The Road Less Traveled
Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
I hope that as you have read my reflections on The Beatitudes, you have noticed the stark difference between the world’s pathway to a life of contentment and that of Jesus. I also hope you have seen how this works itself out in our everyday lives.
Today’s pathway to blessing could not be more needed in today’s world, and I speak as an American when I say it could not be more needed in my country.
The gospels are written in Greek, but Jesus spoke Aramaic, and knowing the Hebrew word for mercy sheds some real light on how we should apply our Lord’s words to our lives in these days of deep division.
The Hebrew word for mercy is chesedh. In his commentary on Matthew’s gospel, William Barclay describes chesedh as “the ability to get right inside the other person’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.” (p.103)
In last Friday’s post, entitled, Militant Meekness, I questioned that form of Christianity that demonizes and wars against others. This is not the Christianity of Christ, and rather than serving as a witness pointing others to Jesus, it undermines and hinders the progress of God’s kingdom in our world. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than it is in the lack of chesedh among many Christians.
In my upcoming book, Philemon: Reflections on Christian Maturity, I tell the story of a lesbian friend who I got to know and really connected with during her mother’s illness. Our friendship, which began twenty years ago, had a major impact on how I see others who are often very different from myself, but who like me, have been created in the image of God.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us . . . if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:12,15)
“Judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.” (James 2:13)
When we willfully and woefully forget the clear teaching of mercy found throughout the pages of the New Testament, and then wonder why so many of our own children raised in the church leave at such an alarming rate; when we rail against the gays, liberals, feminists, Democrats, and others who upset us without any attempt to understand, seek reconciliation, and a way forward that promotes healing and unity, we confirm the words of the apostle Peter who warned “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household.” (I Peter 4:17)
And for those who believe the way of mercy sounds impractical and impossible, a death-wish for Christianity in America, I have this to say - welcome to the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, where “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24)
In Christ,
Dan
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