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.