Blessed Are The Merciful
Today’s Verse:
From Matthew 5:7 ESV
(Jesus said) “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Mercy is central to the Gospel. In this Beatitude, Jesus is saying that the merciful are blessed, not because their mercy wins God’s favor but because they have already experienced God’s favor in Christ.
As Luther notes, God has shown his mercy most powerfully at the cross, where Christ took our sins and forgave us at great cost to himself. Because we have received such mercy, we are set free to be merciful to others—through forgiveness, through compassion to the broken, or through patience to those who try our patience.
This Beatitude is not a demand that we must be merciful if we are to earn God’s favor. It is a command to live as those who have been made new by the mercy of God.
As a spring issues forth water, mercy issues forth from the heart which has received Christ’s mercy. When we forgive those who have wronged us, when we have compassion on the weak, when we give without thought of repayment—we display the mercy we have already received.
And finally, God promises that those who live in his mercy will never lack it, both now and in the end, on the Last Day, when his mercy will raise us to eternal life.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus Christ, You have been infinitely merciful to me by Your cross and resurrection. Forgive me for my hard heart, and make me compassionate to others. Enable me to live like a forgiven man, merciful as You have been to me. Amen. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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