Explanation of the Fifth Beatitude
This commandment states the following: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
The merciful are those people who relate to all other people with compassion and sympathy. Merciful people have a kind heart, and they are always ready to help those in need to the best of their ability. For this, merciful people themselves will be deemed worthy of great mercy from God; they will be shown mercy. From the perspective of Christian teaching, to be merciful means to treat other people better than they deserve. This is exactly how God treats people, showing His great mercy to the ungodly and ungrateful. The Apostle Paul speaks of this:
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
To be merciful means to be like God. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8).
The Lord is the source of mercy. In the Old Testament, God said to Moses: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6–7).
The same qualities of mercy and goodness are proclaimed by Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount: “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:35–36).
However, the manifestation of mercy does not amount to justifying all kinds of sin, nor to showing tolerance toward foolishness and evil, nor to submitting to injustice and lawlessness. To be merciful means, first of all, to have compassion for lost people and to help them get rid of sin, and to be able to forgive those who do wrong. And as it is said in the Bible: “But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:4).
The Lord does not ask people whether they are worthy of His love, but pours out upon sinful humanity the riches of His love. Therefore “we love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Let us imitate the Lord in our merciful attitude toward our neighbors. The merciful and compassionate are partakers of God, and through such people divine love is manifested. Therefore, the merciful strive not to judge their neighbor, but to help and save him. Truly merciful people are those who show compassion, sympathy toward the poor, suffering, and oppressed. In a compassionate soul there is peace and tranquility. And the Holy Spirit, dwelling in such a soul, manifests Himself in good deeds, softens hardened hearts, and brings about mutual reconciliation and mercy. The merciful will obtain mercy, that is, they will reap (receive) what they sow.
“The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself” (Proverbs 11:25).
Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount said these words: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12). And if a person desires that good be done to him and that help, compassion, and mercy be shown to him, then he himself must perform these good deeds. And the strength for good deeds is given to a person by the constant sense in his soul of God’s mercy. Therefore, no matter what height of spiritual development a person may reach, he should always ask God for mercy toward himself and forgiveness of his sins with the words of the “Prayer of the Publican”: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Like the Lord, a person should show mercy to other people.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).