The Be-Attitudes #6 - “Mercy”
Matthew 5:7; Luke 10:25-37
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni.
February 11, 2007
Text
Matt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Luke 10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Review
The first four be-attitudes,
being poor in spirit,
facing sorrow,
being meek
craving righteousness,
all pointed to the inner self. They focus on attitudes that shape who we are.
Seeing ourselves for who we really are, people in need of forgiveness.
Confronting sorrow instead of hiding from it or self-medicating against it,
Considering ourselves servants to those around us,
and seeking God’s righteousness like we seek the very basics of life.
Jesus’ now turn our attention to our outward lives, or how we live amongst others. And he starts by telling us to simply care for, in practical ways, those who are around us.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
The phrase “able to take care of themselves” is one of those phrases that is quite popular these days.
Take, for example, how we give aid to people in need. The principle that governs many of our attempts to help others is found in this cliché -
“Give a man a fish, and he will be back tomorrow,
teach a man to fish, and he will take care of himself”
I used the example of The Body Shop a few weeks ago - a cosmetic company which prides itself in taking up good causes.
A few years ago, they printed T-shirts with the motto ‘Trade, not Aid”, in order to make the same point; that we should teach people how to help themselves, and not just give them hand outs
There is merit to this approach, of course, but we must never allow it to stifle our simpler calling , which is to just help people where they are with what they need.
True mercy is a real, tangible demonstration that we care about people.
It can be as simple as providing a cold drink on a hot day, or it can be as complicated as walking someone through the loss of a loved one.
True mercy is given without expectation of anything in return;
it’s not a gift exchange, but the free, no strings attached giving of help.
True mercy is also given without making any requirements of those receiving it. We don’t make people “qualify” for help; we simply help them.
Look at all the times that Jesus showed mercy:
Jesus helped lame people walk again,
which would obviously help them help themselves.
But he also feed 5000 people who were very able to go feed themselves.
He cleansed ten lepers, with the result being that they could live life for themselves. He knew that only one would actually be thankful, but did he “unheal” the other nine – of course not.
He also made wine at a wedding where everybody had already consumed what was provided.
I think a better motto would be “Trade and Aid”. However, Jesus says it better. Be merciful.
And he said it best through a story which we can all relate to:
The Good Samaritan
The Story of the Good Samaritan is one of those stories that I knew about as a child, even though I had been to church less than ten times by the time I hit the age of 16.
Jesus tells this story in reaction to a lawyer’s questions.
He has led the lawyer to admit that “Loving God and loving our neighbour” are the two greatest commandments.
The lawyer, caught by his own inadequacies, asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?”
This question can also be phrased as “who do I really need to care about?” It is the lawyer’s attempt to winnow out the riffraff from those who are,
in his eyes, truly deserving of love.
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was just over eighteen miles long, and in that span it drops over 3000 feet. That is why Jesus says the man was “going down from Jerusalem to Jericho”.
It was a treacherous, winding descent through limestone formations that included many caves, so it was a prime area for bandits to hide and wait for unsuspecting prey.
The bandits cared for nothing but their own greed, and killing a man for his clothes and purse would be common practice for them.
They even had a motive to leave the victim dead. If they were caught, they would face the same punishment for robbery as they would for murder - crucifixion. So it was safer for them to kill any victims, or witnesses to their crime, then to leave them alive.
31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
The listeners would hear Jesus mention the priest, and think - “oh good, the priest will help him”. They would be disappointed to hear of his reluctance to even see if the man was still alive.
Some have argued that a priest would defile himself if he touched a dead body, so he couldn’t stop to help. He had to maintain his purity for his priestly duties.
In this argument, crossing over to the other side of the road is seen as an act of devotion, because some thought that even your shadow making contact with a dead body was enough to risk defilement.
Two facts argue against this:
One - he’s not on his way to work. He’s traveling the same direction as the man was - Jesus said “he’s going DOWN the same road”. Going down meant Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest traveling this direction would be returning home from his priestly duties in the temple in Jerusalem.
Two - even if he did defile himself, there was a understanding that this was a risk he should take to help a fellow man. There were always plenty of priests on duty, who could cover for him if he had to excuse himself, and there was also a prescribed method of cleansing oneself after contact with a dead body.
SO, instead of showing the compassion that God expects him to show, he deliberately avoids even checking on the man’s condition. He sees a dying man, and crosses the road to avoid him. He doesn’t want to get involved.
He may be scared, because the same bandits who robbed the visit could make him their next prey. Regardless, he’s no hero of the faith.
32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
The Levite would be a worker in the temple. The priests were responsible for the rituals and sacrifices, while the Levites did the repairs, maintained the animals and generally kept the temple running.
The people would hear him be mentioned and think “Good - if the priest won’t help, surely he will”.
But they will again be disappointed. His behavior is exactly the same as the priest. He too does not want to risk his neck to get involved.
After these two disappointments, the listeners will be expecting to hear that a ordinary man, just like them, came by and helped the man.
Jesus had worked down the religious ranks from a priest to a Levite,
and the next logical step would be a regular, practicing Jew.
There was even a public sentiment at the time that the regular Jews were more “Jewish” then the professionals like the priests and Levites, since they were not making a living from their faith.
With this in mind, Jesus’ next sentence would literally cause them to choke with disgust.
33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
We’ve become so acclimatized to hearing the Samaritan in a good light that we can’t feel the revulsion the original audience would have.
We’ve even named the parable “The Story of the Good Samaritan”,
despite the fact that no where in this story is he called, “good”.
To find a similar comparison to the Jews and the Samaritans today, we could go to Israel now and tell a story about a Palestinian suicide bomber stopping to help a Jewish settler.
That analogy would be very close, because the Samaritans of that day were despised by the Jews, and they were considered trespassers on Jewish land.
In the century before the birth of Christ, they had even been attacked by the Jews because of disagreements over boundaries.
Jewish settlers in a disputed area had been attacked by Samaritans,
and in response the Jews had marched into Samaria, reclaimed the land and torn down the Samaritan’s main temple.
Jesus takes this into account when he tells the story. He’s looking for the hardest person for his listeners to regard as a neighbour, and he found it!
The Samaritan risks his own life and spends his own money to help the man several different ways:
34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
A few points to consider in his actions:
1. He probably had to use his own clothing for bandages - he certainly wasn’t a paramedic with a first aid kit!
2. The oil and wine would be traditional treatments for injuries - oil to soothe pain and wine to clean the wound.
3. Placing the man on his donkey would slow him down and make him vulnerable to attack.
4. Taking him to the inn would provide a safe place for them both,
5. nursing him back to health would take valuable time – he stays with him overnight too make sure he will survive.
6. Finally, his payment of the bill amounts to a three and a half week deposit - he gives the innkeeper two silver coins, and the going rate for a inn, room and board, was one/twelfth of a silver coin.
He goes well beyond what any of the listeners would have expected from anyone, except maybe their own family.
With that in mind, Jesus asks the lawyer he’s been talking to the following question:
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The man knew the answer, and by this time so did everyone else who was listening. The conversation had started with this man thinking he could “test Jesus”, and now Jesus has trapped him into acknowledging a Samaritan’s actions as a role model for love.
He spits out the answer, but he cannot even bring himself to say the word “Samaritan”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus has left the man no room for wiggling out of loving his neighbour, from his closest family to his most despised enemy, with the same kind of love that we show ourselves. The story ends with the simple statement,
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus tells us the same thing - go and do likewise. Be merciful.
But he says it with a condition: “for they will be shown mercy”.
Jesus’ love for us, his mercy shown in our lives, comes with no need for payment required, but that does not mean that he expects nothing of us.
I don’t usually read two long passages in one sermon,
but I cannot avoid how well these next words from Jesus make this point:
(read Matthew 25:31-40)
In this case, Jesus is NOT telling a story; he is telling his followers what he will do when it is time for him to come to the earth.
He has said that those who care for others with be cared for themselves. These people, called “the righteous”, are those who have chosen to follow him, and show it in their lives. They have simply cared for those who they came in contact with.
They are not righteous simply because they have helped people - Jesus has made it very clear elsewhere that we cannot earn “righteousness” on our own. However, their helping others is the primary outward sign of their righteousness. It is the evidence of their faith in Christ, the King.
Those helped had been people with many different needs, ranging from starvation and dehydration to lack of shelter and clothing, sickness, and even imprisonment.
The righteous had helped these people not knowing that they were actually helping “the King”; they had simply cared for those who needed care. And because of that, they receive first class tickets to the greatest gift - eternal life, the kingdom of God. They are indeed “shown mercy”.
But then the King delivers the bad news: (read Matthew 25:41-46)
These people are absolutely stunned.
They may have thought of themselves as righteous followers of Christ,
or they may not have cared at all.
The common ground they all share is that they didn’t share with anyone! They saw ‘care’ or ‘mercy’ as helping those who can then help them.
They probably would have cared for the King if they had known it was him, but to those who really needed help, they had nothing to give. They did not care for those who needed care.
Their outward actions have shown an inward heart which was focused on nothing but themselves. They have not shown mercy, therefore they do not receive mercy.
To wrap this up today,
Let us strive to be people who simply care for others,
people who show mercy to those in need of help.
Do we need to be careful in our mercy?
Yes, we don’t want to put money in the hands of a drunk begging outside the liquor store, nor do we help others do wrong simply because it may make life easier for them.
But we must not let prudence interfere with or overpower mercy.
That’s a challenge, because it can be so easy to offer help with our own strings attached. But the closer we can come to this, the closer we are to showing true mercy.
When do we reach this point of true mercy?
When we extend our hand to someone who cannot help us at all.
When we open our hearts to someone who may not return our compassion.
When we spend time with someone who has nothing to give us in return.
When we give our cold hard cash to someone who will never repay.
When we open our homes to someone who may not make life easier by their coming.
When we spend time with people who may not even know we are there.
We will all show mercy in different ways, just as each one of us stands unique before God and each other.
Bu though we are all different in personality, we all share a common need; we all need the mercy of Christ in our lives. He offers us so much that we can never earn our own.
And what does he ask in return? That we, having experienced his mercy, go on to share it with others.
Mercy, caring for others, is the outward sign that we understand that Jesus cares for us.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
