“Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.”
- Matthew 5:7
Something that has been really interesting lately is all the unique beliefs and ideas I am learning from a group of people known as the Church Fathers. These are not my professors or a group of local pastors and priests. The Church Fathers were leaders in the early church who contributed to our theology and maintaining orthodoxy in a world of false teachings. One such idea that has stuck me, is how they view “evil.”
First and foremost evil cannot be created or attributed to God, for our God is good and evil is… well… evil. So, if God would have created evil, then truly all life and death is simply being a puppet or a doll in God’s playroom. Or even if God is simply attributed with evil, then God is the almighty manipulative person in the relationship. Clearly, both of these are toxic and false ways of seeing evil play out in our world.
For the Church Fathers then, namely Augustine, evil was not created nor brought about by God. Instead, they viewed evil as “Privation.” Meaning, the individual is deprived and empty of anything good and godly, the only result is evil. You can think of it like a cup, the cup is always there, just as you are. However, a cup with evil results is empty and dry, or at least running on that end, a glass more than half empty. Conversely, goodness and godliness is a cup that is full and overflowing. This ultimately means that humans create evil from their hearts, souls, minds, and bodies, and it is highly individualistic. For every action and reaction of mine could lead to a fuller cup or an emptier cup. I can either become more good and godly, Christ-like. Or I can become more deprived and wicked, separating myself from God.
Privation and Mercy:
Understanding evil helps us understand mercy and the power of it. Matthew 5:7 is perhaps the most straightforward beatitude, at least in my opinion, if one wants mercy in their life then they should be merciful. You are what you eat, you receive what you give. Yet, with how straightforward this blessing is, we struggle more in the mercy giving department than about any other.
To serve someone else is easy as holding a door, giving some food, or donating some money. To do something good for someone else is easy, assuming your cup is not completely empty. It is easy to do these small acts of kindness and still not show mercy nor have an overflowing cup. Showing mercy to someone who has wronged you, hurt you, or is simply irritating toward you is so much harder. Because to show mercy, means not having those satisfying arguments in your mind of what you would say to bring that person down. To show mercy, means not being prideful, you would have to lay aside any selfish ambition or power move that you could rightfully do, but to show true goodness to that person.
Our evil hearts, now matter how much good is in your cup, if it's not overflowing, you have the potential to show no mercy. Privation produces pride, conceit, and enemies. Mercy produces compassion, humility, and care.
Motivated for Mercy:
If one is to give out mercy then they too receive mercy from God, through the ultimate life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose cup so overflowed that God poured goodness into our empty cups. However, one should not be spiritually selfishly motivated to give mercy, for even mercy can be given from a motive of pride. That act of mercy is no better than an act of kindness. That form of mercy would be like saying, “I am only doing this to receive something from God.” That’s mercy rooted in conceit.
Proper motivation for mercy than is this, that Christ has so ultimately shown mercy to me by His life, death, and resurrection, that I will also obediently show mercy to others. Showing mercy then is to pray for our enemies in private, it is to stand up for whomever is being oppressed, and to forgive our trespassers has God has so lovingly forgiven us.
Even with proper motivation and the warding off of pride, mercy may still be difficult, perhaps because we live in a merciless world. Everyone is fighting for their own truth, and even those who claim to be for mercy and social justice, are really just about passively accepting others for their “truth.” However, mercy is to take action, it is a bold move to make in a nation that knows little of it, and it is the very thing Christ calls His disciples to.
Beyond the cross, Jesus displays mercy numerous times. One of the most powerful displays was to a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). By the Law, she should be stoned, but by mercy, she was forgiven. That is but a brief summary of what is occurring but the point to be taken is how Jesus boldly displayed mercy in a scenario where no mercy was justifiable.
Final Blessing:
I believe we have been tasked to figure out how to show mercy in a world that is prideful and bent on division. I believe mercy is the way of showing Christ to all those around us. It is not just to be doing a good thing but it is to be merciful from an overflowing cup of God’s mercy. I pray that God softens our hearts and we look through glasses of compassion, so we notice where mercy is needed. I don’t want to live with an empty cup and a big stick of truth, but with grace and compassion coupled with the truth of redemption by Christ, what a transformative power that can be in our world. There are so many creative ways we can show mercy and have compassion, leaving someone empowered to follow Christ after we have done the deed of mercy.
May the Lord of life and redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat. Be messengers of the Good News and Peace friends!
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