Mercy . . . . Mercy
August 21, 2022
Matthew 5:1-7
Does anyone remember what happened on March 24, 1989? When most of us struggle with what we had for breakfast this morning, this one is a real brain tester. It was a cold night off the coast of Alaska. The captain of the tanker barked orders to a second mate, the orders were vague, the night was black and before they knew what happened, the collision was disastrous.
The tanker, the EXXON VALDEZ, had run aground in Bligh Reef, dumping 11 million gallons of crude oil into one of the most scenic bodies of water in the world. Petroleum blackened everything in sight; beaches, otters, whales, birds, fish and more.
This collision and others we can think of, like the Titanic, auto accidents, home and work accidents . . . They are never expected are they? But I want to focus on a different type of collision, sometimes it’s the results of an accident, it’s a collision of the heart. We’ve all been there. Someone doesn’t meet our expectations, promises are unfulfilled, or we we’re rejected by someone we love.
The result? A collision, an epic disaster of our hearts. The energy which escapes us is as black and ugly as the crude oil which escaped from the Valdez. Just like the water which was coated in black oil, our hearts, spirits, minds, our whole body becomes dominated by this darkness, which we call bitterness and grief. It controls us, some can’t escape it, joy is gone, and we feel suffocated.
This morning, let me ask you - - - is there a hole or wound in your heart?
Maybe the wound is old . . . you were abused, you were rejected, a mate betrayed you, a friend turned their back on you, a business deal went bad, a loved one became sick or died . . . and now, after all these years, you remain angry.
Or maybe the wound is fresh. The person who owes you money drove past you in their new car, the promotion you hoped for was given to someone else, your career path is not what you once thought it would be, sickness has invaded your body, your best friends went for a long weekend and somehow they forgot to ask you, the children you raised seem to have forgotten about you.
You’re more than angry, you’re seething, you’re like a kettle filled with steam, about to blow its top. You’re ready to scream, to hit, to punish something, anything . . .
You’re broken, and you’re bitter. Part of you wants to cry and give up, part wants to fight. There’s a fire burning in your heart, it’s blazing and consuming. And now you have a decision to make . . . “Do I put the fire out or stoke it? Do I get over it or get even? Release it or keep it? Heal or hate?”
You’re anger is eating you up. You’re filled with resentment. It’s built an iron wall around you. Resentment is when you’re stoking and poking and feeding the fire, stirring the flames and deliberately reliving the pain.
Oftentimes, the remedy is something we struggle with. Forgiveness. Without forgiveness, all you have left is bitterness. And that leaves you with a gaping hole in the hull of your heart. Not until we call the repairman, named Jesus, can we find healing.
And this is where we look at the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus went up on a mountain side and began to teach the people, He told them - - -
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY WILL BE SHOWN MERCY.
This is the only Beatitude where you receive what you sow. The merciful are shown mercy.
In order to illustrate forgiveness and mercy, Jesus told a story in Matthew 18. There was a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. So he called one in who owed him about $30 million. Since the man couldn’t repay the king, the king was going to sell the man, his wife and children in order to recoup some of his money. The man fell at the feet of the king and pleaded for more time. The king was moved and canceled all of his debts. He was set free.
After leaving his meeting with the king, the man ran into someone who owed him $30. He demanded the money from him. When he couldn’t pay, he had the guards put him in jail until he could repay his debt.
When the king heard about this he was furious and had this man brought to him. The king said - - -
32You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?
34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
Could someone actually be forgiven of a debt of millions of dollars, then turn around and be unable to forgive a debt of a few dollars? Can a person really be set free, then imprison another person? We would like to think not. Yet, how many of us thank God for His grace and mercy on Sunday, then demand justice, our brand of justice - - - on Monday.
In this parable, the king is God; and Jesus is trying to teach us just how much God has extended mercy to you and I. He’s given us so much, He even gave us His Son. According to Jesus, we then take this mercy and turn around and pervert it. Because we refuse to let go, we desecrate the name of Jesus by our actions.
According to Strongs, the word MERCY means - - - kindness or good will toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them."
That may sound a bit bizarre, but it’s also said the word mercy comes from the word for olive oil. Olive oil was used to treat wounds. It was soothing, comforting, and healing. It speaks then to a merciful God who is all those things.
So imagine praying “Lord have mercy” - - - asking God, or asking others for mercy and experiencing relief for pain, love and comfort. We can experience that from God and from one another, as we find redemption and reconciliation, not judgment and condemnation.
Mercy is part of the very nature of God. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, the Apostle Paul refers to God as - - -
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, - 2 Corinthians 1:3
Not only is God merciful, but He calls us to be merciful as well. Luke 6:36 makes this plain by recording Jesus’ instruction - - -
35 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 is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
But it’s difficult and costly to extend mercy. Showing others mercy, particularly those we deem underserving, is counter to our sinful natures and can only be done with Christ in our lives! Yet, mercy is part of the very fabric of who God is.
On the human side, it means we are to look at someone else who’s hurting, someone else who may not even know they are hurting and we seek to be a brother or sister in Christ and walk along the journey with them. It means we don’t bail out when the going gets tough. It means we don’t make excuses for not being there for one another. It means we’re there, even if it’s not convenient. It means we need to have our eyes open.
One of the key words for me is SEE. A couple of weeks ago, Debbie was walking in a store and walked past a girl who had her face in her hands. She couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed like she was sobbing. For most of us, it’s decision time, keep walking or stop and check in. Honestly, it can be uncomfortable to check in with the person, because we feel ‘what can I offer’ or ‘what am I getting into.’ Debbie stopped and went back to her and asked if she was OK.
She told Debbie, a customer had just yelled at her for calling her “hon.” It touched a nerve on this young girl. Debbie talked to her, encouraged her and helped her hopefully move on. She may never see Debbie again, but Debbie saw a person in need and stopped. Even if it’s inconvenient. Do we see the troubles around us? Do we see those who are hurting . . . and then stop and offer Jesus?
It’s not always easy for us. Yet, that’s mercy. If there’s a sin issue, mercy doesn’t condone sin, but it means we walk with one another on their journey, and when there’s a need, we offer ourselves to them. You look at that other person, and you see a person who was created by God, and that always has value.
It means you use the power, strength and courage God gives you and you extend your hand to them. You look at that person with compassion, and you put yourself in their place as best as you can. You do your best to look at the world with their worldview; and when you do that, you still may not agree with them, but you might better understand them. That’s an important aspect to showing mercy.
And sometimes when we extend mercy, we get slapped in the face. Because mercy is not just a thought or prayer. It is not just saying, “oh, I’ll pray for you” and walking away. While the word mercy is a noun, to be merciful is an adjective. To be merciful is to be involved because it describes who you are. A merciful person isn’t a push over, just like being meek is not synonymous with weakness.
We may not get the appreciation or even recognition we maybe hoped for. We may not get the “Thank you” we expected and deserved. We may be put down for helping someone others didn’t think deserved it. But that’s the radical nature of extending God’s mercy to others.
When we show mercy, we’re taking action. In My Fair Lady, when Eliza Dolittle is being courted with daily love letters. She responds by singing - - -
Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through; Is that all you blighters can do? If you're in love, Show me!
Don't talk of love. Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme! Don't waste my time, Show me now!
How true is that? Mercy needs to be made real and visible. Genuine mercy involves interrupting our schedule, expending our time, energy and money.
Mercy is seeing a man without food and giving him food. Mercy is seeing a person begging for love and giving them love. Mercy is seeing someone lonely and giving her company. Mercy is meeting the need, not just feeling it. Mercy is not a spectator sport.
But, what about those of us who need to show mercy! Some of us ought to look inside ourselves and ask if we have a heart of flesh or a heart of stone. We need what God said to Ezekiel,
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. - Ezekiel 36
This statement from God to Ezekiel is desperately needed today. You see, God will remove that heart of stone. The heart that no longer feels, the heart that’s filled with self-righteousness, bitterness, anger and hurt. The heart which has a hole in it, a heart which has been wounded over time.
And now is the time to stop the hurting and pain. It’s time to allow God to close up the wound, to heal the heart of stone into a heart of flesh. So our heart can be filled with God’s grace and mercy - - - and then we demonstrate His mercy, because we know what it’s like to receive His mercy.
The great example of mercy - a mercy far greater than we can ever show, comes from God. When we receive mercy from God we don’t receive what we deserve
God took action . .. and His action is called MERCY!
When we think about God and this thing called mercy - - - we don’t receive eternal death because of our sinfulness.
Think about that definition again - - - kindness or good will toward the miserable and afflicted (that’s the sinful), joined with a desire to relieve them. That’s God!
We don’t get rejected by God, instead He sent His Son for you and I to take that pain for us and to suffer and be rejected so that God would never reject us. God remains just and righteous. However, MERCY caused God to act in the greatest of ways.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, or who you’ve been with. It doesn’t matter if it’s a white collar or blue collar crime or sin, as long as you come to God and ask Him to forgive you, He forgives you, then in His mercy and grace . . . He cleans your slate, He throws out your record, purging your history, deleting it from His computer and you start over.
That’s the greatest and purest example of mercy. God became one of us. He crawled into our skin, He became a human. Can you see it? Do you understand it?
That’s what God offers each one of us. That’s His mercy.
A little boy had been warned, “Don't go near the swimming hole, and whatever you do don’t get those clothes wet and dirty.” The little boy hurried off to school. But as he came home, and felt the warm sunshine, he could not help but stop by and look at his favorite summer spot. He got a little too close and fell in with his clothes on.
He went home with his head hung down in defeat. In those days they used a writing board and as he neared home he wrote these words with his little piece of chalk,
I am sorry. When he got to the house, he pulled open the back door and stuck his hand inside with the writing board in it. His mother saw the board and got a glance at him. In an instant she was angry. She was thinking about ways to discipline him. She peeked outside and saw him sitting down on the steps, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.
She suddenly felt a surge of motherly mercy. She pulled up her apron and rubbed out all his words. She wrote one word herself,
FORGIVEN!
The boy heard the creaking door open and saw his mother's hand holding the board. He took it, read the one word and jerked open the door and ran to throw his arms around his mother with big tears running down his face. He had been shown mercy. He didn’t receive what he deserved.
We’ve all been there. All of us who are saved have been there, done that! We came to our Lord when we had fallen in the swimming hole of sin. When we wrote out our confession.
God wrote, Forgiven!
Now God calls on you and I to do something. We are to treat others likewise. Is there some grudge you are holding against another? Is there some judgment you have made in unkindness and unforgiveness? You are hurting yourself, you are hurting your Christian witness, and you are hurting the body of Christ. Why not this very moment ask God to make you a merciful person - after all, those who show mercy will receive mercy in like measure!
