Beckett: Blessed Are the Merciful

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall have mercy” (Matthew 5:7; my translation).

Coming before Christ as poor in spirit—as empty-handed—He then fills our hands with His mercy. Being poor in spirit (v. 3), mourning over our brokenness (v. 4), lowly like beggars (v. 5), and hungering and thirsting for righteousness (v. 6), we come before Him and cry out, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” And Christ, our King of the universe, acquiesces to our cries and satisfies our hunger with His body and our thirst with His blood in the Lord’s Supper, granting us the inheritance of the new heavens and the new Earth in the life of the world to come, comforting us with the forgiveness of sins, thus giving us the kingdom of Heaven.

Then, with our once empty hands so full of mercy, we go out to be merciful toward others. Having been beggars ourselves and receiving Christ’s abundant mercy, when we see a beggar on the street, we give generously without judging their predicament just as Christ did not judge us in our sin as we deserve. For as St. John Chrysostom once said, “When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling and have not listened to him.” We think, “They don’t deserve mercy.” If this is how we think of mercy, then we fundamentally misunderstand what it is, for mercy never needs a reason to give. Mercy is like the sower, our Lord Christ, who throws His seeds everywhere that it might fall on everyone (Matthew 13:1-23).

When someone is in need of anything, whether they ask or not, we give of ourselves to assist them. When someone asks for our forgiveness, we freely forgive them rather than weighing our options. When our spouse asks for assistance with chores in the house, we gladly lend our hand. And so on.

Blessed with Christ’s mercy, He sends us out to be a blessing—to be merciful—to others.