“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
– Matthew 5:7
Mercy That Didn’t Make Sense
Our son Jonathan has lived with Tourette Syndrome since childhood. During his middle school years, one particular classmate – who also happened to be a neighbor – made his life miserable. The teasing became relentless. Others joined in. It became painful enough that we even discussed homeschooling.
As parents, we wanted justice. We wanted the bullying to stop. If I’m honest, part of us wanted that young man to experience some consequences.
Jonathan saw something different.
Rather than responding with bitterness, he wondered what might be happening in his classmate’s life. Maybe, he suggested, this boy was searching for the love, attention, or security that he wasn’t finding at home.
Jonathan didn’t excuse what happened. He chose mercy.
That is exactly the kind of mercy Jesus blesses.
More Than “Please Forgive Me”
When most English speakers hear the word mercy, we instinctively think, I did something wrong. Please show me. Certainly, mercy includes forgiveness. But Jesus’ listeners would have heard something much richer.
The Greek word translated merciful is eleēmōn, closely related to eleos, a word Matthew uses repeatedly throughout his Gospel. Interestingly, many of those occurrences aren’t about guilty people asking for forgiveness. They’re about desperate people asking for help.
Blind men cried out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”
A Canaanite mother begged Jesus to show mercy to her demon-oppressed daughter.
Their request wasn’t, “I’ve sinned against You.” It was more like, “You don’t know me, and You don’t owe me anything. Would You please act with kindness toward me in my desperate need?”
Mercy is compassionate action toward someone who cannot repay you.
Mercy Looks Like God’s Loyalty
One of the reasons I love studying Scripture is discovering how deeply the Old and New Testaments are connected.
The Greek word eleos carries with it the rich Old Testament idea of hesed – God’s steadfast love, covenant loyalty, and faithful kindness. If you’ve read my earlier post, The Two Biggies: Hesed and Emet, you’ve already encountered this beautiful word.
Mercy isn’t simply feeling sorry for someone. It is love that moves toward another person. It is kindness expressed in action. It is covenant loyalty lived out in everyday relationships.
New Testament scholars W. D. Davies and Dale Allison1 summarize Matthew’s use of eleos this way: Mercy is the concrete expression of our loyalty to God, demonstrated not primarily by religious activity directed toward Him, but by loving-kindness directed toward other people.
That sounds exactly like Jesus.
Justice Alone Isn’t Enough
We tend to think of justice and mercy as disconnected, maybe even opposites.
Scripture rarely does.
The Old Testament prophets repeatedly called God’s people to pursue both justice and mercy. Jesus did the same, even rebuking the Pharisees for neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness.” (Matthew 23:23)
Justice matters.
But there is a dangerous road between being wounded and pursuing justice. That road passes through the valley of revenge.
When we’ve been hurt, something inside us whispers, I want them to hurt because they hurt me. Mercy interrupts that instinct. Mercy says, I may have the right to retaliate, but I choose another path.
That doesn’t eliminate accountability. It doesn’t pretend evil never happened. Mercy never calls evil good. Instead, mercy refuses to let another person’s sin determine the condition of my own heart.
Seeing Beyond the Hurt
Perhaps mercy begins with a simple question: What pain might this person be carrying that I cannot see?
It reminds us that broken people often wound other broken people. Jonathan somehow saw that before his mom and I did. He looked beyond the insults and imagined a hurting kid.
That’s empathy. That’s compassion. That’s mercy.
In a culture that often rewards outrage, celebrates public humiliation, and quickly divides people into heroes and villains, mercy can seem almost naïve.
Yet Jesus calls it blessed.
Not because mercy is weak, but because it reflects the very character of our King.
Those Who Show Mercy Will Be Shown Mercy
Jesus ends this Beatitude with a promise: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Notice what He doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say, “The merciful will eventually be appreciated.” He doesn’t promise that people will return our kindness, acknowledge our sacrifice, or treat us fairly.
Instead, the promise is passive: they will be shown mercy.
The implied subject is God Himself.
Jesus is saying that those who practice mercy can confidently entrust themselves to a merciful Father. They need not seize revenge, demand repayment, or insist on settling every score, because the God who reigns over His Kingdom sees, knows, and will act with mercy toward His own.
That doesn’t mean we earn God’s mercy by showing mercy. The Beatitudes never describe a ladder we climb into God’s favor. They describe the character of people who are living under His gracious reign.
Merciful people discover that God’s mercy never runs dry.
When they need wisdom, He is merciful. When they fail, He is merciful. When they suffer injustice, He is merciful. When they come to the end of themselves, He is merciful.
The God who calls His people to mercy is Himself endlessly merciful.
Mercy doesn’t simply imitate God; it reveals Him. Every act of mercy reflects the heart of the Father to a world that desperately needs to see Him.
Mercy is God’s loyal love in action – and every time it passes through human hands, the family resemblance becomes unmistakable.
1Davies, W. D., & Allison, D. C. (1997). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. T. & T. Clark.
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