Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
Barnes suggests:
That is, those who are so affected by the sufferings of others as to be disposed to alleviate them. This is given as an evidence of piety, and it is said that they who show mercy to others shall obtain it. The same sentiment is found in Mat_10:42; “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.” See also Mat_25:34-40. This should be done with a wish to glorify God; that is, in obedience to his commandments, and with a desire that he should be honored, and with a feeling that we are benefiting one of his creatures. Then he will regard it as done to him, and will reward us. See the sentiment of this verse, that the merciful shall obtain mercy, more fully expressed in 2Sa 22:26-27; and in Psa 18:25-26.
Nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy. In nothing does God delight more than in the exercise of mercy, Exo 34:6; Eze 33:11; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9.
It has been said that when God created the World, He did so by combining Justice and Mercy, saying that created through Justice alone it would be impossible to live in and through Mercy alone it would be thrown into utter anarchy. Therefore The World was created through Justice and Mercy, and neither can exist without the other.
Connecting this Beatitude to the previous (Matthew 5:6), Mercy is easily put in context of the Justice we are commanded to hunger and thirst for. God’s Justice-Mercy is Absolutely Perfect, which means that His Mercy is Justice and His Justice is Mercy, so that when He deals with us He sees the entire picture, all the little details, and He judges us from that perspective. In this Beatitude Christ is asking us to do exactly that. However, as we are not perfect, cannot see the entire picture and do not know all the details of the reality of another, we cannot deal with others in perfect Justice-Mercy. Thus we are told to dispense with the Justice/Judgment and focus on Mercy/Compassion in our dealings with each other, including ourselves.
This is really a matter of Newton’s 1st Law. “For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action”. Meaning that if we are Merciful and Compassionate, we will be treated with Mercy and Compassion.
Blessings,
Henry
