Blessed are the merciful...

"Blessed are the merciful, 

for they will receive mercy.

Matthew 5:7

"Confessing the Beatitudes," Lesson Five, examines those who show mercy.  Jesus calls disciples to imitate God by showing mercy through emotion, action, and dedication.  Let's take a deeper look at this passage in Matthew.

Greatly honored are those who show eleos, mercy [EL-leh-os].

 Jewish Christians would have understood eleos

as the Greek word for mercy:

"steadfast love" or "covenant loyalty"

as in God's mercy to God's people

 To Gentile Christians hearing Jesus' message,

eleos would be interpreted from their 

Roman teachings and the Latin meaning:

"pity" or "clememcy"

for one deserving punishment

 

In a broad, combined definition, 

mercy consists of three components:

emotion, action, and dedication

Together we explored the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke.  You remember the story:  a man was robbed, beaten, and left by the roadside.  Others walked by, avoiding the man by crossing over to the other side of the roadway.

Only the Samaritan, one despised by Jewish people because of mixed heritage and pagan beliefs, showed mercy.  He showed EMOTION, moved with pity when he saw the man in distress.  He took ACTION, binding the man's wounds and taking him to a place of rest and healing.  He showed DEDICATION, contracting with the innkeeper and providing fully for the man's present and future needs until he was well enough to go his way.

Jesus calls to us live as He would live:  as doers of mercy.

After discussing what it means to be merciful, what the possible consequences and dangers of mercy could be, and who the merciful are in our midst, we created the following confession:

Greatly honored are those who show mercy!

God is merciful to us.  He is love.

Jesus laid down His life for us, giving it all.

He wants us to be merciful as He is merciful.

We are selfish in so many ways,

seeking our own comfort.

We are too busy to be merciful.

We need to be willing to sacrifice 

in order to be merciful,

following our Lord's lead.

We resolve to support the merciful around us,

encouraging them with our prayers.

We resolve to ask God to reveal to each of us

one merciful person to support in minstry

with our prayers, with our time,

with our caring notes, and

with our helping hands.

 

And we resolve to do one act of mercy

to follow in Jesus' footsteps as a doer.

 

Join us in mercy?  The prayer from our lesson is a great way to start, slightly edited to be more personal...

Merciful God, fill my heart with mercy for Your people.  Move me to act with mercy on their behalf.  Steady me to dedicate my life to the Christ-like way of mercy.  Transform me into a woman who shows mercy, as You show mercy, that I may truly be Your child.  Amen.

Beauty from the Web

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, 

for you will be filled.

Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry"

Luke 6:21a, 25a

 

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they will be filled."

Matthew 5:6

Been thinking about the latest beatitude in our study as I wander the world-wide-web.  I've found some beauty along the way to share with you all...

A painting on a favorite blog, The Homespun Heart

Lovely painting by Monica at The Homespun Heart

- - - - - 
An excerpt from a post by Kathy Escobar

"a few days ago i walked a labyrinth with a friend.  no matter how long or short, whenever i carve out quiet time & get some silence & space to connect with God, i am always refreshed somehow.  nothing super exciting happened in the moment but i did have this strong and beautiful sense of God’s sureness underneath my feet as i walked.

it was the world’s ugliest labryinth (really) and it was a little windy & cold outside but as i walked i started noticing these little rocks that were sparkly & shiny here and there.  they were scattered within the stark brownness of the rest of the path.  i felt this sense of God whispering, “notice the beauty…don’t miss the beauty…see, it’s here…sometimes it’s hard to notice but it’s there.” in the middle of the mess of living in the trenches with people, sometimes i just get tired.  the needs always are bigger than our resources.  pain doesn’t magically disappear.  poverty is complicated.  abuse has long-lasting and brutal effects.  and a Jesus-centered life of descent as opposed to the life of ascent (even though that one’s taught in Jesus’ name, too) is definitely a bumpier road.

but that’s the road that Jesus is calling us to in the beatitudes.  it is a beautiful road.  and an ugly road (my friend deb made up a new word–beautifugly).  and most definitely the road i want to continue to walk because there’s so much to be learned here.

in the midst of Jesus’ seemingly-crazy-upside-down-living we can have deep peace. in the midst of longing for change in our own lives, in the lives of the world & the neighborhoods & churches & families, we can have deep peace.  in the midst of embracing our humanity & letting God work in our lives, we can have deep peace.  in the midst of actively pursuing justice & advocating for change, we can have deep peace.

God, help us be people who long for change, in our own lives & in the communities we live in.  and then, guide us as we act on those longings and pursue justice, integrity, wholeness and healing.  may we experience your deep peace in the midst."

- - - - - 
"Artistic Reflections on the Beatitudes of our Lord Jesus Christ" by Stephanie Miles at amentoart.com

 - - - - -
And from our study author's blog, an excerpt and this precious video about doing what we can and not despairing

"Of course many of you will not become Nobel laureates or change the discourse of the church. And giving to the Least Coin Offering or making just choices like Fair Trade coffee can seem to be just a small action given the huge challenges of hunger and thirst for food and for justice in our world today.

And it is when we despair that the saints are there to remind us of what we need to do. Listen to Dr. Maathai talk about a hummingbird.

Then let us be like the hummingbird, like the cloud of witneses. Let us do what we can, even if it seems. And, as we remember the Advent of our Lord at the end of this month, let us look forward to the day when Jesus will come and say to us, "I was hungry, and you gave me food." "

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst...

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, 

for you will be filled.

Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry"

Luke 6:21a, 25a

 

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they will be filled."

Matthew 5:6

 

Lesson Four of "Confessing the Beatitudes" focused on the hungry and thirsty, for simple bread and for justice and righteousness.  Jesus promises sustenance to the famished, but calls the "stuffed" into account.

So what about these two passages, one in Luke and one in Matthew?  How do they differ?  Let's review the Greek words in the passages for more insight:

"hungry" or "famished" = "peinontes" in the Greek;

a chronic, deep-seated, life-threatening hunger 

that the poorest of the poor know on a daily basis;

used in the Bible often to describe

those who are fasting for long periods of time

"justice" = "dikalosyne" in the Greek;

often translated "righteousness".

Justice is a stae of right relationship with God

and with neighbor;

it speaks to treating the poor, the destitute,

the widowed, the foreigners with fairness

"fed" = "chortazo" in the Greek;

one way to translate this is "They shall be filled."

Refers to the promise Jesus gives to the hungry.

 

"stuffed" = "empimplemi" in the Greek;

sated, stuffed, filled all the way up.

Refers to Jesus' rebuke of those who "stuff themselves"

while others around them are famished.

Take some time this week to read Lesson Four, "Greatly Honored are Those Who are Famished and Parched for Justice!"  Meditate on the words Jesus intentionally chose and their meanings.  Thank God for His care for those whom the world forgets, the hungry, the famished, the thirsty, those parched for justice.  Thank God for His promise of provision.  

And then, begin to think about what WE can confess as a result of learning more about this beatitude.  What do we learn about our God?  What do we learn about the famished?  Who might the famished and parched for justice be in our own community?  What small steps can we take to honor them?

Jesus said,

"Feed my sheep."

John 21:17