Our promise and condition for consideration this week is taken from verse 7 of Matthew 5. We will receive mercy if we show mercy.
What is mercy? It is simply compassion, sympathy, pity. It is an act of caring and having feeling for others. It is putting others before ourselves.
God shows us mercy in two different situations. He shows us mercy when we break His laws, and He shows mercy when things happen to us that are out of our control.
In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel confessed the sins of the people of Israel. In verse 9 he said, “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets” (KJV).
Mercy belongs to God, as does forgiveness. We can read all through the Old Testament how God showed mercy and forgiveness to His people even though they sinned over and over again, but each time there was mercy and forgiveness, there was repentance.
Paul told Timothy in I Timothy 1:13 and 16 that he (Paul) was once a blasphemer and a persecutor, and that he injured others, but he received mercy because he did it “ignorantly and in unbelief”.
Paul didn’t just receive mercy without some action on his part. He had to repent of persecuting Christians and change from his old life. Then he had to be obedient by being baptized for the remission of his sins. We read the complete story of his conversion in Acts chapter 9.
There are a number of examples of the mercy of the Father on those who suffered because of things beyond their control. We see this over and over in the life of Christ as He healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons.
In Matthew 9:27-31, two blind men came to Jesus. They were crying as they approached Jesus. They said, “Thou son of David, have mercy on us”. They couldn’t help the situation in which they found themselves. They were blind, and they desperately wanted to see. They begged for mercy. They wanted that pity and compassion from a man that could help them. Jesus provided just that and healed them.
In Matthew 20, Jesus encountered two blind men sitting on the side of the road. They also said, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David”. Verse 34 says, “So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him”.
In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus met ten lepers. Their plea was, “Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus cleansed them of a terrible disease. He had compassion on them.
We can’t give sight to the blind. We don’t see lepers; and even if we did, we couldn’t heal them. We do, however, see people every day on whom we can show mercy.
Mercy comes in different forms, to many different people, and for many different reasons. For instance, on my way to the church building this morning traffic was heavy. A truck driver was signaling to change lanes, but the driver of the car in front of us would not let the truck over. Why? The driver of the car didn’t know how to show mercy. This certainly isn’t the kind of mercy Jesus showed, but it is still an example of being sensitive to the needs of others.
When you go to do your weekly grocery, do you see someone behind you with only an item or two while your basket is full? Do you allow them to go ahead of you because you have compassion on them?
We recently had a family in our congregation expecting a baby. They had two young children at home. Then they received a wonderful surprise—they were expecting triplets!
When they brought those beautiful babies home, our congregation showed compassion over and over again. They provided meals; they washed clothes; they changed diapers; they even “adopted” a baby and spent many nights with this family to help this mom and dad get some much-needed sleep.
Recently, a nurse practitioner had a 92-year-old patient. The lady told her that she wanted to start attending worship, but she didn’t have transportation. This nurse offered to bring her to worship with her family. She accepted and is attending as often as she is able.
Mercy. Compassion. It comes in all shapes and sizes and it is available to us if only we allow ourselves to show it to others.
Sandra Oliver
This lesson reminds me of the account in Luke 10:27-37, where it tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The one wishing to justify himself asked who his neighbor was. Jesus’ parable shows how the religious leaders of the day (a priest and a Levite) passed by the man on the side of the road who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead, but the Samaritan had compassion on him. How did he show compassion (mercy)? He bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn (a form of hospital), and took care of him. Beyond that he gave the owner of the inn money to take care of him until he returned and promised to pay whatever else was lacking too.
The priest and the Levite passed on by the poor traveler. They were bent on doing their own business and not on showing mercy. The humble Samaritan took time and money to help a man who otherwise might have died.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, *mercy,* and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel (Matt. 23:23).