To Walk As Jesus Walked

Jesus walked in MERCY

Mercy is a beautifully complex word. As often as we speak of it or read about it in our bibles, I don’t think we truly grasp the fullness of its meaning.

Jesus walked in mercy.

You can hardly follow Him a few steps in the Gospels before someone cries, "Have mercy on me!" And He does. Jesus heals. He forgives. He has compassion on us.

In Christ, mercy and truth meet together. Christ's acts of mercy prove His faithfulness and fulfill His promises.

“Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.” (Psa 85:10)

Mercy is “the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it."

Yet, it can be so much more.

From the Latin word misericordia, the Cyclopedia gives us the following definition:

“That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant.”

When we show mercy as benevolence (overlooking an injury) it becomes grace. We have given the offender something they do not deserve, our compassion. Don't miss the significance of this, Beloved. For herein we enter more fully into the will of Christ.

Cyclopedia goes on to say, “no duty is more strongly urged by the Scriptures than the exercise of [mercy] towards all men, and especially towards such as have trespassed against us.”

Jesus gives us two vivid examples: First, the negative in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:33-35). The servant had received mercy for himself and failed to give it to his fellow man. Second, the positive in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).

The story of the "good Samaritan" gains power when we consider the cultural context of intense hatred between Jews and Samaritans. The Jews looked upon the Samaritans as half-breeds, and unclean. Yet, out of all the men who saw the dying Jew, it was the Samaritan who had compassion on him.

The Proverb "love covers all sins," is put into practice in one act of mercy toward someone who has wronged us.

When Jesus said, I will have mercy not sacrifice, He was pointing us to this truth. (Prov 10:12; 1 Peter 4:8; Matt 9:13; Matt 12:7; Hosea 6:6)

But here is where the rubber meets the road, friend. We won't have the opportunity to show someone mercy if we don't SEE them. Our culture makes it easy to avoid people. Or worse, to see them as a label, rather than an individual.

The priest and the Levite were too busy to "see" the man lying beside the road. The Samaritan could have easily seen him as a label, a Jew, and gone on his way.

Instead, he had mercy on the man. A human being who was suffering. A man, who, had they met on the road, would have avoided him. May have even spat on him.

Mercy is a powerful thing, Beloved. In a world that desperately needs the hope of Jesus Christ, it is an act that will make others take notice. An act that leads to grace.

And grace can change a life.

Let Your mercy, O Lord,

be upon us,

Just as we hope in You. (Psalm 33:22)

Shalom