We continue this week through the Beatitudes and come to Matthew 5:7. After our sessions on mourning and seeking righteousness, this has to be easier, right?

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

The main idea of this Beatitude has a few points

• God meets us with mercy, not condemnation, and transforms us into people who extend mercy to others.
• To know that God lavishes mercy upon us, even though we are undeserving of such kindness.
• To feel drawn to people on the fringes of our society to show them the mercy of God.

Those are some very big and challenging aspects, we like the blessings offered but are not always excited about going into the fringes. KInd of like give me mercy and no condemnation, and I am good.  But our sanctification is developing as we mimic Jesus’ ministry of mercy to draw people into the Kingdom of God, not just receive and be done with it.

How do you feel when a character in a movie, TV show, or book doesn’t get what they deserve?

It’s sometimes difficult for us to reckon with the concept of mercy, the act of withholding punishment or consequences from someone who’s done wrong. In a culture that is increasingly angry and anxious, mercy is seen as weakness or an excusing of bad behavior. But mercy is one of the most powerful ways we can love people.

Just as God was merciful to us when we didn’t deserve it, we also can love people who have not earned our love. And, as we will see in this session, mercy reaches out to people who are forgotten by our society to show them the dignity and life-changing love of our savior.

¹Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.”
¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5: 1-12 ESV

This weeks focus is on the fourth Beatitude…

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

For the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the humble, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, there may be no sweeter words than these. Followers of Jesus are keenly aware of our need for mercy. But what is mercy, who receives it, and what do we do with it once we’ve received it?

How would you define mercy?

In the video it was defined as “the giving of undeserved acceptance and blessing.” Think about the word “undeserved.”

When have you been an undeserving recipient of kindness or mercy? What was your reaction to that kindness or mercy?

The video described “the fringes”—the edge of society filled with people who are “farthest from God imaginable.”

What does it look like for people to be “on the fringes” where you live?

Let’s look at a teaching from the book of John…

² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴ they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” ⁶ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷ And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” – John 8:2-11 ESV

In this passage, a group of “scribes and Pharisees” paraded a woman who was caught in the act of adultery in front of Jesus and a group of people he was teaching. They wanted to bring the full force of the law down upon this woman, but Jesus chose to be gentle and merciful.

If you’re honest, do you most often side with the scribes and Pharisees, condemning those who wrong you, or with Jesus, showing mercy? 

Why do you think we can often behave as the scribes and Pharisees did in John 8?

The video also referenced the story of Zacchaeus and the woman at the well.. Take a moment to read those stories in Luke 19:1–10 and John 4:1–30.

How did the onlookers respond to Jesus’s interaction with Zacchaeus?

How did Jesus’s own disciples respond upon seeing him interact with the woman at the well?

What do the woman caught in adultery, Zacchaeus, and the woman at the well all have in common?

How do Zacchaeus and the woman at the well respond to the mercy that Jesus extends to them?

Some onlookers opposed Jesus’s mercy, others were amazed, while those who receive his mercy, like Zacchaeus and the woman at the well, were quick to go and share the mercy they had received with others.

How do stories like these confront us with the kindness of God and invite us into the blessed life that Jesus outlines in the Beatitudes?

The fifth Beatitude forces us to reckon with the mercy of God. Have we received it, and if so, do we extend it to others?

How would you answer those questions? In what ways do you actively seek to extend the mercy of God to those whom you encounter in your day-to-day life?

If the mercy of God is his “giving of undeserved acceptance and blessing,” then God’s mercy is an unspeakable kindness. And if “God’s kindness is intended to lead [people] to repentance” (Rom 2:4), then we would be wise to ask ourselves:

To what degree do our life and ministry imitate the kindness of God? What priority do you place on kindness in your interactions with strangers? With the “sinners and tax collectors” of our day? With those on the fringes?

More than any other thus far, the fifth Beatitude is an occasion for self-reflection. Our instincts, or lack thereof, toward mercy provide us with a clear picture of whether we truly understand the great kindness God has shown in extending us mercy. When we, by the Spirit, properly comprehend the mercy of God, we will be quick to give it away to those we encounter—there’s plenty to go around.

In what ways can you practice extending the mercy of God to others today? To whom can you share God’s mercy today?

The Bible pulls no punches. Before receiving the mercy of God, we were his enemies. We were all on the fringes! “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5, emphasis added).

We have been pulled from the fringes of our rebellion against God, the one who is “rich in mercy” and who will “show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4, 7). Blessed are those who have received this mercy and who extend this mercy, for they will get more of it.