If you tune the second string of your guitar, the A string, to 440 hertz, then pluck it, the E string at 330 hertz will begin to vibrate also, because they share an overtone of 1320 hertz. It is called sympathetic vibrations. As you read this paragraph, Jesus is plucking the A string of mercy; does your heart vibrate with it? Do we sense in our souls that God showed us mercy ill-deserved? When Jesus says to give to everyone who begs, is our only thought, “I will lose all of my money”? Is there any resonance in the depth of your being with the fact that you are a beggar of God’s grace? Mercy is not first pity toward others’ needs; it is first an experience of God’s favor.
Thus Robert Murray M’Cheyne pleaded with those in his congregation: “There are many hearing me who now know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart.”
Jesus is not asking if there are any who deserve our help; he wants to know if any of us have God’s heart.