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Matthew 5:7 |
7 Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy. |
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1. Today, I would like to talk to you about mercy and the blessings that follow those who are merciful and compassionate.
“Mercy” in Hebrew is “Rachamim”. This word holds the meaning of the womb of a woman that holds the life of a fetus.
The Hebrew language designates an image to be represented in each letter. The Hebrew equivalent of the English “A” represents cows, “B” a house, and “G” a camel. So, to have the word “Rachamim” illustrate a woman’s womb is nothing strange.
When a woman gets married and pregnant, she becomes careful of what she does, what she eats and even what she says for 9 months for the sake of her baby.
Drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol are a definite “no” during pregnancy and even cold medicine is not allowed. Any medication must be taken with prior consultation to a doctor, otherwise the mother risks the health of her baby. After 9-10 months of this caution and care, the mother gives birth to her child after enduring excruciating pain.
However, a mother’s discomfort and aches do not end here. After the child is born, she must breastfeed her baby, and the pain that follows is indescribable. A few years ago, statistics revealed that women who had more children were more prone to getting osteoporosis, meaning that breastfeeding a child takes so much nutrition from the mother, it affects her literally to the bones.
A mother rarely can get enough sleep between the diaper changings, feedings, bottle cleanings, baby laundry, and sanitizing everything. Even if she does get to sleep, she must wake up at her baby’s cry at any time in the middle of the night.
When the baby is ready to eat solid food, mothers prepare all the best ingredients to provide their baby with the best and healthiest foods.
As the child grows older, a mother is frugal when it comes to what she wears and what she eats, but when it comes to her child she spares nothing. It gives her true joy just to see her children happy and their bellies full.
And yet a mother’s pains still do not end here. If her child, the child she raised so preciously, falls of the righteous path, commits sins, becomes ridiculed and hated by society, the mother must endure the suffering and pain and she will still warmly embrace her child with love.
There is a Korean movie called “Mother”. In my opinion, this movie portrays the true instincts of a mother with incredible accuracy. The movie depicts a mother’s love as limitless and even irrational at times. The plot of the story goes like this:
A 28-year-old young man, DoJun (played by Wonbin) and his mother (played by HyeJa Kim) work at an herb shop. The mother considers her only son to be the most precious and kindhearted person in her world. However, due to his slight mental disability, he acts like a small child and constantly causes trouble, becoming the main worry for his mother.
Then one day, a high school girl is murdered and DoJun ends up framed and taking the blame. The mother does everything she can to clear her son’s wrongfully accused name, but the police quickly end their investigation and lawyers demand nothing but money she does not have.
The mother gets involved in unraveling the details of the murder and the background of the victim to try and prove her son's innocence. She scours the town, uncovering salacious details of the girl's life. The mother's investigation and search for the real murderer takes her to an old man at his junkyard.
The town's junkyard keeper reveals that on the night of the murder, he saw DoJun attack the girl after she mocked him. In denial, the mother murders the old man and burns down the junkyard along with his body. This was done to protect her son despite the fact that she knew it was wrong; it was her maternal instinct.
Meanwhile, the police become suspicious of another intellectually disabled man and arrest him for the murder, freeing DoJun.
The film ends with the mother struggling between her guilt and maternal instinct and self-administering an acupuncture needle to a point she has earlier claimed causes memory loss, in order to forget what she and her son have done. The final scene shows her dancing in a field of yellow flowers.
Of course the movie does little to prove justice will prevail and the results are not at all what we should follow, but it does depict maternal love and maternal instinct and the lengths it can make a woman go. It shows the extremities of a mother’s love, her mercy, and her compassion.
Our Lord, God, is also someone who possesses this kind of limitless, maternal love. Of course, God’s love is not biased or expressed in negative extremes, like in “Mother”. David sings praises of God’s extreme love and “” like this: Rachamim
“3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”
(Psalm 121:3-6)
One of the Hebrew callings to God is “El Shaddai”, which means “God of Heart.”
It means that our loving God embraces, understands, and watches over even sinners with His heart.
Our loving God is a God that sacrificed his one and only son Jesus Christ to save us, filthy and sinful as we are. He is the God that loves us and will love us forever, and will watch over us forever, and will be merciful and compassionate to us forever.
Psalms 103:13 says, “13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.”
And Isaiah 49:15 says, “15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”
The King Jame Version of the Bible uses the word “mercy”. If we look at the definition of this world, we can see that it holds these meanings: God’s grace, the love a parent has for his/her children, the exemption or pardon for a condemned criminal, and the affection, mercy, and generosity of sympathy. Thus, the world mercy is a word used to help us understand the love and compassion of God.
The word “compassion” is also used interchangeably with “mercy” sometimes in the Bible. “Compassion” is made up of two parts: First, “com” meaning “to share together” and second, “passion”, meaning “hardships and pain”. Put together, the word holds the meaning, “to share hardship an pain together.”
When any human is born, he/she inherits the original sin of Adam, and becomes selfish, hostile, greedy, and ugly hearted, thus tarnishing the compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love that we get from God.
For such evil and violent humans to be merciful and forgiving of their enemies, we must receive the love of Jesus Christ and receive the help of the Holy Spirit and guidance of our Father, God.
This is not something that can be taught or achieved through ethics and philosophy.
My dear congregation! God loves you.
God is the source of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and love.
In Lamentations 3:22 the prophet Jeremiah says, “22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
Jesus says in Matthew 9:13, “13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
James 2:13 says “13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”
Job, in Job 29:12-16 says, “12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.”
Why was Job’s heart one of such compassion and mercy? It is because he was in awe of only God and he had the compassionate and merciful love of God.
Today, many people see life itself as painful wars and suffer-filled battles.
These are the people that are busy criticizing, complaining, bad-mouthing about everything. These people never feel that they have enough and do not believe there is anything to be thankful for.
They are defensive of anything and everything. Their lives are desolate and pathetic. Their hearts are far to narrow and small in God’s eyes.
These are the people we must approach. These are the people we much comfort with messages of encouragement and hope. That is the meaning of compassion, mercy, evangelism, and mission.
Todays’ churches should not boast or focus on how big their church is or how many congregation members they have; they much place their focus on how well they show their compassion and have pride in how well they act on it.
As Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
In Luke 10:30-37 Jesus said, “30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
As I read this passage, a thought enters my mind: There is no way to be compassionate or merciful without sacrificing my time or material possessions. Compassion/mercy is sacrifice.
Conclusion)
Those of you who have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior!
Take a look back at your life of faith thus far. Have you shown the compassion and mercy of God in your daily life?
Have you been too busy living your own life to care about your neighbor’s hardships? Have you prayed for those who needed your prayers? Have you been someone who is too busy criticizing others? Or have you been embracing those around you? Have you been comforting others with words of encouragement? Have you been praying for the millions of souls that have not yet met Jesus? Have you been showing your true compassion and mercy?
My dear congregation!
God said that the merciful shall receive mercy.
This can be taken as a warning against who have not been merciful, for when their time of hardship comes, they will receive none as well.
If you do not forgive, you cannot receive forgiveness. If you do not love, you cannot receive love. It is said that nothing in the world is free and this saying is true. A portion of our lives must be sacrificed and invested for mercy and compassion, like God.
As people of faith who have received salvation, we must live a merciful and compassionate people in a world that, today, is so focused on one’s own well-being, one’s own riches, and one’s own success.
Let us reach out to those who are suffering. Let us pray for them. Let us cry for them. Let us embrace them. Let us hold their hands. Let us love them. When we do this, God’s love, compassion, mercy, and light of hope with shine brightly through us.
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