God’s Favor Is on the Merciful

The twentieth century pastor Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that: ‘A Christian is something before he does something.’ That’s how Jesus handles the Beatitudes, moving statement by statement from an inward way of being to an outward way of doing. The Christian is something—God justifies them and places them in position—then they become something by doing something—God sanctifies them and qualifies them for the position.

God’s favor is on the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Mercifulness is the outgrowth of the Spirit within us. It is based upon our receipt of mercy from God. You look in the Old Testament and if we had to narrow down our explanation of God’s relationship with mankind, it would be in this one word: mercy. When the Ark of the Covenant was created, the presence of God came to rest in some fashion on the top of the ark.

The whole latter half of the book of Exodus is consumed with the process of creating the dwelling place for God. From Exodus 25 to Exodus 30, God lays out in exacting detail precisely how the ark, the Tabernacle, and everything within it is to be made. Then, from chapter 35 to chapter 40, we’re told the same thing all over again as the finished product is set up for the first time. It’s a lot. Trust me. But it ends like this:

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

The very presence of God, in the form of this cloud, comes to rest on top of the ark of the covenant. From Exodus 25:

I will meet with you there. I will speak to you from above the seat of mercy between the two winged creatures that sit atop the covenant chest. From there, I will speak to you about all the commands and instructions I have for the people of Israel.

That cover over the ark, on which God’s presence rested was called the mercy seat. God’s presence is itself mercy. In the book of Leviticus, we’re told about a national holiday for Israel called the Day of Atonement. It was the one day out of the year that the mercy seat could be approached. The mercy seat is on the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant is in the holy of holies. The holy of holies is inside the holy place. The holy place is inside the Tabernacle. And on this one day of the year, the high priest could go into the holy of holies, stand before the presence of God on the mercy seat and atone for the sins of the people.

Move into the New Testament and the Apostle Paul calls Jesus a “sacrifice of atonement,” pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of that Day of Atonement ritual. Where before only a certain person at a certain time in a certain way could penetrate the literal veils that separated mankind from the presence of God, the sacrifice of Jesus has unleashed a never ending torrent of mercy.

In the Gospels, we are told that, at the death of Jesus, the veil of the temple tore in two. The physical separation between the mercy seat and humanity was broken.

37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

No longer do we have to come cautiously into the presence of God. God’s presence has come to us in Jesus. So the author of Hebrews says:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

When Jesus says to be merciful, when he says God’s favor is on the merciful, he is asking that we relate to others in the same way that he has related to us. We are to see people in need and do something about it. Even if they are 100% responsible for their situation. Even if they have made no attempts on their own to get out of their situation. Mercy isn’t works-based. It isn’t means-tested. There’s no list of things you have to do to receive it.

Christ calls us to be a people of mercy. The word that Jesus uses denotes compassion and love, not just feelings or emotions, as expressed in tangible ways. It is an acted out way of life—a way of being—that God calls us to in which we forgive wrongs, in which we feed the hungry, house the homeless, protect the abused, rehabilitate the abuser, in which we show mercy to those who do not deserve it.

In Luke 10, Jesus gives his parable of the Good Samaritan. We don’t have time to evaluate all of it, so here’s the quick version: A man asked Jesus how a person should act in order to expect to find mercy at the judgment day and inherit eternal life. Jesus answers that the persons who will receive the mercy of eternal life are those who have loved God with all their hearts and their neighbor as themselves. Then he tells the parable

A man is going from Jerusalem to Jericho and he gets robbed and left for dead. A priest passes by. And does not stop. A Levite passes by. And does not stop. Then, a Samaritan—a modern day resident of Gaza, perhaps—passes by and stops and has compassion and mercy on him. Did the man deserve to have a Samaritan stop? No. No he didn’t. This man on the roadside—being Jewish—was an enemy to the Samaritans. And yet Jesus asks:

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

And this is what we learn about mercy:

Number one, mercy sees distress.

Verse 33: “A Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and he saw him.” Now, the previous two people to pass by—both religious leaders, mind you—had also seen the man, but used that opportunity to cross the road to avoid him.

So number two, mercy responds internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress: “When he saw him, he had compassion on him.”

But that compassion isn’t just one of thoughts and prayers and well wishes for a better world and a less dangerous road. It move from an internal response to an external action.

Number three: Mercy responds externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress: “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him”

Then, number four, it does this even when the person in distress is an enemy. An eye for distress, a heart of pity, an effort to help, in spite of enmity — that’s mercy. That’s what God is calling to as part of his kingdom community.