Blessed are the Merciful // Matthew 5:7
Mercy is something I used to misunderstand. Maybe my first real encounter with mercy was from the Karate Kid when Sensei Kreese taught the Cobra Kai dojo that “mercy is for the weak.” Kreese went on to teach that mercy will not help us in the face of fear, pain, and defeat. I think many of us can identify with those realities, can’t we? Fear. Pain. Defeat. Those realities could toughen us…make us calloused…but then what? We need more, don’t we? We need compassion, understanding. We need those both for the times we feel weak from the fear, pain, and defeat, as well as mercy for the times we lose our ability to feel for those who are down.
The ancient word Jesus used for mercy doesn’t directly translate to a word we use in English. It is, chesed, which literally means, to get inside someone’s skin. There are three implications for this:
- It would save us from being kind in the wrong way.
- It would make forgiveness and tolerance even easier.
- It is to be God-like, for God literally put on flesh in Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit lives in you and me.
God’s power is restraint. He has the power – and justification – to strike but chooses mercy. He strengthens us when afraid, eases our pain, and shares Jesus’ victory with us. All of this is thanks to His incomparable grace and mercy. As a reminder, grace is giving you the love you don’t deserve…mercy is withholding from you the punishment you do. We all need mercy, don’t we? It does mean we’re weak, but helps us bathe in the eternal strength of God!
