“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” ~ Matthew 5:7

In order to uncover the specific blessing at hand in this beatitude, we need a right understanding of what it means to be merciful.

First, notice what the beatitude is not saying. Jesus is not saying, “Blessed are…the ones who correctly define mercy, or who can lead a Bible study on mercy, or who can preach a decent message on mercy.” No. He says, “Blessed are the merciful…” or those whose bent is showing mercy, not those who occasionally engage in sporadic merciful impulses.

Mercy is not an emotion, but a practical response to need. It’s being concerned about people in their need. It’s a self-denying virtue of entering into the injustices and tragedies experienced by others. It’s closely tied to compassion, which is to willingly step into the suffering of others.

It has been said that mercy is withholding what one deserves—paving the way to give to others what they most need.

But like most things in God’s kingdom, we can best understand what this beatitude means by looking at another story that Jesus told about someone who exemplified mercy.

A Kingdom Story of Mercy on Display

In Luke 10:25-37 we enter into a familiar story, but may we pray to see it with fresh eyes and hear it with renewed understanding! We know it traditionally as the story of the Good Samaritan, but since these headings are not inspired, we can take some liberty to suggest a couple of other titles, like the following:

The story of…”The Hospitable Enemy;” “The Welcoming Stranger;” “The Generous Outcast;” “The Loving Liberal;” or …“The Merciful Minority.” You see, sometimes mercy comes from the least likely vessel, which falls right in line with the spirit of the Beatitudes.

Jews often told stories involving a priest, a Levite, and an ordinary Israelite. The priest and the Levite would be the bad guys and the common Jew would be the hero. Jesus seems to have used this same formula but with a twist. His parable began with a priest and a Levite passing by a man who had been beaten by robbers and left for dead. The audience was all set for the contemporary equivalent of “Joe the Jew” to be the hero. But instead, Jesus shocked the audience by making the hero… a Samaritan! By way of reminder, the Samaritans were deposed by the Jews due to their messy history of intermarrying with foreigners and taking on their customs and idolatrous ways. Yet mercy is often messy, for the Lord of mercy meets us in our mess and brings us our much-needed salvation and restoration.

Mercy is often messy, for the Lord of mercy meets us in our mess and brings us our much-needed salvation and restoration.

A Merciful Confrontation

The parable begins with a dialogue between a lawyer and Jesus. The lawyer seeks to test Jesus about His orthodoxy (right believing or theology) but Jesus flips the script and in turn, tests the lawyer on his orthopraxy (right living).

Even though this lawyer approaches Jesus with a hidden agenda (although it wasn’t hidden for Jesus), Jesus still welcomes him, and yet mercifully confronts his question with another question—exposing the true motive of his heart. The lawyer’s inconsistent living was actually a reflection of his incorrect view of God.

One commentator insightfully states, “Like all the parables of Jesus, the story of the good Samaritan has hidden depths, and one clue to them is the lawyer’s original question. He had asked, not about a way of life, but about a way to life—‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ (Luke 10:25)—and the distinction is all-important. The lawyer was right in one thing, at any rate. Eternal life is something to be inherited. And to receive an inheritance, you have to be an heir. No amount of doing will make you into one. Keeping the law is a way of life; it is not a way to life. It is only when by God’s grace we have become the right sort of people—his people, by the new birth—that we begin to do the right sort of things.”^[1]

While the lawyer knew the “right” answer, he was not living rightly. Mercy is not about having the correct answer but about incarnating the life of Christ. While there are numerous profound truths to extract from this parable, here are three core principles to apply to become the kind of person who gives and receives the blessing of mercy.

Being Merciful Requires Intentionality

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him…(Luke 10:33-34)

The text says of the Samaritan that “as he journeyed,” he saw the man in need, felt compassion, and then took the initial action to go towards him, which is just like what Jesus has done with us!

There’s also a difference between feeling bad and having compassion. Some translations say the Samaritan “had pity,” but it is better to use the English word compassion. This is a strong word that means to experience great affection for someone, a passion that moves you to come alongside them. Compassion isn’t compassion if it does not move you to action. Compassion, then, is key in showing mercy, which is incarnating the very heart of God to someone.

Compassion isn’t compassion if it does not move you to action. Compassion, then, is key in showing mercy, which is incarnating the very heart of God to someone.

Who do you see around you as you are going about your day? Mercy is intentional because it involves purposeful, prayerful action. There’s a difference between having good intentions and being intentional. Having good intentions means you had a thought about doing something but it was left undone. Intentionality involves concrete and tangible action. Remember—even the smallest of merciful actions outweigh the biggest intentions.

Being Merciful Means We Embrace Sacrifice and Discomfort

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. (Luke 10:34)

Now it gets messy because mercy is messy. The journey is disrupted, the agenda has been arrested, and the course of this Samaritan’s journey is changed. Mercy, as an expression of neighborly love, will require sacrifice. Binding of wounds, cleaning and bandaging, and then giving up of one’s resources. Time. Energy. Effort. Resources. All these are spent. Sometimes mercy is a means to provide healing, protection, and restoration. But mercy can be—and, in fact, will be—uncomfortable.

Mercy is not only uncomfortable to give, but also to receive. We see in this story two people who are estranged from one another giving and receiving mercy. Let’s face it, strangers are…strange! They are people who look, think, act, eat, talk, and live differently than we do. But being uncomfortable is part and parcel of being a Christian. In fact, one of the reasons the Holy Spirit is called our Comforter is because if we are being led by the Spirit we WILL be led into uncomfortable situations. In those moments we have access to a divine comfort instead of a fleshly one.

Being uncomfortable is part and parcel of being a Christian. In fact, one of the reasons the Holy Spirit is called our Comforter is because if we are being led by the Spirit we WILL be led into uncomfortable situations.

Situations which arise that are uncomfortable and inconvenient are often indicators of the Spirit’s leading us into an opportunity to be merciful.

We live in a culture that coddles and even idolizes our comfort. Yet we serve a God who not only comforts the afflicted but afflicts the comfortable. Mercy calls us to not shy away, but to embrace, not to withdraw or avoid, but to lean into the discomfort, trusting the Comforter to work in and through us to display mercy.

Being Merciful Invites Us to Invest Relationally

And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” (Luke 10:35)

Notice the bookends of this verse: “and the next day” and “when I come back.” The Samaritan shows commitment not as a “one-off” random act of kindness, but sticks around long enough for a relationship to be established. The Samaritan also involves others (i.e. the innkeeper), which shows that mercy is a communal act, not just an individual one.

The parable then closes with this exhortation from Jesus:

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36-37)

Who is Jesus inviting you to show mercy to? Or who is Jesus positioning you to receive mercy from? May you enter into the Kingdom blessing of being a merciful person, as one who has richly received mercy from Jesus Himself.

Copyright © 2023 Justin Jeppesen. All rights reserved.

^[1] Wilcock, M. (1979). The Savior of the world: the message of Luke’s gospel (p. 122). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.