Blessed Are The Merciful

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” is one of the beatitudes, a section of the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus.

A simple and yet confusing saying from Jesus.

Do we have to extend mercy to receive mercy from God? Is Jesus teaching a sort of payment method to gaining mercy? Give mercy 10 times a day, get mercy to cover 10 sins? Surely not, because the very definition of mercy is that it is undeserved.

So what exactly is Jesus getting at here? The same thing He is saying in Luke 7:47 - "Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Those who have a deep capacity to offer mercy and forgiveness to others are deeply aware of how much they have been shown mercy and forgiveness themselves.

This week we will all run into situations where we will be faced with a choice. Will we offer forgiveness and mercy? Or choose a more selfish path? I'm not saying the choice is easy. I am not saying I always get it right. But I am saying that Jesus' teaching is meant to lodge itself into our hearts so that we consider what it means to offer mercy in situations. It's not going to feel fair. The one who extends grace always absorbs some type of cost. How do we absorb that cost when everything in us feels like we don't want to?

Remember our own brokenness and how Jesus absorbed the cost for us on the cross and extended mercy.

This is not easy stuff, but this is the type of people Jesus is molding us into as we follow Him.

Working to be more merciful,

Josh.