The Merciful
1Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 10Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
That the Word took on flesh and came to this earth is a certain fact. Whether the people of the world believe it or not does not alter the fact, because that is their own concern, and it is their own salvation that hangs on it. What matters is that, just as God promised, Jesus came to this earth and bore the cross to atone for sin. God made the beautiful Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve could live there in freedom, but they forgot that grace and gave in to Satan’s temptation. For a humanity that had fallen into eternal death through their sin, God the Son became incarnate and came to this earth. The command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil served as a breakwater, keeping humanity from encroaching on God’s authority. As long as they did not cross the line God had drawn, they could have lived as freely and abundantly as they wished; yet greed and lust drove them into sin. Driven out of Eden, they had to live without protection, and they came under the yoke of death, allotted only a fixed span of days. Humanity, made to rest in God’s glory and live in freedom, coveted God’s own place and lost the blessing it had been given.
God created humankind because he longed to share his great glory and grace, but people who forgot to give thanks were reduced to Satan’s playthings. Adam and Eve would never have imagined that so terrible a punishment awaited them if they defied God’s word. The reason lay in hearts captured by Satan’s whispered temptation: for a moment they thought themselves something great and never considered that this was sin. As people grew used to the darkness, they felt no resentment even under Satan’s rule, and they defiled a good conscience only to hold on to what was theirs. Satan knows that the human heart is formless and empty and full of darkness, so he made people sin to keep them from meeting God. But God had mercy on sinners living as Satan’s slaves, and he laid a plan to save them. To lift the curse that whoever ate the forbidden fruit would surely die, God the Son himself took on flesh and came to this earth. The law demanded that anyone who did not keep all of it must die; by bearing the cross, he made forgiveness ours and rescued sinners from death. Before the death that every person must face, whether they wish it or not, Jesus Christ raised up the cross and gave us the opportunity to enter heaven by faith.
John 17:24
24Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
These words are part of the prayer Jesus offered to God. He pleaded with the Father to bring those who believe in Christ to live in heaven. Though it could be fulfilled only through his own agony of death on the cross, he offered this prayer earnestly to God, and that prayer itself is true sacrifice and true love. The very God who had commanded them not to eat the forbidden fruit had to suffer the torment of casting his own body into death. Yet to give us splendor, glory, and eternal life, he poured out his water and blood to the last drop. I wonder whether we truly deserve such love. When Jesus Christ goes searching so as not to lose even one sheep, and gathers it into his arms, are we truly grateful? I hope each of you will put that question to yourself.
Day after day, are we not failing to resist the forbidden fruit that Satan holds out to us, and making Adam’s excuse: I did not pick it myself; Eve gave it to me? Do we not grumble, asking what sin we have committed that we must repent every day, why we must read the Bible when there are so many other books to read, and why we must go to church when there is so much to do, all the while taking Satan’s fruit with ease? Do we not love to receive God’s grace, yet dislike having God come near, and beg him to keep a comfortable distance? People are already Satan’s slaves, so they cannot overcome death. For Jesus to carry the sins of such sinners and bear the cross is immense agony. Foolish people, blind to such love, mocked and persecuted Jesus, yet to save them he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey; his love is a grace too great for us to bear. The atoning love that took the cross and died in place of those who cursed him and wanted him dead is possible only because he is the God who created heaven and earth. Could any human being hope to imitate that love? What kind of faith would we need even to understand the love of Christ? That unconditional love makes us live as the poor in spirit, gives us hearts that mourn as we look on souls not yet saved, and makes us gentle in heart so that we can take up our calling. Only when you lay yourself down can you live as one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and God, seeing the faith of the born-again, will fill them spiritually.
Luke 10:33-34
33But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, 34came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
To test Jesus, a lawyer asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus answered that he should love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love his neighbor as himself. Then the lawyer asked who his neighbor was. Jesus answered the lawyer’s question with the example of the good Samaritan, and so, quite naturally, he made the lawyer see for himself who his neighbor was.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, Jesus said, when he fell among robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and fled, leaving him half dead. Just then a priest and a Levite came by, but when they saw him they avoided him. A little later a Samaritan saw the dying man and was moved with compassion. He treated his wounds with oil and wine, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. He asked the innkeeper to look after the man, promising that whatever more it cost, he would repay it all when he came back.
The Samaritan did this good deed because he had a heart of compassion. When he had finished the story, Jesus asked the lawyer which of these three he thought had been a neighbor to the man. Without a moment’s hesitation the lawyer said it was the one who showed mercy, and Jesus told him to go and live as that man did. What went through your mind as you watched what the Samaritan did? Did you resolve to be kind, like the good Samaritan? If you think only of good deeds, however, you will never learn the mercy of Jesus. The reason is that Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan to call us to know God rightly and to cast off a faith of empty form.
Jerusalem sits 1,100 meters above sea level, while Jericho lies in a low region 400 meters below sea level. Jerusalem means land of peace, and Jericho, which bore the name city of the moon, was a land of pleasure. We must not conclude, merely from this man’s leaving Jerusalem, the land of peace, for Jericho, the city of pleasure, that he had fallen spiritually and set off in search of pleasure. After all, had he been a man chasing pleasure, Jesus would not have gone so far as to bring in the priest and the Levite as examples in rebuking the lawyer. He was probably someone who, in ordinary life, was diligent in good works. Had he cared only for his own ease, he could easily have stayed in safe Jerusalem and lived in comfort; but since Jesus takes the trouble to tell of him, he seems to have been a man with a kind heart, one who had compassion on souls. If you take Jerusalem spiritually as the church and Jericho as the world, the parable Jesus told becomes easy to understand. A Christian who stays only inside the church may rest easy in being saved, but having no compassion, they never share the gospel.
God’s will is that the gospel reach the ends of the earth, so we must go out into the world, moved by compassion for souls, to bring them the truth. Jesus said that those who live by his word will be persecuted, and in the same way, once we resolve to share the gospel, the spiritual battle begins that very moment. The calling of the priest and the Levite was to save life, but having no compassion, they simply passed by. More than anyone, they ought to have set an example of faith and loved their neighbor, yet they left a dying man where he lay. People who treasure only their own salvation can never know God’s will. Those who do not grasp the depths of who God is end up living their faith selfishly, for themselves alone. Because Jesus valued one soul above the whole world, he gave even his own life; yet the priest and the Levite sinned by seeing a life slipping away and walking past. To take up a man beaten half to death by robbers would have cost them money and time, and they would have had to answer for him, so they pretended not to see. No one was watching, and they counted on that, but they had forgotten that God was.
The priest and the Levite offered sacrifices for the sins of the people, yet they behaved like this. It shows that they had not fully understood what sacrifice meant: they did not believe that God is living, and their faith was nothing but form. Their calling was to offer a life to God as a sacrifice and, through its blood, to bring the people forgiveness of sin. That such men could ignore a dying man also tells us how cheaply they held life. In our day, it is like pastors and congregations who prize only the act of worship itself and are content once they have held a service that looks grand and keeps to the forms. But God desires worship offered with all our hearts, in the Spirit and in truth, rather than worship of mere form; let us not forget it. Yet churches that worship in this formal way are steadily increasing. Of course, it is important and necessary for a church to do things in proper order. But amid countless services and formal events, the people in the pews are not hearing the truth that really matters, nor do they know it. Because they think it is enough simply to attend worship on Sunday, they pay no attention at all to their posture, their dress, or the state of their hearts in worship. We must understand that to fail in this service of worship is to suffer spiritual defeat at the hands of Satan; knowing that, we must adore God with all our hearts. The worship we offer now is offered to the God who created heaven and earth, and to Christ, who rules over heaven and hell and judges all. Holy worship is a precious time in which I offer myself to God.
Once, when I was serving as a teacher in the high school department, the young people could not focus during worship, and I asked the pastor whether we might change the order of service a little. The pastor objected very firmly, saying that if we did, we would never receive God’s blessing. I believed it mattered to adjust the order to suit the young people and help them attend to the word, so I raised it again, but all I heard, over and over, was that the young people would not be blessed. Once the sermon began, they would close their eyes and sleep or play on their phones, paying no attention at all, and I was frustrated, wondering what blessing could possibly come to them. Of course, some things must be done in the prescribed form, such as the feasts of the church year and the sacraments, but I believe even these are not more important than the saving of souls. As I see it, people can grow only when they come to know God through his word. Only when we know God does a longing arise in us for him to accept the worship we are offering. When we know God rightly, we give our full attention to offering holy worship and strive to live by his will, and this is the worship God desires.
Because the Samaritan had compassion on a human life, he poured his precious oil and wine on the wounds, brought the man to an inn, and gave the innkeeper two denarii, asking him to look after him. Being a good man, he showed love whether anyone saw or not. Just as a heart of compassion for souls is what enables us to sacrifice ourselves, only by loving God can we offer holy worship in truth and in the Spirit. I saw this Samaritan as Jesus, because in him I saw Jesus Christ, who shows love without distinction, whether the one who suffers belongs to the church or to the world. I do not know whether the man who was robbed was a man of faith, but Jesus saw him suffering at the hands of wicked men in a harsh world and had compassion on him. It also seemed to me like Jesus anointing a believer wounded by Satan with the oil of the Holy Spirit, pouring on wine, and telling them to rest easy now, for he is here. Even if the badly beaten man did not know of the good Samaritan’s kindness and so could not thank him, the Samaritan would have done the same for anyone. This is the love of Jesus Christ, who shows no partiality and bore the cross to atone for all the sins of humankind.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
18He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing. 19Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Just as Israel lived as slaves before the exodus, we live as foreigners in this harsh and dark world. Since we have no choice but to live as foreigners until the last day, we must keep a heart of mercy and show love until we reach heaven. Like Abraham, who entertained angels without knowing it, anyone who does good in every circumstance will find that God remembers what they gave. Along the way we will meet people who, like the priest and the Levite, live only for themselves, but we will also meet brothers and sisters who, like the Samaritan, sacrifice themselves and give freely. When we humble ourselves and give as the Samaritan did, we can be the light and salt that show God’s love to the world. In the Samaritan’s promise to repay any further cost on his return, I saw Jesus assuring us that he will surely come again. Here we can see the love of Christ that never lets go, like his promise that if we care for and love one another, he will surely come back once he has prepared a place for us. If we proclaim the gospel to this wilderness of a world, we may be persecuted by people who behave like robbers, but we also receive the care of fellow workers such as the Samaritan, and the love of Christ.
Jesus Christ will come again with the sound of the trumpet. He will come to this earth with countless angels singing praise and with his redeemed children, and he will have mercy on the saints who kept the faith and save them. We cannot die for the sins of others as Jesus did, but if we cannot share a brother’s pain, we are no different from the priest and the Levite who saw the man who had fallen among robbers and went on by. Jesus Christ has a love like a parent’s. When we leave our child at a boarding house, we are grateful to the landlord who treats our child kindly, even though we have paid a fair price; in the same way, God will give grace to those who show kindness to his children. God rejoices over the love that brothers and sisters in faith show one another as though he had received it himself, and he will commend them.
Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. If we have mercy on souls who have not yet received Christ, God will look on that small love and forgiveness and fill it with overflowing love. The blessing of mercy is the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, and rest.
We must know God the Father rightly. God’s love is the great love that cast his Son into death for us, and the grace that pulled us out of death when we lay crushed beneath Satan. We cannot now fall down before him as he rides the donkey toward the cross, but we must at least be able to live a life of which we need not be ashamed before the Jesus who suffered. Rather than waving palm branches with a divided heart, we must be able to confess, like the thief on the right, that we believe he has done no wrong, and ask him to save us. Now what will you give to Christ, who bore the cross? Can you set out for Jericho carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you stay in Jerusalem for fear of robbers, all of God’s grace will rot away, and you will never meet the good Samaritan whom God has sent. When the robbers of this world strip you, Christ will clothe you in a cleaner robe of righteousness, heal you with oil and wine, and provide everything you, his faithful ones, need to eat, drink, and wear. Now we too must put that love into practice with devotion and resolve. If only you resolve to do it, God will act first, and if you love souls with a heart of mercy, he will give you strength and courage through the work of the Holy Spirit to share the gospel. If you have mercy on souls who are not yet saved, God will show you mercy through a good Samaritan on the barren road you travel as a foreigner in this world. May you become holy people who, like the good Samaritan, lead many to the way of salvation, and receive God’s grace in overflowing measure.