"Blessed are the Merciful..."

A Sip

Hi there reader, this is just a quick blog I‘ve decided to post whilst writing my bigger one at the moment just so you know I‘m still alive and Well (pun intended). This is actually a message I facilitated earlier this semester for my University fellowship group. The topic we have been working through this semester has been the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel and this one is on, as you can see, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." (Mt 5:7) Hope you enjoy!

Spring Time!

The passage that we will be discussing which is fondly referred to as, ‘The Beatitudes’, is found in the broader context of Jesus’ most famous ethical pronouncement, The Sermon on the Mount. Now, if you think that the name ‘beatitude’ refers to a list of ‘attitudes’ which Jesus compels us to ‘be’, you would be mistaken as I was. We get the name ‘beatitude’ from the Latin Bible where each beatitude is commenced with the Latin word, ‘Beati…’ This simply means, ‘Blessed are…’ But for those of you who are astute in your Biblical knowledge you will know that the New Testament was not written in Latin, but rather in Greek. So to get to the bottom of what ‘blessed’ means, we must consult the Greek translation of the text.

The Greek word used in Matthew 5 for blessed is ‘makarioi’, the plural of the word, ‘makarios’. This means much more than its commonly mistranslation of ‘happy’. You see, the word happy signifies a mood or emotion that is altogether fragile and completely dependant on circumstances. This is most clearly shown in its Old Norse root, ‘happ’, which means luck or chance. It is far too delicate a word too be used in the context of the Beatitudes, particularly when you come to verses about mourning and persecution where a believer’s temporal state of happiness would likely be destroyed by the distressing circumstances.

Makarioi on the other hand, denotes a state that is largely untouched by circumstances. It is used by the Greeks to convey a state of wholeness and completeness such as the state of the Greek gods who had, within themselves, everything they needed for satisfaction and contentment. To put it simply, happiness refers to a temporary, fragile and temporary state of elation. Whereas makarioi refers to an eternal, durable and complete state of contentment. When Jesus makes these series of blessings, He has in mind the eternal inheritance and salvation of His followers. By these words, He consoles, comforts and encourages His present (and future) sheep that no matter what hardships they must go through, their eternal wellbeing found only in the promises of God fulfilled in Christ, is and will be guaranteed and perpetually secured.

As John Calvin so eloquently explains it in his commentaries on the Synoptic Gospels, "Now let us see, in the first place, why Christ spoke to his disciples about true happiness. We know that not only the great body of the people, but even the learned themselves, hold this error, that he is the happy man who is free from annoyance, attains all his wishes, and leads a joyful and easy life. At least it is the general opinion, that happiness ought to be estimated from the present state. Christ, therefore, in order to accustom his own people to bear the cross, exposes this mistaken opinion...The only consolation which mitigates and even sweetens the bitterness of the cross and of all afflictions, is the conviction, that we are happy in the midst of miseries: for our patience is blessed by the Lord, and will soon be followed by a happy result. This doctrine, I do acknowledge, is widely removed from the common opinion: but the disciples of Christ must learn the philosophy of placing their happiness beyond the world, and above the affections of the flesh. Though carnal reason will never admit what is here taught by Christ, yet he does not bring forward any thing imaginary...but demonstrates from the fact, that those persons are truly happy, whose condition is supposed to be miserable...And not only does Christ prove that they are in the wrong, who measure the happiness of man by the present state, because the distresses of the godly will soon be changed for the better; but he also exhorts his own people to patience, by holding out the hope of a reward."

However, whilst the New Testament is recorded in Greek, we must also finally consider that Jesus most likely did not speak Greek when speaking the Sermon on the Mount. He most likely spoke in Aramaic. This means the word He probably used was, ‘Ashre…’ This means that someone will benefit from the Lord by faithfully walking in His ways and His law. In other words, the beneficiaries of the blessings spelled out by Jesus in the Beatitudes will not receive them based on mere fortune or chanceful virtue, but rather through deliberate walking with the Lord in faith. Only Christians will receive these blessings bound up in Christ. Paul further explains this in Galatians 3:16-22:

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

In other words, all blessings flowing from God’s covenantal love and salvaging promise with and through Abraham are only extended to his Seed, who is the Christ. Therefore, in order to be a spiritual descendant of Abraham and partake in these blessings, one must be in Christ.

Martin Luther summarises this well (as he usually does) by saying, "Therefore this sermon and exhortation ... finds no scholars except those who are already cleaving to and believing on Christ, who know of no holiness of their own, but who, as already described, are poor, wretched, meek, really hungering and thirsting, and so disposed that they despise nobody, but compassionately sympathise with the need of everybody else."

But now, onto the specific Beatitude du Jour:

1) WHAT DOES 'MERCIFUL' MEAN?

As Martin Luther so accurately points out, mercy is an "excellent fruit of faith." He goes on to define in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount that there are two faces of what we call mercy. The first is taking pleasure in forgiving sinners as our Heavenly Father does. The second is to be beneficent towards all those who require help, doing acts of mercy listed in Matthew 25:35-36:

"’For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’"

John Calvin further explains mercy by saying that, "The world reckons those men to be happy, who give themselves no concern about the distresses of others, but consult their own ease. Christ says that those are happy, who are not only prepared to endure their own afflictions, but to...assist the wretched - who willingly take part with those who are in distress - who clothe themselves, as it were, with the same affections."

2) WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT MERCIFUL?

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (Jas 2:12-13)

As Christians, mercifulness is supposed to be one of our characteristics. The world at large is supposed to be marked by not showing mercy. But this then begs the question - can a non-believer show mercy? Well, the answer is quite obvious for anyone who has ever lived in this world. The answer is yes. This is a sign of God’s common Grace in this world. Non-believers can exhibit acts of mercy. But what Jesus is ultimately talking about in this Beatitude as with the others is true mercifulness. Mercifulness which not only sprouts forth from the love of Christ, but is motivated by it. In other words, to show true mercy you yourself must first experience true mercy which is shown by Christ and symbolised by the Cross. This is the only act of mercy which is truly pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, one which is motivated by experiential Christly mercy. If you find this hard to get your head around, I will further extrapolate on this idea in greater detail in my next blog.

But anyway, back to the question at hand. Where do those who do not exhibit true mercy go? Passages such as Luke 16:19-31 make it quite clear that those who do not show true mercy end up in Hell, as the Rich Man did. If one does not show mercy, mercy will not be shown to him as James says.

3) WHY SHOULD WE BE MERCIFUL?

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Lk 6:35-36)

Jesus sums it up perfectly - we, as sons and daughters of God, should show mercy because He does. This mercy is most manifest on the Cross and in the person of Christ, shown in such passages as John 8. We are to be imitators of God, and because mercifulness is a characteristic of Him, so it should be of His numerous children.

4) WHAT DOES GOD SAY REGARDING MERCY?

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mt 9:12-13)

Jesus shows by His eating with those whom the self-righteous Pharisees saw as ‘sinners’ that He shows mercy on these same sinners. And what His condemnation of these Pharisees is based on is that whilst they made many a sacrifice to God in their temples and meticulously studied the Law and the Prophets, they were nonetheless hypocrites who did not imitate God by showing mercy on the needy sinners they were placed over. What God is saying here and in Hosea is that He does not want His people to come to Him with religious obligation and tradition if they do not accompany this with hearts unto God, hearts which show mercy and love towards their neighbours. So what sorts of things does God want? He tells us in Zechariah 7:9-10:

"This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’"

But do we listen to Him?

"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry." (Zech 7:11-12)

The answer is, like the Israelites, we do not. As fallen sinful humans, these demands are impossible for us to carry out holily on our own. It is only through God’s penetrating saving Grace that any of our totally depraved hearts can be transformed so as to set them upon the things of God and obeying His moral will. This includes showing true mercy. Godly mercy. But alas, we shall go into more detail with these things next time.

Before I bid you goodbye, let me leave you with the beautifully profound words of Henry Nouwen on the Beatitudes. "These words present a portrait of the child of God. It is a self-portrait of Jesus, the Beloved Son. It is also a portrait of me as I must be."

Waves

Well, that was my second blog on here so far. It ended up running a lot longer than I had anticipated, but it was good to revisit some of these good truths again. For those enthusiastic few who cannot wait until my next scintillating post, I should have it up tomorrow…or the next day…or the ne…oh, you get the picture! But until next time, put that in your cloud and rain it (Jude 12).

Christus Regnat,

MAXi