Mark Sorensen “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7
If I can be honest? I am trying to be more careful with my words. As I have been teaching through the Be|Attitudes series in Harvest, I have really been convicted of words and how they have slowly lost their meaning in our modern day context.
Take the word, “Meek” for example. According to the book of Webster (not in the Bible, by the way…), we see that meek means deficient in spirit and courage and not strong. The truth is that a Biblical understanding would be very different. The truth? Meekness does not equal weakness. It’s the opposite.True meekness looks beyond circumstances, no matter how upsetting and hurtful, and humbly bows the knee to the sovereign God.
AW Tozer said this:
“Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is his method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort”.
So what about the word, “Mercy”? Has it lost it’s meaning?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciFUL”, those filled with mercy, for they “shall be shown mercy”.
Here’s the meat of the word. Mercy, as Jesus would have known it, was connected to an Old Testament word called Chesedh. This word means, “the ability to get right inside other people until we can see things with their eyes, think things with their minds, and feel things with their feelings”. See, it’s more than just holding up a hand and saying, “Bless their heart”. It’s actually a combination of compassion and action. Remember the story of the good Samaritan? Don’t forget. Jesus was telling this parable to Jews and He made the hero of the story a Samaritan. Samaritans, by the way, were hated by the Jewish people! So, to answer the expert in the law’s question of, “and who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds, “your enemy”. See, compassion and action must be given NOT JUST to the easy to love, but the difficult to love as well.
We love because He first loved us.
We show mercy, because of the mercy shown to us.
Look at Paul’s words in Ephesians:
“But as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:1-5
The hard truth? We were deserving of wrath because of our sin. But God, who is RICH in mercy, practiced TRUE chesedh and got into the skin of humanity through Jesus Christ to see what we see, feel what we feel, and think what we think. And then? He took on our sins. Gone. Washed away. Grace and mercy waltzed into humanity and shower us each and every single day.
SO, here’s the challenge of mercy in my words with friends moment today: where is mercy needing to be shown in your life? To whom? How can you extend true Biblical mercy?
I don’t think it’s coincidental that you find Jesus speaking on mercy sandwiched between hungering and thirsting for righteousness (God’s perfect peace in your world and the world around you) and “blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. On the other side of peace comes mercy; it’s the recognition of mercy extended to you from God and the need to give it to those around us. And then? Clean hands and a pure heart. God can use both in a mighty way.
Hang in there, friends. It’s not always easy but what I love about the journey? We’re not at it alone. Jesus reminds us all that, “I will be with you always, even to the ends of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
