Eight blessings (5): The blessing of the merciful (Matthew 5:7)

Eight blessings (5):

The blessing of the merciful

 

 

 

[Matthew 5:7]

 

 

We have already meditated on “The blessing of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” the fourth of the eight blessings Jesus taught.  That blessing is ‘satisfaction’.  There is one point that we did not go into more detail as we meditate on the fourth blessing.  There are three meanings of the word “righteous” (Swanson): (1) The first meaning is righteousness, what is right, justice.  One example is Matthew 5:6, which we have already meditated on, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”  Another example is Matthew 5:10 – “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Here, “righteousness” is “God’s righteousness,” not “self-righteousness” or “righteousness of the law” that the Pharisees sought.  And the righteousness of God is the righteousness based on the redemption of Jesus Christ, begotten Son of God, who took on all our sins and died on the cross in our place to pay for our sins.  (2) The second meaning is, “be put right with, be in a right relationship with”.  Look at Romans 1:17 – “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  As sinners who were enemies with God because of Adam's original sin, our right relationship with God has now been restored because all our sins are forgiven through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and God's righteousness is imputed to us and we are justified.  Now, we, who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, are no longer enmity with God, but became children of God who call God “Abba Father.”  The restoration of this right relationship is because the righteousness of God has been imputed to us only through faith in Jesus Christ.  (3) The third meaning is religious observances such as practices required by a religion.  Look at Matthew 6:1 – “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”  The “your righteousness” Jesus spoke of here is giving alms: “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (vv. 2-4).  The reason Jesus said these words was that the Pharisees wanted to be justified by keeping the law, and one of the laws they tried to keep was almsgiving.  The problem, however, was that they were hypocrites in almsgiving.  In other words, they made visible alms in order to be honored by men.  Therefore, Jesus instructed his disciples not to give alms to the poor like the Pharisees, but to give in secret.  The reason is because “your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (v. 4).  The teaching of Jesus here is the lesson that God's children, who are justified by believing in Jesus Christ by God's exclusive grace, should live by doing righteousness through that grace, and such a life is a lesson in secretly giving alms to those in need.  It is by the grace of God that the righteous live a life of giving, and they do not give in order to gain righteousness through merit like the Pharisees.

 

The word “righteousness” in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” has two meanings other than its intended meaning in the text.  To recapitulate those two meanings, one is that we are right with God, and the other is that we do what God requires of us.  So, what does God really require of us?  That God's request comes from today’s text, Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  Today, I would like to receive a lesson from God by meditating on the fifth of the eight blessings that Jesus teaches us, “they shall receive mercy”.

 

Personally, when I think of the word “mercy” in today’s text, I think of the book “Mercy” by Henri Nouwen.  Henri Nouwen says that “compassion” is derived from the Latin words 'pati' and 'cum', and combining these two words means 'to suffer together'.  In other words, compassion urges us to go to the place of wounds, to enter the place of pain, to share broken pains and fears, confusion and anguish.  Henri Nouwen also says that the Hebrew word for “mercy” is ‘rachamim’, which refers to the womb of God (Nouwen).  So, I searched the internet a bit about the womb and found out about the 'wisdom of the womb'.  I have summarized it in three (Internet): (1) The characteristic (wisdom) of the womb is ‘All body tissues have the function of rejecting foreign substances, and the womb not only accepts a fertilized egg that is a foreign substance (an egg that is fertilized by the meeting of sperm and egg in the fallopian tube) without any rejection reaction.  It is said that the placental blood vessels created afterward also accept the penetrating into the endometrium.  (2) The reason for accepting the penetration of the placental blood vessels is to establish communication with the intrauterine blood vessels to supply nutrients and to grow the placenta.  It should be noted here that this does not mean that the penetration of the placental vessels is not tolerated indefinitely.  After the placental blood vessels have penetrated to a certain extent, it inhibits further penetration and prevents the placental blood vessels from communicating with blood vessels circulating throughout the mother's body.  (3) Another characteristic of the womb is that all cells constantly repeat the creation and destruction of cells, and the endometrium secretes hormones to prevent the natural death of cells for ten months.  In addition, the womb is strong and thick in the early stages of pregnancy, but becomes thin and soft in the late stages of pregnancy, making it easier for the fetus to move on the mother's belly wall.  I have learned three lessons from comparing these three womb characteristics with God's mercy: (1) Just as the womb does not reject foreign matter but accepts it, so God the Father does not reject us sinners, but accepts us.  (2) Just as the womb receives the penetration of the placental blood vessels and nourishes the placenta to grow, so the Son Jesus accepts even the penetration of such sinners like us, that is, He died on the cross for our sins, giving us the Bread of Life.  Therefore, those who believe in Jesus, the Bread of Life, block the communication of sin so that the Lord will no longer be penetrated by sin and defile the whole body and soul.  (3) Just as the endometrium blocks the natural death of cells while the baby is growing in the womb, and the womb becomes thin and soft to facilitate the movement of the fetus in the mother's belly wall in the latter part of pregnancy, God the Holy Spirit makes us lively and move freely in the Lord, leading a life of faith.

 

Who are “the merciful” Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5:7?   The merciful here refer to the people who show compassion for the lowly (status, importance, insignificant) people (Swanson).  To put this in Henri Nouwen's Latin definition, the one who suffers with those of low (status, importance, insignificant) is the merciful.  These people are referred to in the Bible as “the merciful”, and the mercy of these people shows the mercy of God.  Look at Luke 6:35-36: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  Jesus is saying, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  The mercy of our Heavenly Father revealed here is to love the enemies, and to be kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Jesus, who tells us to be merciful just as God is merciful, loved us who were enemies of God and showed mercy to us because He was kind to us who were evil who did not know God's grace.  Look at Hebrews 2:17 – “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”  Jesus' mercy toward us is the atonement for our sins.  In other words, Jesus paid the price for all our sins.  How did he do that?  Jesus took on our sins and died on the cross to atone for all our sins.  In this way, the disciples of Jesus who experienced the Lord's mercy by receiving the forgiveness of sins through the atoning death and redemption of Jesus Christ, should show mercy to our neighbors just as Jesus showed us mercy.  What does it mean to show mercy to our neighbor here?  Specifically, we can think of two things:

 

(1)   When we say that we show mercy to our neighbors, it means that we help the poor and needy.

 

Look at Matthew 6:2-4: “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”  In fact, the Greek word for “the merciful” in Matthew 5:7 is used only in the New Testament to mean acts of kindness or giving to the poor (Kittel).  And the interesting thing is that the merciful do not only do charitable works to help the poor, but also pray to God.  In other words, the merciful people give alms in love of neighbor, but also faithfully practices prayer in relationship with God.  So, after Jesus talked about giving alms to the poor in Matthew 6:2-4, he talked about prayer in verses 5-15.  A good example of this is Cornelius, a devout and God-fearing man of Acts 10.  Look at Acts 10:2 – “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.”  And God said to Cornelius through an angel, “…  'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God” (v. 31).  In other words, godliness that God remembers is prayer and almsgiving.  The Apostle James says this in James 1:27 – “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  The Apostle James said that pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is caring for widows and orphans, who are in the lowest places in the world, and keeping oneself unstained from the world.  Cornelius devoted himself to alms and prayers with pure and undefiled godliness before God.  In order to keep himself unstained from the world, he prayed to God and feared God, and in love for his neighbor, he gave many alms to the people (Acts 10:2).  Therefore, he was praised by all the Jewish people (v. 22).  Like Cornelius, we too should be the devout and God-fearing people who are being praised by people.  We are to live a life that shows the power of godliness, not just the form of godliness (2 Tim.3:5).

 

(2)   When we say that we show mercy to our neighbor, we mean that we have compassion on our neighbor and forgive.

 

Look at Matthew 18:35 – “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”  The context of this verse is that Jesus gave the parable of the unforgiving servant.  And the reason for this parable was that the Apostle Peter came to Jesus and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?” (v. 21)  To his question, Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (v. 22).  After he said this, Jesus spoke the parable of a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves (v. 23).  In the parable of the settlement of accounts, there is a man who owed the king ten thousand talents (v. 24) and one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii (v. 28).  Although the king had compassion on the man who owed him ten thousand talent, and forgave him the debt (v. 27), the man who was forgiven the debt did not have compassion on his fellow slave, but threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed (v. 30).  When the king heard the news, he called the slave whom the king forgave the debt, and said: “…  You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’” (vv. 32-33)  The essence of this parable is to forgive a brother from the heart.  If we do not forgive our brother from the heart, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us either.  Jesus clearly states this in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  We must forgive those who have wronged us.  Then our Heavenly Father will also forgive our sins.  To do that, we must look to Jesus, who had compassion on such sinners like us and died on the cross to to forgive us all our sins.  And we must realize the mercy of the Lord toward us.  Then we will be able to have compassion on those who have sinned against us and forgive us through the mercy of the Lord who had mercy on us and forgave us (Eph. 4:32).

 

This is the blessing the Lord gives to those who are merciful.  That is to receive mercy.  Look at Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  Here, the fifth blessing Jesus speaks of, receiving mercy, means that the Lord has compassion on us and forgives us, and that the Lord gives us salvation.  Because we are merciful to our neighbors, when we forgive their sins, the Lord allows us to enjoy the blessing of forgiving us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.  Those who do not obey this word, that is, those who do not forgive those who sin against us, will not be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, so they have no choice but to live an unhappy life.  Therefore, as the Lord has forgiven us, we must also forgive those who trespass against us.  Also, since we have compassion on our neighbors, we should give alms and help them.  In other words, we must focus on philanthropy.  We must live a life of giving alms to our neighbors who are in need.  When we do this, we will be able to experience and enjoy the hand of grace that God gives us when we are in trouble.

 

It is said that Julian, who lived in England 600 years ago, prayed to God for three kinds of wounds (Tozer): (1) It is a wound of repentance.  Julian prayed, ‘Oh God!  May I be wounded by the pain of repentance.  Make me grieve for what I have sinned, and live in it.’  (2) It is a wound of longing for God.  Julian prayed, ‘God!  Give me God.  One God is enough for me.  If I pursue something less than God, I will always be thirsty.  Because to me God is everything.’  She also prayed, ‘Oh, God!  Wound me with an incurable perfume bottle.  Since this world is not my home, how can I settle here?  How can I not long for my heavenly hometown?”  (3) It is a wound of mercy.  Julian said she wanted to have compassion on the world like Jesus did.  Pastor A. W. Tozer is saying that Christianity's greatest enemy today is not materialism or liberalism, but the Christians who do not imitate Christ.  They believe in orthodox doctrine, but do not know what mercy is.  Pastor Tozer said this about the wounds of mercy: ‘I never want to heal this wound.  Rather, I want to feel pain with those in pain and share in their wounds’ (Tozer).  Shouldn't we also offer these prayers to God today?  I pray that God inflicts the wounds of repentance on all of us, for the sins that we do not love our neighbor as Jesus commanded, that we do not have compassion on our neighbor and that we do not forgivable our neighbor.  Also, I pray that God will give all of us the wounds of longing for God so that we will long for heaven more and more and live partly heavenly life on this earth.  And above all, I earnestly pray in the name of Jesus that God will inflict the wounds of mercy on us so that we may feel compassion for those who are in pain, feel the pain together, and live the lives of compassionate people who share in their wounds.