs, Amnesty International, Children’s Fund, Oxfam, various funds of our own Salvation Army’ that list just goes on and on. If God puts it on your heart to practise mercy in some way there will be an avenue to practice it and don’t be limited by what does exist when there are opportunities to be creative also.
How often don’t we see the stuff in our own neighbourhoods? The lonely neighbour, the person who has a phobia about leaving their own section, the successful business person with no friends, the struggling solo parent. Not everyone has a place like this where they can meet weekly with friends.
But they can, part of our being merciful is about inviting others to a relationship with the God of Mercy who willingly died as an act of mercy so that all of mankind can have their sins atoned for.
This might just start with an act of just being invited, invited to this community, by extending a welcome, a door might just be opened for someone to a new way of living, too fellowship and life change and a relationship with the one who showed us all unparalleled mercy.
