The Merciful

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7)

Suppose Bobby throws rocks through my window. How should I show mercy toward him? Should I pretend that nothing ever happened and replace the broken window myself? Is it truly merciful to ignore sin in someone’s life?

Should I call the police and make Bobby pay? Or, does being merciful mean that I should forgo justice? Should I talk to Bobby and try to address the problems in his life that caused him to throw rocks? Should I ask Bobby if something I did provoked him to shatter my window? All these questions illustrate that what it means to be merciful is not always so simple.

An examination of what Scripture teaches concerning mercy will equip us with the wisdom we need to discern how to be merciful. Most importantly, the mercy that we have received from God through Christ places upon us an obligation to show mercy to others.

This obligation to give mercy because of the mercy we have received is the foundation of the fifth beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. The promise that the merciful shall obtain mercy does not mean that we earn mercy from God. Such an idea goes against the whole message of the gospel. This beatitude is for those who have already experienced God’s mercy by being forgiven of their sins. The only reasonable response of those who have received great mercy from God is to show great mercy toward our fellow man.

God’s mercy is illustrated in the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35. A servant owed his king ten thousand talents. One talent was about twenty years’ wages for a laborer. Ten thousand talents was nearly as incomprehensible to the ancient man as the U.S. national debt is to the modern person (over $37,000,000,000,000 in 2025). In an extreme act of mercy, the king simply forgave the debt.

But then the servant, having just left the king’s palace, found a man who owed him a hundred denarii, an amount equivalent to one hundred days’ wages. When the man could not pay, the servant had him thrown in prison until the debt was paid. If the servant had not received great mercy, his action against his fellow man might have been tolerated. Hearing what the unmerciful servant had done, the king was enraged and had him punished. This parable teaches us that God’s mercy toward us obligates us to show mercy to others.

If we truly understand the great mercy we have received from God, we should not only feel an obligation to show mercy but also an eagerness to show mercy.

Mercy is pity or compassion toward the needs of others. It is feeling the suffering of others and doing something about it. God did not merely love us. He sent His Son. Mercy is love in action (John 3:16; 1 John 3:16-18). Mercy acts even when it is not deserved. That is what God did for us. He gave His Son even though we did not deserve it.

There are some things that mercy eliminates from our lives. It eliminates cruel dealings, harsh words, judgmental attitudes, and self-righteous condemnation of others. The unmerciful person puts down others, points out others’ failures, scorns the weak, and uses them as stepping stones toward personal gain. The merciful person refuses to capitalize on another’s failure, publicize their shortcomings, or smirk at another’s weaknesses.

However, we do not have to do those unkind things to lack mercy. All we have to do to lack mercy is to do nothing. That is what the priest and the Levite did in the parable of the Good Samaritan. They did not beat the half-dead man lying beside the road. They did not rob him. They did not harshly condemn him for his mistakes. They silently walked by him. Selfishness is the opposite of mercy because the selfish person tends to the needs of self while ignoring the needs of others.

There are some things that mercy tempers in our lives. It moderates strict discipline. It relieves absolute justice. It regulates the use of authority. But mercy cannot eliminate discipline, justice, or the need for authority. Mercy without truth is not mercy. Mercy is not lax or careless when it comes to sin. God perfectly possesses love and justice, mercy and truth, compassion and discipline. We attempt to imitate Him.

1. Show Mercy to Those Who Are Suffering

God has a special concern for those who are poor and afflicted. He promises to defend the oppressed and to judge the oppressors. God commands His people to be merciful toward those in need. Scripture admonishes us to look out for the needs of orphans, widows, strangers (foreigners or immigrants), the poor, and the sick.

“Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry” (Exodus 22:22-23).

“And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

“He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth [the Lord] hath mercy on the poor” (Proverbs 14:31).

In the Old Testament, God made special provision for the poor. The people of Israel were to purposefully leave some of their grain, olives, and grapes unharvested so that the poor could harvest the food for themselves (Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 24:19-21). And every three years the people were to give a tithe of their harvest to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). These examples illustrate that God wants His people to show mercy to the poor.

Showing mercy to the poor is also a New Testament emphasis. James 1:27 says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” The first church attended to the needs of the poor (Acts 2:44-45, 6:1, 20:35; Galatians 2:10). Those who inherit Heaven will be those who fed the hungry, sheltered the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick or imprisoned (Matthew 25:34-36). And Christ admonished His disciples to invite to dinner “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:12-14).

During the winter of 1783, Martin Urner welcomed three travelers to his breakfast table. The visitors claimed that they were British prisoners who had escaped. Urner urged them to give themselves up and wait for a prisoner exchange, but when they insisted on pressing on, he did not restrain them. Later, the same men, who were actually Patriots using their tale as a ploy to find British sympathizers, returned to arrest Urner. He received a severe fine. He appealed the fine, claiming that he had shown kindness to the travelers in freezing weather, not because they were British, but because they were fellow human beings. He ended his appeal by saying, “I beg your pardon to act according to the Golden Rule.”¹ The follower of Christ is merciful, even when it runs counter to popular opinion.

Some of the sins for which God destroyed Sodom were “fullness of bread” (selfish indulgence) and neglecting to “strengthen the hand of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49). This verse and many that we have referenced already show that God in Heaven is taking note of how we treat the poor, the weak, and the afflicted.

During the Great Depression (1929-1939), millions of Americans suffered from poverty and hunger. The unemployment rate rose to around 20 percent. In the days before federal tax dollars were used to pay wages to the unemployed, President Herbert Hoover made a special appeal to the American people to help their neighbors. In a radio address on October 18, 1931, he urged people not to make the excuse that Cain made when he said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” President Hoover said, “No governmental action, no economic doctrine, no economic plan or project can replace that God-imposed responsibility of the individual man and woman to their neighbors.”²

2. Show Mercy to Sinners in Need of a Savior

It is much easier to be like the Pharisees than is sometimes supposed. One thing they were good at was keeping far away from sinners. Few things about Jesus irked them more than how close He got to sinners. Jesus’ habit of dining at the table with sinners caused the Pharisees to scowl and grumble (Luke 15:2).

After Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, Jesus went to eat in Matthew’s house with many of his sinner friends. The Pharisees investigated this misdemeanor. They asked the disciples, “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?” Jesus responded by explaining that He had come to have mercy on sinners and to call them to repentance (Matthew 9:10-13).

The Pharisees made sure to wash their hands after visiting the marketplace because they worried that they had been defiled by contact with sinners. They failed to recognize that the contamination of sin is not passed through the hands but through the heart. They needed to use the scrub brush on their hearts, not on their hands.

The Pharisees looked upon sinners with contempt and disgust. They did not understand that God loves sinners and calls them to turn from their sin and come to Him. How do we look at sinners? With disgust or with love?

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul says, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (ESV). Paul does not recite this list of sinners in order to imply that such persons are beyond God’s love and redemption. Rather, Paul says, “Such were some of you” (verse 11). These were the very sort of people who had repented of those sins, believed in Jesus Christ, and were now members of the church at Corinth. Someone got close enough to these people to share the gospel with them. Someone saw them as people that God loved. Someone had mercy toward them and showed them the way to Jesus Christ.

Once, Jesus went to eat at a Pharisee’s house. While Jesus was reclining at the table, a woman, weeping tears of repentance, came to anoint Jesus’ feet. The Pharisee was agitated at the presence of this woman in his house because he knew she was a great sinner. He thought this was proof that Jesus was not a prophet from God. If Jesus were a prophet, He should have recognized this woman as a despicable sinner and not allowed her to touch Him. Jesus knew who she was. He welcomed her act of faith and repentance (Luke 7:36-50).

Who are we like? The Pharisee or Jesus? What would be our attitude if some of those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 sat down beside us on a bench at the park – or in the church pew?

3. Show Mercy to Those Who Injure Us

C. S. Lewis wrote, “Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive . . . And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger.”³

It is easy to say that we will forgive, until someone hurts us. Then the pain is real. We want that person to pay for what they did to us. We don’t want to have to release them from suffering for the wrong they did to us! But to be truly merciful includes being merciful to those who have deeply wronged us.

“Forgive?” you might say, “But they don’t deserve it! They’ve caused me so much pain. You don’t understand what I’ve suffered because of what they did to me. It’s not fair!”

Friend, it’s not fair. It wasn’t fair that God forgave you. It wasn’t fair that Christ died for you. You didn’t deserve such mercy. In the parable of the unmerciful servant, it wasn’t fair that the king forgave his servant the ten thousand talents owed to him. It cost the king just that much to forgive his servant for foolishly losing that much money. It wasn’t fair for the king to do that. But he did it anyway. Now it is our turn to treat our wrongdoer “unfairly” and forgive them.

Do we find ourselves locked in a prison of hatred and resentment toward someone who has wronged us? Do we cry for relief? Christ offers us relief. He holds out to us the key to the prison door. On the key is written “I choose to forgive them.” The lock is on the inside of the door. It is up to us to use the key to unlock the prison door.

Forgiveness does not stop with letting go of bitterness and revenge. True forgiveness seeks to restore – as much as possible – the broken relationship with the one who has injured us (Romans 12:18). This is what God did. God forgave us. But He did not stop there. He restored the broken relationship between Himself and sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Where sin had destroyed the relationship Adam and Eve once had with God, Christ restored fellowship.

Romans 5 describes the work of Christ. We are justified, or forgiven of all our sins, but the work of Christ does not stop there. He also makes peace between us and God (verse 1). Through Christ, we now have “access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,” that is, we can approach God and stand within the circle of His favor and love (verse 2). Being reconciled with God, we now rejoice in our newfound relationship with Him. No longer enemies, we are now friends of God (verses 10-11). God did not merely forgive us and forget about us; He forgave us and restored us. This kind of mercy that we have received from God is the kind of mercy we should give to others.

How do we restore a relationship with someone who has offended us? True reconciliation begins with being honest with the offender about the pain their actions have caused us. When we say, “I forgive you,” we are affirming that there is something to forgive, that real damage was done, and that we are willing to forgive that debt.

Forgiveness does not try to pretend that nothing ever happened. It does not ignore what was done. Letting the other person see what we have experienced gives them the opportunity to repent and take steps to amend their life. Jesus said that if someone wrongs us, we are to “go and tell him his fault” (Matthew 18:15). The purpose is not to take secret revenge by making the other person feel bad, but to restore the wrongdoer and to restore our relationship with them.

Proverbs 16:6 says, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.” We need both mercy and truth when addressing grievances. Truth makes us deal squarely with the wrong committed. Truth states clearly what was done, without exaggerating the facts. Truth also takes an honest look at ourselves and acknowledges where we have erred. We should be willing to see and admit our part in the problem. Often in a conflict, both sides bear at least some guilt. It is much easier to see another’s faults than our own (Matthew 7:3-5).

Forgiveness involves working through differences, trying to understand the other person, and seeking to resolve the tension. Love for others means that we are committed to our relationship with them. We seek to rebuild trust and open communication with them. When the other person has repented and we have forgiven them, renewed trust risks being wronged again.

Notice the pattern that Jesus sets out in Luke 17:3-4. Someone hurts us. We rebuke him (sin is confronted, not ignored; truth is spoken). He repents (sincerely). We forgive him (sincerely). We seek to restore him and our relationship with him. We risk trust. He hurts us again (because we have not pushed him out of our lives). We repeat the process.

Part of the radical nature of Jesus’ teaching is His insistence on forgiving again and again. In Matthew 18:21, Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive a brother who sins against him. Peter might have thought that Jesus would be impressed by his extravagant offer to forgive his brother seven times. Jesus was not impressed. Jesus said, “Until seventy times seven.” Jesus obliterated all limits on forgiveness.

Mercy and forgiveness should not become an excuse for allowing those in positions of power to continue abusing others. It is important to hold people accountable. Truth acknowledges the harm done to others. It takes steps to make sure that the individual who sinned has repented and is receiving the help he needs to overcome his sin. It makes sure that those harmed by the sin are protected.

Do not use forgiveness as a means of establishing superiority over others. Don’t make others feel that now that we have forgiven them, they are indebted to us. Treat those who wrong us as equals. We have all received great mercy from God. We all need forgiveness.

Forgive and restore. That is the biblical model for how we should treat people like Bobby who throw rocks.

Have you received God’s mercy? If not, He offers it to you today. He offers to forgive your sins, make you His son or daughter, and give you a home in Heaven. His mercy is yours if you will receive it. He holds it out to you. To receive it, you must repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you do that today?

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