The Beatitudes: Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. (5:7)
I am continuing to act on my inspiration from Michael Longley who in a conversation with Krista Tippett on the NPR program “On Being” referred to Jesus “as a proto-socialist.” He went on to say, “And the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, are as good a system to live by as any that I am think of.”
Because of that inspiration I have been revisiting the Beatitudes. Today I want to focus on “Blessed are the merciful; for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7)
If one googles the word mercy one gets 15,500,000 hits as of 1:00 p.m. on November 8, 2016. One can find references to the use of the term as it is used in legal situations in the United States and other countries. One can also find references to the use of terms in everyday non-legal dealings between individuals and groups. One can find the use of the term in all religions. It can be used as synonymous with words such as compassion or forbearance shown to someone over whom one has power.
The word, as Jesus uses it, may stem from the Greek word for mercy – eleos – which the divinemercy.orgsite authors suggest can be translated as kindness or tender compassion. This same author reminds one that the word eleos comes from a root word meaning oil that is poured out. “Thus, when the church sings in her liturgy the Greek words Kyrie Eleison and Christie Eleison, she is praying that the merciful love of God will be poured out upon her children, like holy oil from above.”
Some distinguish between the terms grace and mercy by suggesting that “Grace is what one receives that they do not deserve while mercy is what one receives when they do not get what they deserve.” (quoted in Wikipedia)
The same article in Wikipedia states that in Islam the title “Most Merciful” (al-Rahman) is one of the names of Allah and Compassionate (al-Rahim), is the most common name occurring in the Quran….As a form of mercy, the giving of alms (zakat) is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam and one of the requirement of the faithful.”
The site purifymind.com reminds one that Quan-Yin is the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy.
The point is that when conceptualizing the best of who we can be, wise men and women have posited God or Gods or Goddesses who can, at times, be merciful and those that can be very angry and punishing.
We cannot credit Jesus or Buddha as being the first to recognize that in showing mercy, kindness, or forgiveness to others we are, in essence, showing it to ourselves Others are but a mirror of us even though the particulars of our need for compassion and forgiveness may be unique to us (not really although it may seem that way).
Jesus does not seem to need volumes to pontificate on mercy or the merciful. He is not, after all, a learned theologian who needs to earn his PhD by sounding erudite and impressing the learned colleagues who will decide whether to aware him a title of doctor. He is, after all, this simple shepherd who brings the simplicity of a child to what has become known as the Beatitudes.
Very simply he says “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” Blessed are those that are able to look into the mirror, embrace and show tender compassion to those who are themselves.” The mercy that we are “shown” when we are merciful is the instant reward of mercy – of coming home to ourselves – of bringing the pieces which make us whole. Thus calling Jesus as the proto-socialist as does the poet, Michael Longley, makes sense. In all that he says and shows by example is the celebration of our oneness.
Blessed are the merciful” for they will be shown mercy.
Written November 8, 2016
I am continuing to act on my inspiration from Michael Longley who in a conversation with Krista Tippett on the NPR program “On Being” referred to Jesus “as a proto-socialist.” He went on to say, “And the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, are as good a system to live by as any that I am think of.”
Because of that inspiration I have been revisiting the Beatitudes. Today I want to focus on “Blessed are the merciful; for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7)
If one googles the word mercy one gets 15,500,000 hits as of 1:00 p.m. on November 8, 2016. One can find references to the use of the term as it is used in legal situations in the United States and other countries. One can also find references to the use of terms in everyday non-legal dealings between individuals and groups. One can find the use of the term in all religions. It can be used as synonymous with words such as compassion or forbearance shown to someone over whom one has power.
The word, as Jesus uses it, may stem from the Greek word for mercy – eleos – which the divinemercy.orgsite authors suggest can be translated as kindness or tender compassion. This same author reminds one that the word eleos comes from a root word meaning oil that is poured out. “Thus, when the church sings in her liturgy the Greek words Kyrie Eleison and Christie Eleison, she is praying that the merciful love of God will be poured out upon her children, like holy oil from above.”
Some distinguish between the terms grace and mercy by suggesting that “Grace is what one receives that they do not deserve while mercy is what one receives when they do not get what they deserve.” (quoted in Wikipedia)
The same article in Wikipedia states that in Islam the title “Most Merciful” (al-Rahman) is one of the names of Allah and Compassionate (al-Rahim), is the most common name occurring in the Quran….As a form of mercy, the giving of alms (zakat) is the fourth of the Five Pillars of Islam and one of the requirement of the faithful.”
The site purifymind.com reminds one that Quan-Yin is the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy.
The point is that when conceptualizing the best of who we can be, wise men and women have posited God or Gods or Goddesses who can, at times, be merciful and those that can be very angry and punishing.
We cannot credit Jesus or Buddha as being the first to recognize that in showing mercy, kindness, or forgiveness to others we are, in essence, showing it to ourselves Others are but a mirror of us even though the particulars of our need for compassion and forgiveness may be unique to us (not really although it may seem that way).
Jesus does not seem to need volumes to pontificate on mercy or the merciful. He is not, after all, a learned theologian who needs to earn his PhD by sounding erudite and impressing the learned colleagues who will decide whether to aware him a title of doctor. He is, after all, this simple shepherd who brings the simplicity of a child to what has become known as the Beatitudes.
Very simply he says “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” Blessed are those that are able to look into the mirror, embrace and show tender compassion to those who are themselves.” The mercy that we are “shown” when we are merciful is the instant reward of mercy – of coming home to ourselves – of bringing the pieces which make us whole. Thus calling Jesus as the proto-socialist as does the poet, Michael Longley, makes sense. In all that he says and shows by example is the celebration of our oneness.
Blessed are the merciful” for they will be shown mercy.
Written November 8, 2016
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