November 16, 2021

Tuesday

Mercy for the Merciful

Matthew 6: 14-15

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

Matthew 5:7

American Southerners have grown up hearing the phrase, “Lord, have mercy!” It’s an expression of amazement or bewilderment in a perilous circumstance. “Lord, we need your help here. Lord, have mercy!” It is not surprising that the expression was common in the Bible Belt as it occurs often in the four Gospels. Two blind men call out to Jesus for mercy in Matthew 20:30-31; a Canaanite woman cries out for mercy in Matthew 15:22; blind Bartimaeus begs for mercy in Mark 10:46-47. The phrase is also the core of one of the most famous liturgical prayers in both the Western and Eastern Church, the Kyrie eleison: “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy.”

What is mercy? It is compassion and help directed toward the helpless or toward one who is otherwise not deserving of help, but rather of judgment. God has obviously had mercy on undeserving sinners by sending His Son to save us from our sins. But Jesus says something unique about mercy related to people: Those who extend mercy will receive mercy. It’s another application of Galatians 6:7: We reap what we sow in life.

Don’t fail to extend mercy today wherever you can. Mercy is God-work. It reveals the kindness of God to a needy world.

A point to ponder…

He that has no charity deserves no mercy.

English Proverb

Read the Bible through in a year

Acts 9-10

I love you!!!

© 2000-2021 B. Michael Goerlich