Showing Mercy

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

Matthew 5:7

Why is mercy so important? Mercy is an aspect of grace. It has been said that grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. James Montgomery Boice tells us that mercy is the aspect of God’s grace “poured out on those who apart from it are miserable and pitied.”[1] Mercy is compassion for those in need. “The noun mercy…always deals with what we see of pain, misery, and distress, these results of sin; and grace always deals with the sin and guilt itself. The one extends relief, the other pardon, the one cures, heals, helps, the other cleanses and reinstates.”[2]
 
Mercy is compassion in action. It is more than just a feeling of pity which feels sorry for a person’s plight but does nothing to alleviate the trouble. “Mercy means active goodwill. This was well understood by the nineteenth-century preacher who happened across a friend whose horse had just been accidentally killed. While a crowd of onlookers expressed empty words of sympathy, the preacher stepped forward and said to the loudest sympathizer, ‘I am sorry five pounds. How much are you sorry?’ and he passed the hat. True mercy demands action.”[3]
 
Mercy is forgiving. Mercy and forgiveness are directly related to one another. Those who have received mercy from God should demonstrate mercy to others just as those who have been forgiven by God should forgive others. In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus tells the story of a servant who is forgiven an amazing amount of money. In our terms perhaps 20 million dollars. This servant immediately turns around and demands full payment from a man who owes him a few thousand dollars. The man begged for mercy, but the fellow slave threw him in jail until he could pay.
 
“When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:31-35)
 
I am not saying that it may not be difficult to show mercy and forgiveness at times. Some of us have gone through horrible pain and hurt at the hands of others and forgiveness doesn’t come easily. What I am saying is that there must be a willingness to forgive and show mercy. That is a demonstration of being a son or daughter of God. When we show mercy, we demonstrate that we have received mercy from God.

[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew: Volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001, 76.

[2] John R.W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1978, 47.

[3] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, 47. (Emphasis in original)