Mercy, Mercy

With this question Charles Colson began his article in Discipleship Journal. He said it is the most frequently asked question by serious new Christians.

I know that has been a question that has rattled around in my head often. What can I do that will best serve Christ. I find myself hounded by this inquiry. I ask myself, am I using my time, my talent, and my treasure to best serve Jesus?

I am sure that you also ask this question. As a follower of Jesus, you want to know if you are doing the best you can to serve him.

So, today, we are going to look at what Jesus expects from us as his followers. Jesus said he wants us to act with mercy.

Matthew 5:7 NASB95

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful,” he meant, happiness is found when you see a need that you can help with, and you step up and help.

Mercy means we act in loving concern to meet a real physical need.

Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1 Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition) The Bliss of Perfect Sympathy

The Greek word for merciful is eleēmōn. But, as we have repeatedly seen, the Greek of the New Testament as we possess it goes back to an original Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew word for mercy is chesedh; and it is an untranslatable word. It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. Chesedh, mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.

Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1 Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition) The Bliss of Perfect Sympathy

The Greek word for merciful is eleēmōn. But, as we have repeatedly seen, the Greek of the New Testament as we possess it goes back to an original Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew word for mercy is chesedh; and it is an untranslatable word. It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. Chesedh, mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.

Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1 Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition) The Bliss of Perfect Sympathy

The Greek word for merciful is eleēmōn. But, as we have repeatedly seen, the Greek of the New Testament as we possess it goes back to an original Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew word for mercy is chesedh; and it is an untranslatable word. It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. Chesedh, mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.

Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1 Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition) The Bliss of Perfect Sympathy

The Greek word for merciful is eleēmōn. But, as we have repeatedly seen, the Greek of the New Testament as we possess it goes back to an original Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hebrew word for mercy is chesedh; and it is an untranslatable word. It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone in trouble. Chesedh, mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.

Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1 Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition) The Bliss of Perfect Sympathy

Clearly this is much more than an emotional wave of pity; clearly this demands a quite deliberate effort of the mind and of the will. It denotes a sympathy which is not given, as it were, from outside, but which comes from a deliberate identification with the other person, until we see things as he sees them, and feel things as he feels them. This is sympathy in the literal sense of the word. Sympathy is derived from two Greek words, syn which means together with, and paschein which means to experience or to suffer. Sympathy means experiencing things together with the other person, literally going through what he is going through.

What Jesus is calling for is more that an emotional connection. An emotional connection might be heart-felt, and even more us to tears, but does it make a lasting difference. Do we enter into the pain of the other person.

Charlotte Thrall really entered into the pain of Diego.

When Diego (not his real name) was a little boy in Mexico, his abusive father plunged a fireplace poker into the 3-year-old’s left eye. Diego and his mother fled to the United States, ending up in Phoenix.

But Diego’s misery continued. Essentially blind, haunted by memories of his father, and mocked by fellow students, he was suicidal by age 10. His mom was undocumented, with no insurance or access to services.

That’s when Charlotte Thrall heard about their plight. A nurse who uses her skills to serve Phoenix’s uninsured and undocumented, Thrall connected Diego to an ophthalmologist for his eye and a psychiatrist for his anguish. The former crafted a custom contact lens that restored some of Diego’s sight. The latter put him on an antidepressant that may have saved the boy’s life. All this for free. Today, Diego is a thriving 16-year-old who enjoys playing soccer. If it weren’t for Thrall, he might have ended up as another lost statistic.

Newly armed with a DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice), Thrall regularly works outside a system that often ignores those she aims to serve—mostly undocumented Latinos afraid to seek medical help, lest they be found out. She’s always “on call,” driving where needed to treat a sick child, to help an adult understand how to manage diabetes, to educate a family about their health care options.

“I want to protect the people who are extremely vulnerable,” says Thrall.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer points out in his awesome book, The Cost of Discipleship

[The merciful] will be found consorting with publicans and sinners, careless of the shame they incur thereby. In order that they may be merciful, they cast away the most priceless treasure of human life, their personal dignity and honor.

For the only honor and dignity they know is their Lord’s own mercy, to which alone they owe their very lives.

So we know we need to Act with Mercy, but where do we begin.

We begin by...

James 2:15–16 NASB95

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

James 2

I can think of families right now who are struggling because of unemployment or under employment. We have a multitude of opportunities to meet physical needs. As a follower of Jesus Christ, ignoring these needs is not an option.

Every month members of this church show real mercy by your work at GRCC. (Have the people who help with hot meals stand) You provide a meal for the hungry. You sacrifice your time, your talents, and yes your treasure each month to place a hot meal in front of those who live an honest to goodness hand-to-mouth existence.

And then there are those of you here who show up every month and prepare groceries for people in need. (I would like for you to stand) You sacrifice your time and energy to see that people who cannot afford to go to the store, have food to eat. They may be impoverished and cash-poor, but you treat them with dignity and respect, as you wait on them. What a testimony for Jesus Christ.

You see a physical need, and do what you can to meet it. You may be seated.

You see a physical need, and do what you can to meet it.

Opportunities to show mercy to others surround us. There are lonely people in hospitals and nursing homes. Families struggling with financial difficulties need food, clothes, and cash for their rent. Elderly neighbors may be unable to till their gardens or shovel snow from their sidewalks. Those who are discouraged could be lifted up by a note or phone call, no matter how lacking in eloquence. The new person at church would feel welcomed by an invitation to dinner. The young widow and her kids might be thrilled to be included in your family picnic in the park. The nonChristian couple down the block would be delighted to receive a jar of your freshly-made preserves. The list is endless because God’s Spirit can always come up with fresh ideas if we are open to Him.

As you think over what you have learned about God’s mercy, you might want to ask Him to bring to mind one specific thing you could do this week, or commit yourself to do on a regular basis, to reflect His kindness and mercy. When could you begin? Whom could you ask to help you carry out your intention?

Mercy, Mercy

"Now that I’ve decided to follow Christ, how do I best serve Him?"

Act with Mercy

Following Biblical Teaching