Matt.5:7 – Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Matt.5:7 – TPT – How satisfied you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you.
This is the very heart of our new nature that we have received from the Lord. One of the characteristics of those called the salt of the earth is mercy. Mercy has become part of our nature because of the ceaseless mercy we have all received from the Lord. Augustine connected the word mercy to the word compassion, connecting mercy and compassion reminds me of an incident in the life of Jesus. A sinful woman approached Jesus and washed His feet with her tears and her hair. A religious leader was offended by this which gave Jesus a chance to share about the mercy of God and its effect on us. He said this woman was displaying compassion because she had been forgiven much, the Pharisee on the other hand was stuck in rules and dogmas. Jesus taught that compassion and mercy flow out of the mercy of the Lord. Mercy is the mark of those who are the salt of the earth. Here is how Augustine described it.
“Hear what follows: “Blessed are the compassionate, for God will have compassion on them.” Do this, and it will be done to you. Do it in regard to another that it might be done in regard to you. For you may overflow yet remain in need. You may overflow with temporal things but remain in need of eternal life. You hear the voice of a beggar, but before God you are yourself a beggar. Someone is begging from you, while you yourself are begging. As you treat your beggar, so will God treat his. You who are empty are being filled. Out of your fullness fill an empty person in need, so that your own emptiness may be again filled by the fullness of God.”
Every year we celebrate July 4 by throwing a free food festival for the poor and needy in New Orleans. This event brings us face to face with this message, we are showing mercy on others just as we receive mercy from the Lord every day. The self righteous need no mercy and tend to withhold mercy from others. All around us everyday we see people’s lives who have been ravaged by their own sins or the sins of others. We have all experienced these things in our own lives. The only way out is by tasting of the mercy of the Lord, when you do, His mercy captivates you and leads you to show mercy to others. Blessed are the merciful.
