One day I was driving along a busy downtown street. There were many shoppers. The day was bright, but cool enough to keep the windows of the car up. Stores were conducting their usual business. I stopped at a light, and I look over to the sidewalk. There among the men and women going this way and that was one man who immediately caused me to ignore everyone else.
His head only came to other people’s waist. His body was positioned on a four wheeled wooden platform. He had no legs whatsoever. He used wood hands to propel himself down the sidewalk. Oh, how I pitied that man! How grateful I was that I was not him. In all my sorrow for him and thankfulness for myself I was not fulfilling the fifth beatitude.
Mercy is a word we use in the naming of a hospital. It is a word spoken in the playground as boys fight. It is an annual Thanksgiving basket It is a nice sounding word that we allow God to have. It is what a lawyer might request while pleading a case in the courtroom
When Jesus used the word mercy in our text, he intended it to have a meaning far beyond any of the usual things we can think about. He expected it to be a condition practiced by the believer. To him mercy was not a pretty color, it was a speeding freight train loaded with supplies.
To use the idea of being merciful requires affection. It means something will be done, something will be altered, a man will be changed. For God, the true believer in Christ goes far beyond shallow emotion. It will be pitching a tent right on location where there has been no mercy. The question is: where is that location? In other words, where might we locate possible means of what it is for a believer to be merciful?
Mercy taught in this beatitude is what Christ intended for believers to take seriously. While we may not need mercy at a certain time, there will be an occasion in which we would appreciate receiving it. If we can see ourselves in such a situation, certainly we can see the need for us to provide mercy to others. Where is mercy needed? It is the place where no one notices. Mercy is a healing balm for those suffering. It is the classic example of, “doing to others as you would have them do unto you.”
Christian Writer 