Sermon on the Mount

Week 08 – Blessed are the Merciful

Review
The Sermon on the Mount is the core of Jesus’ yoke and if we want to be true Jesus followers, then we
need to understand how to live out his yoke. The main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to show
how to live a life that God finds pious, that is, how to live out the righteousness of God here on Earth.
To do this, Jesus begins his sermon with the “Principles of the Yoke,” the Beatitudes. We have learned
that the while the word “Blessed” literally means “happy,” it is much more than that. It more closely
resembles something akin to “Held in honor by God” or “In a righteous relationship with God.”

Introduction
Last week looked at the concept of righteousness. Righteousness implies justice and conformance to
established standards. Basically, righteousness means “doing the right thing.” The Law was given to
inform of us of those standards and then to show us how to live in a righteous relationship with God and
live in a righteous relationship with fellow man.

The interesting thing is that these two are highly correlated to each other. A lot of living in righteous
relationship with God depends on us living in righteous relationship with one another (Matthew 22:36-
40). If we ask, “how do I know if I am living righteously for God?” then the answer is to look and see
how you treat others (Hosea 6:6, Luke 10:25-37, John 13:34-25, James 2:16, Matthew 25:31-46).

We learned last week that when a person really desires righteousness, he is constantly reflecting on his
action and interactions with others to determine if he is doing the right thing. The problem is that life is
chaotic and flexible. Not every interaction scenario is covered in the Law. Each situation is different and
what is “the right thing to do” in one instance may not be best for another instance. Also, as the world
changes, the practical, day-to-day interactions change as well. The questions then arise about if what I
am doing is really the best in this particular situation.

In Jesus’ day, it was the rabbis who stepped in to answer these questions. These answers were their
“yoke.” Things like: “unscrew the light bulb of your fridge” on Friday night so you don’t do any work on
the Sabbath when you open the fridge door. We discussed a little bit about who has the authority to
make these calls today and I proffered the idea that each of us is authorized to make these decisions
ourselves for ourselves. When these requirements for righteousness come from external sources, they
become rigid rules that must be followed and lead to self-righteousness. Only when righteousness
comes from inside you, is it easy and light. It is no longer an obligation or duty, but a free act of service.

Now, one thing I was not clear on and last week that I want to be clear on is that we don’t get to set
what the “established standards” are. Only God and Jesus can do that. We see that Jesus’ yoke is easier
and lighter because he cuts down the number of established standards to just two (Matthew 22:36),
which, in reality, is just one, love. Then, to make it even easier, we just get to choose how to implement
those standards. We are able to act in accordance with our own conscience when deciding if an act or
interaction is righteous or not (Romans 14 especially v. 5, 14 & 22-23; c.f. Romans 2:13-15, Romans 9:1,
Romans 10:10). And, while we are each authorized to use our own judgment in doing so, it is important
to note that we are not alone. God gave us the Holy Spirit and a community to help us make those calls
(Acts 15 especially v. 10-11 & 28).

This should lead us to asking “how do I live in community with those who have different standards than
I do?” As he transitions from our attitudes towards our relationship with God, this is the question Jesus
answers right away with today’s beatitude: Be merciful.

Merciful
Discussion Question

1. What is mercy?
2. What does mercy look like?

Interpretation 1
Mercy can have a broad range of meanings, but they all involve concrete acts rather than just an
attitude. It can mean "to forgive sins." In the context of righteousness that we have been talking about,
we can see that having mercy extends to the different ways someone practices righteousness (Matthew
7:1-2, Romans 15:1, 7). We need to seek to really understand our fellow man and his circumstances.

This is a delicate balance because we, as fellow heirs, have an obligation to hold each other to some
accountability (I Corinthians 5, Matthew 18:15-20). The fact is that the freedom proffered by the easy
yoke of Jesus can be corrupted by Satan. He can lead us to accept sin as conscionable. However, the
community should clearly be able to see when that happens and be prepared to step in and warn the
brother/sister of the lie and shed truth on it.

When dealing with people over disputable matters, mercy should be our overwhelming attitude. We
should be gracious to them and to their conscience, even if we don’t agree with it. Then, we can expect
the same kind of mercy from them in our beliefs. It is a mutual respect for one another.

In more pressing matters of sin, we still have to offer mercy (Galatians 6:1-5, 10). When we need to
confront somebody, we have to first prepare ourselves.

a) Have I tested my own life to see if I am spiritual? (Gal. 6:1,3-5)

b) Am I able to go to this person in gentleness and humility? (Gal. 6:1; Matt. 11:29)
c) Am I willing to carry their burdens and love them? Do I understand their burdens or am I
holding them to a standard that I hold myself to? (Gal. 6:2)
d) Have I failed in a similar area in my own life? (Rom. 2:1-3)
NOTE: Maybe I am projecting my own sin into the person’s life.
 e) Have I failed in my example to him/her? (Heb. 12:12-13)
f) Is there an offense or attitude on my part which has contributed to my brother’s/sister's sin? If
so, I need to go under the steps of Matt. 5:23-24

All of these questions are acts of mercy and grace because we are seeking to bring a spiritual healing to
our brother or sister.

Interpretation 2
A related word refers to the giving of money to the poor (6:2, 3, 4). "Showing mercy” can mean "to heal
those who are sick" (9:27; 20:30, 31) or "those possessed by demons" (15:22; 17:17). Twice in Matthew,
Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." In the first of these (9:13), he metaphorically
illustrates mercy as being a physician to those who are sick (9:12). It is spoken in the context of eating
with sinners and tax collectors (9:10-13). In the second instance (12:7), the context is feeding those who
are hungry.

In a basic sense, then, "the merciful" are healers, people who seek to put right that which has gone
wrong. They favor the removal of everything that prevents life from being as God intends: poverty,
ostracism, hunger, disease, demons, and debts.

We easily feel compassion and are willing to merciful to some people because we intrinsically
understand that they have no justification for being in the situation they are in: e.g., a child with cancer.
a person with Down’s Syndrome, et. al. We have more trouble where we feel people are “reaping what
they sowed.” We have trouble feeling compassion for the lifelong smoker who is now dying of lung
cancer. We have trouble feeling compassion for the guy who partied all through high school and now
can’t get a job. We have trouble feeling compassion for the druggie who lost his job because he didn’t
show up when he was passed out.

And that raises questions about mercy and healing. How do you decide how and when to help people?
Our resources are limited. Stewardship demands that we be wise with our resources. And of course,
there are huge interpretations about the best way to show mercy. Is it merciful to give a hungry man a
sandwich and send him on his way or do you seek feed him and teach him to fish? How many days do
you give a man a fish while you teach him to fish? When do you say, I’ve taught you and now you must
fend for yourself. What is our obligation to mercy and does mercy always look like a handout?

We make these kinds of “mercy” determinations as parents. We know that we can’t serve our children
forever, so we become hard on them about something so they take care of themselves. We set
expectations and may cut off privileges and benefits of the family when those expectations aren’t met
because we understand the onus for behavior must be on the child. Obviously, we hold our five-year
old to a different standard than our newborn infant.

The Greeks actually have two words for poor. Those who destitute and cannot work or earn money
because of physical, mental, or social abnormalities (widows and orphans) and those who “live paycheck
to paycheck.” There are different obligations to each type of poor person and each man must act in
accordance to his own conscience in how he deals with them.
Interpretation 3
One of the key principles in an “Honor and Shame” society is that of “riposte.” Remember how we
talked about “honor” being a limited and finite resource? SO, the only way for me to gain honor is to
take somebody else’s honor. This was usually done through a “challenge and riposte” kind of dance.

“Since honor is never genuine until acknowledged by others, the game of challenge and riposte
expresses the refusal by some to acknowledge any such claims to the worth and precedence of
another. Generally, the game consists of four steps: (1) claim of worth and value, (2) challenge
of that claim or refusal to acknowledge the claim, (3) riposte of defense of the claim, and (4)
public verdict of success awarded either to claimant or challenger.” (Honor and Shame in the
Gospel of Matthew by Jerome H. Neyrey, p.20)

This might take place anywhere in the social life, the market place, the gym, the synagogue or a
banquet. A man may come to the banquet and seat himself in a place higher than he should, thus
claiming he has more honor than the person he has displaced. If the person he has displaced does not
challenge that claim, he will lose honor (i.e., gain shame).

So, according to the steps of honor challenges, a man who does not respond to a challenge risks shame.
His friends and neighbors would see him as a weakling, a dishonorable man who does not know how to
defend his honor and worth. Yet, this appears to be what Jesus is saying brings freedom. In this case,
“mercy” had to do with the renunciation of the challenge. Jesus is saying a merciful person is one
pardons the insult, takes no revenge. This is further explained in Matthew 18:21-35.

Conclusion
This beatitude is the first one that deals with how to live in relationship with each other. (Remember,
the first four focused on our relationship before God). Mercy is all about how we look at other people.
We treat them as best we can, even better than ourselves. I think there is a parallel to the first
beatitude, poor in spirit. A person ‘poor in spirit’ recognizes his true worth before God. A merciful
person recognizes his true worth before other men. He understands that “There but for the grace of
God, go I” and treats others accordingly.