The Blessed Life: Merciful
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Introduction
Introduction
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed
Blessed
Merciful
Merciful
means to pity, to have compassion, to show mercy
pity
feeling of sympathy or sharing in suffering of another
emotion
highlights feeling sorry for another’s predicament, but with condescension [no empathy]
compassion
feeling of mercy or empathy or sharing in suffering of another
emotion and virtue
highlights both empathy with a need/desire to help another
ἔλεος (ĕlĕŏs) - kindness or goodwill towards the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them
emotion roused by contact with an undeserved affliction that happens to another
sympathetic [empathy involved]
mercy embraces both forgiveness for the guilty and compassion for the suffering and needy
mercy is to be a function of Jesus’s disciples, not of the situation that calls for it:
They are to be merciful because of who they are, not because of the actions of another.
Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Receive Mercy
Receive Mercy
Jesus’s words set up a reciprocal arrangement: the merciful will receive mercy
Don’t think Jesus was saying, “Show mercy so you will receive mercy”,
but,
“Show mercy because you have received mercy.”
Don’t forget eschatological implication:
receive mercy now—on earth
receive mercy then—in heaven