Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla. I'm Justin.
And we are here to continue our conversation
about the Beatitudes, which is the section that
opens Jesus's sermon on the Mount, where he talks
about blessings and what it means to be blessed
and who are the kind of people that are blessed.
And today we are talking about the Beatitude
where Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for
they will be shown mercy. And that sounds very
nice. It doesn't feel true. Kyler, why does it
not feel true to you? Well, I mean, it feels
true maybe in like a grand sense, but very specifically,
like in the world, if I am a merciful person,
I am not always shown mercy. Yes, you get walked
over by other people. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I think
that's... True. It's weird in the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus does say things like you should
be willing to get walked over by other people.
So that is a consequence of trying to live this
way. If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn
the cheek, go the extra mile, all that stuff.
But in this case, I think it's who is the one
who's going to show you mercy is the key question.
Yes, that's fair. Maybe we're not talking about
my random neighbor who hates me. No, I mean we're
in church, so we all know the answer is Jesus.
Yeah. Okay, so but the word mercy seems to be
pretty central to this phrase. Yes. It shows
up a couple of times at least. So what do we
mean by the word mercy? Well, what do you think
it means? They're supposed to be more than to
the two of us now, so now I want to make sure
that we're not just interviewing me. Right. This
is fair. Because you've got good stuff, man.
Yeah. I mean, I think... Oh, here she is. Yes.
Welcome, Melissa. Please come on in and have
a seat. I'm so sorry. That's okay. No, church...
We're live right now. We're live right now. Church
ended early today because there was no communion.
So it's all right. I didn't tell you to show
up early. And now we are extending mercy. To
you. Yeah. Is that mercy? Yeah, we're extending
mercy, which I'm going to need later because
I'm going to probably hit your car in the parking
lot later. I don't know. Yes. Oh, yeah, that
too. Mercy. We were just talking about what that
is. Yes. Mercy. Not just not just something that
Uncle Jesse says from Full House and Elvis. OK,
great. Mercy. Yes. So welcome, Melissa. Thank
you so much. And. Thank you for extending your
mercy to me today. I really appreciate it. Yeah.
So the question we were just looking at, what
is mercy? And I think. So I'm maybe going to
get this wrong, but the childhood Veggie Tales
version of me makes this distinction between
mercy and grace, where grace is getting a thing
that you don't deserve. And mercy is not getting
a thing that you do deserve. Yeah, where that
thing that you deserve is bad. Yeah, my boss
doesn't show me mercy when they don't pay me.
Right. Yes. No, that's no. No, I deserve some
sort of a punishment, but I don't get it. And
therefore, this is mercy. That is what Veggie
Tales has taught me, folks. Now, does this hold
up in the real world? Is that like, Melissa,
when you think of mercy, what do you think of?
Well, when I think of mercy, I do think about
God first. However, I agree that in the real
world, like, it can be kind of hard to not only
extend that mercy, but to also receive that mercy,
because we have responsibilities. If at work
I mess up, usually my manager will not give me
mercy. She will, you know, address me the way
that in a workplace setting that I should be
addressed. Even though sometimes it would be
nice to have that mercy. But yeah. Yeah. I mean,
the thing that makes mercy difficult in the real
world, quote unquote, is that we have a whole
system built on justice. Right. Right. The whole
system where if if we just sort of let people
off. Yeah. Then sort of the guardrails for our
society start falling away and we could have
chaos. Right. So it's like a really scary thing
to give mercy. Right. You're putting yourself.
I mean, if we're talking about on a societal
level, you're putting society at risk by showing
lots of mercy. Mercy is risky. It's super risky,
right? Because who knows, people could abuse
it, right? People would be like, well, I guess
if mercy is going to be shown that I can just
commit crimes and do what I want and trust that
people are going to be nice. So it's a nerve
wracking sort of thing. But what Jesus is talking
about in the Beatitudes is this kind of upside
down kingdom idea. Right? It's not supposed to
work now. Right. It's the way God's kingdom works.
And he's asking his followers to live in the
way that that kingdom will be or that that kingdom
is. So you're going to have to live countercultural.
You're going to make yourself vulnerable as a
Christian by showing mercy to people. But that's
what Jesus did. Right. Right. Jesus was nailed
to a cross. He's saying forgive them. Yeah, but
they don't know what they're doing Yeah, right.
He puts himself in the most vulnerable position
to show mercy and the prize for that Attitude
is God shows you mercy, right? At the end which
again, like you said from veggie tells we don't
serve. Yes Yeah, I mean um so one of the things
that we said initially at the beginning is like
blessed are the merciful for they will be shown
mercy doesn't feel true if we just look at it
in terms of like human relationships like if
i'm a merciful person that doesn't guarantee
that other people will be showing me mercy? Right.
And I think that's a reason why it's really hard
to show mercy as well, because even if we show
mercy to other people, it's not guaranteed that
they will show mercy back to us. However, I feel
that as Christians, we have to constantly look
to Jesus because, you know, the idea is that
if God gave us mercy, then we should be merciful
to other people as well. and then we think about
well if if God gave me the same amount of mercy
that I gave to other people well then then I'm
not receiving a lot of mercy because then I don't
actually give a lot of mercy to people and it's
kind of really scary to think that so I guess
if we put it up to that standard it's like actually
we should constantly be giving as much mercy
as we can because we never want that like to
end for us from God. Right. And maybe it's through
us that other people can experience mercy and
that might be merciful to others as well. But
it's definitely hard. And just like a lot of
the Beatitudes, it requires a lot of surrendering
to God, a lot of sacrifice as well. Totally.
I think that's really important because what
you're really I mean, because God is I hate to
say that I hate this phrase, but you know, God
is also a God of justice. Right. So it's not
like God's ignoring. Sure. Injustices and oppression
and persecution. There's lots of that in the
Bible. But what you're doing by extending mercy
to others is that you're trusting God with the
justice. Right. Right. And you're not putting
it upon yourself to exact these kinds of punishments
for yourself. You're saying, I'm a Christian.
I know this world is God's. He will take care
of it. And therefore I don't need to demand the
justice that I normally would if I didn't trust
in God to take care of that for me. Yeah, and
then that makes me think about, like, when we're
in a position where we are choosing the kind
of people that we want to be merciful to and
the kind of people that we don't want to be merciful
to, we're, like, putting ourselves in this position
of, like, judgment, where we're like, this type
of person or this particular person is worthy
of mercy, and this person is not worthy of mercy,
but Jesus says, no, just extend mercy to everyone
and, like, I'll sort it out later. Right? Yes,
something like that. Yeah, I think I mean there's
a great So there's a theologian who I like called
Karl Barth I use this guy from Switzerland from
the 20th century, but he one of the things he
says is that Jesus or God takes on the role of
judge, not just to absolve us of our sins, but
also to sort of let us off the hook for having
to judge others ourselves. Right. Yeah. Right.
Like we go around in the world and we feel like
we need to weigh in on everything and think this
person good, this person bad. We're making judgments
about people. And Bart says, actually, Jesus
lets us off the hook of that responsibility.
Right. That's what frees us to love people indiscriminately.
Right. and like lets us off the hook feels like
a nice way of saying that whereas like i would
say as like god says like just don't do it just
like don't judge the people yeah it's like you
know like lets us off the hook feels like oh
i should feel like a weight about this but sometimes
i mean sometimes we do feel a weight about it
well because we want to take it back yeah like
it feels i mean as with all things with christianity
when giving up sin feels like we're giving up
something. Yes. And really we're being freed
from something. Totally. So it feels hard to
be like, I should be able to look at someone
and say a judgment about them. Right. Someone's
wrong to me. I should be like, you are bad. Right.
And Jesus is like, no, no, I'll do that. Right.
Now you can just love them. Right. And I think
it's also the idea that if we as humans judge
other humans, it's like, I feel like we're just
going... Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. No, you sounded
wise when you said that. Oh, thank you. Thank
you. I feel that we're going to get it wrong,
you know? It's like, how do you know if we're
making the right judgment? That's something that
I feel like if you were a judge in the judicial
system, we already know that there's so many
times when we're judges, they get it wrong, right?
And I think it does help to know that, like...
That's not our job. That's not the task that
God has given us. The task that God has given
us is actually just to love people, which it
might not feel easier. But listening to Justin
speak, actually loving other people is easier
than maybe putting judgment on other people,
because what if you do get it wrong? Right. And
there's so many people affected by it as well.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, there's a great line in scripture.
Oh, I can't remember where it is. where it says
Jesus entrusted himself to the one who judges
justly. Mm. OK. Right? Like Jesus lived his life
allowing God to be the judge of everything. Right.
Right. He's not out there trying to get people's
praise and adoration. She says, I'm going to
give my whole life to God. He'll be the judge
of my life. Right. Right. And that freed him
in some ways to do radical stuff like totally
hang out with prostitutes and tax collectors
and all that stuff and not worry what people
were saying. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. So then
I feel like we've sort of said, okay, so being
merciful means not judging. It means extending
love. But I'm wondering then what the sort of
positive side of it, what it does look like.
And so I have this cool book that we briefly
mentioned last week by a guy called Dietrich
Bonhoeffer called The Cost of Discipleship. And
so in this book, he does a lot of things. But
one of the things that he does is breaks down
the Sermon on the Mount. And when he talks about
the people who are merciful, this is what Mr.
Bonhoeffer has to say. The merciful have an irresistible
love for the downtrodden, the sick, the wretched,
the wronged, the outcast, and all who are tortured
with anxiety. They go out and seek all who are
enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt. No distress
is too great, no sin too appalling for their
pity. Mm. Right? So good. Just doing the white
person version of Amen. Yeah. So this, according
to Bonhoeffer, is what the merciful do. They
go out, they have an irresistible love. Like,
let's just talk about that for a second. An irresistible
love. Like, what does that mean? Jesus shaped.
Right? Yeah. You're being compelled by Jesus,
right, to do these things. I also think it's
like this kind of freely given love to people,
right? The downtrodden and the oppressed. We
often think of them as these poor victims and
stuff like that. But I mean, there's all sorts
of reasons people use for not being merciful
to people. Oh, they're just going to spend this
money on drugs or they're just going to do this
or they need to go get a job really. Is me buying
them a McDonald's breakfast really going to change
that much in their lives? Jesus is like, yeah,
don't worry about that. You know, your job is
to love these people indiscriminately. Yeah.
Right. I also think that when you show mercy,
like even just once that can have such a huge
positive impact in a person's life. If you look
at a young person who maybe they messed up, maybe
they did something they shouldn't have done.
Right. And if you approach them with. Punishment
and judgment and anger. What message are you
sending them? So they're going to grow up their
whole life being like well This is how the world
works. We punish we judge And it's kind of like
in a way you're confirming confirming like labeling
theory like oh i'm a bad person I deserve to
be judged. Well, then i'm just going to continue
living like this, right? However, if you show
a young person or just anyone like mercy um especially
that child or teenager they're gonna learn like
actually there's another way to live life where
i don't have to think the world that's so cold
and hardened it can be but i can make the choice
to be merciful right that person was merciful
to me so i'm going to be merciful to someone
else and i'm just going to do good because i'm
not you know this bad person i'm someone who
can receive good things as well and i think that
is a better way to live life in a way i know
a lot of people they won't agree with that I
think sometimes you see people do things on the
news, young people, you know, like they deserve
to be punished, they deserve to be locked away.
However, it's like, well, then what kind of world
are we kind of setting up? Not to say that we
shouldn't have justice, but more so that I think
there needs to be a lot more mercy, especially
towards people who are, like the book said, you
know, they have a lot of anxiety, a lot of...
Insecurities a lot of things happening and maybe
that can be young people or just anyone Yeah,
I mean It feels really complicated when we try
to bring it to this like macro like societal
level Yeah, right to try and say okay our justice
System should be a system of mercy. Yeah, I don't
really want to jump in that. Yeah but I also
don't think that that's necessarily what Jesus
had in mind. I don't know. Well, I mean, it is
going to be the polity of the new kingdom. Yeah.
Right. So we're not there yet. Yeah. Right. So
a lot of these rules are ways of dealing with
the fact that we're still in a sinful world.
Yeah. Yeah. Right. But I so I don't I guess my
point was we don't need to make a society built
on mercy in order to like follow this command
as followers of Jesus. Yeah. Right? Like in our
personal relationships, we can be merciful people
even while living in a society that's not built
on mercy. Yeah. I mean, you also need to be merciful
to, I don't know, victims of oppression, right?
You can't put them in a position to be constantly
abused by others. I mean, the thing is, mercy
is not pretending that a wrong hasn't happened
or excusing it. Right. Right. So it's not like
you're saying I'm being merciful to you by Saying
it doesn't really matter that you right punch
me in the face or something like that. It does
matter Sure, right and and even the very fact
of me forgiving you is an acknowledgement that
you have wronged me, right? Even though I'm not
taking the the demands of punishment. Yeah So
I want to be clear on that too, right? So like
if you've been victimized or you're oppressed
or persecuted in some way It's not like Jesus
is saying just pretend like that never happened
and now it's like on you to know you're saying
this was wrong Yeah, this was wrong. I mean in
the same way that god says you're a sinner, right?
Right. It's not like you're great. You're a sinner.
I'm dying for you. Yeah, you know i'm i'm i'm
showing mercy to you because you need mercy.
Yeah You know, yeah Yeah, so then I feel like
that's a really important angle to sort of tease
out here is like this connection between mercy
and forgiveness and forgiveness and like letting
something go or like how justice like fits into
all of that, because yeah, it mercy. Obviously,
we are called to mercy. We are like God is a
merciful God. God is also a just God, as we said.
But yeah, so it feels like like forgiveness is
sort of the name of the game. Like that's just
like part and parcel of following the way of
Jesus. That doesn't make it easy, obviously.
And. No, I mean look at the name of this book
the cost the cost of deception, right? Yeah um,
and I think that forgiveness Yeah, what what
I guess what does forgiveness look like if it
doesn't look like Letting it go, right? How do
we both name? This is wrong. Yeah and Offer forgiveness,
right? Like there's a whole boundary setting
that happens in there. Well, you're going to
teach us about forgiveness in your sermon of
the Lord's Prayer in a couple of weeks. But yeah,
I mean, I don't think forgiveness or showing
mercy means that you, again, pretend that there
hasn't been a rupture in relationship, right?
This is why Christians forgive or show mercy
in faith. That it's God who will bring reconciliation.
There's a really good book about this that a
friend of mine wrote called A Shared Mercy that
talks about forbearance as a key category. You're
kind of waiting expectantly in hope. So that
means like if I forgive someone, let's say someone
seriously wronged me, like in an illegal way.
It doesn't mean I'm forgiving you and now we
can be friends again and you're in my life and
everything's the way it was. No, sometimes you
have to create boundaries and distance, but you're
forgiving them in the hopes that God will bring
about a reconciliation that you can't bring about
on your own. Yeah. I feel like that's interesting
because when I think about forgiveness, I understand
like sometimes we have to be very careful to
like not, I guess, ignore the accountability
that that person should take. But then I wonder
like, If you're still holding on to something,
is that still forgiveness? Because I've always
looked at forgiveness as not something you do
for someone else. You do it for yourself kind
of thing. Because if you're just holding on to
that anger all the time and it's like just got
to be a point where you're like, you're kind
of just like hurting yourself now. So I kind
of think of forgiveness as like you have to do
the work of kind of like setting yourself free
as well. And then I guess. I guess sometimes
I think about, obviously, people, they do things
that aren't great to us. They do things that
are really, really terrible to other people.
And I can say right now that it would be really,
really hard for me to offer forgiveness to someone
if they did something super terrible to me. But
does Jesus have limits on his forgiveness? I
kind of think about that because. you know, because
then as Christians, we can ask, well, how many
more times am I going to mess up before Jesus
is like, actually, I'm setting the boundary and
you keep messing up and I'm not going to forgive
you anymore. That's like a nightmare to me. Right.
And I think Jesus is asking for a tall order,
but it's not something he didn't do. He forgave
people. Right. Right. He keep the people like
when they put them on the cross and he was suffering.
one of the worst deaths that anyone could ever
suffer. He still said, Father, forgive them.
And I'm like, I don't think I would have had
the strength to do that. But then I wonder if
maybe through Jesus, that is something we have,
because you have stories of people who, you know,
their family member was killed. And then in court,
they say, I asked you to forgive the person who
killed my loved one. Right. How much faith does
that take? Right. How much of supernatural faith?
Exactly. But you're crossing so many boundaries.
I guess it's just. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look what
Jesus said right after Father, forgive them.
Right. He says, but God into your hands, I commit
my spirit. Right. So he's saying, I'm entrusting
myself to you. I'm entrusting the execution of
justice to you. And so I can forgive these people.
Right. And because that forgiveness. I mean,
this is the whole point of this. The father forgives
our sins as we forgive those who sin against
us. Right. God has extended this mercy to us.
So now we can forgive others. Yeah. Right. And
there's also the sort of the parable that Jesus
tells about the guy who owed bajillions of dollars
and had it forgiven. But then, you know, called
someone out on their fifty dollar debt or something.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking about that parable,
too, like when we were talking earlier. Yeah.
So there's the story of a dude who owes. His
master like, yeah, let's say a million dollars,
a bunch of money. And his master forgives him.
And then he goes out and yeah, gets mad at somebody
else who owes him like 10 bucks. Yeah. And Jesus's
whole point of this is like, don't be like this
dude. Yeah. Right. Like you have received so
much mercy. Yeah. Therefore, go and show it to
others. I forgave you your debt so you could
go and forgive other people's debts. Yeah. You
know. Yeah. And I think it's important to point
out at this sort of intersection that like we
don't do that alone. No. Right. Like God forgave
us our debts, enabling us to forgive other people's
debts. It's so like to just try and go out and
do it in my own strength is maybe impossible.
It definitely is impossible. Right. But to do
it with the spirit of dependence on God, with
this spirit of, yeah, just trusting and praying
and saying, God help me forgive, right? Like
that's what makes it possible. I think it's also
important to kind of look at like, you know,
why you're forgiving someone, because if you're
forgiving someone, because you're just like,
well, if I forgive this person, then God will
forgive me. Or the idea of like, oh, if I forgive
this person, then God's going to make sure that
something terrible happens to them, but then
it's not out of my hands. I'm going to randomly
a Lamborghini is going to be in my front yard
because I forgave this person. I guess it's kind
of like sometimes you're going to have to show
mercy and you're not going to receive anything
back because I mean, God gives us mercy, but
it's not like we're giving him, you know, something
that he doesn't already have. Right. So I think
it's just that you just have to be so selfless
and so dependent on God. to be in that space.
And he does ask us of that. Right. Yeah. Totally.
So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Jesus says, blessed
are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
So we've talked about this idea of mercy. This
is how it connects to forgiveness and a bit about
how it connects to justice, I think. So. Why,
like what is it about mercy that we think makes
it one of the sort of primary principles of the
kingdom of God? Like why, why mercy? Why not
something else? I guess, that's the first thing
I think of is that, you know, Jesus says mercy
and that's specifically one of the Beatitudes
because, well, why did Jesus come to the earth,
right? To show mercy to give us a way so that
we can be reconciled to the Father. Because I
think just every single person right now who
has lived and will live needs mercy from God.
And I guess it just, yeah, you put it in that
context. It's like, yeah, why wouldn't Jesus
mention that? Because that's the thing that we
need, right? Yeah. I mean, you think about everybody
in the kingdom of heaven, everybody in the church.
Yeah. Has been shown mercy by God and has needed
mercy from God. Yep, right. So it's it's the
currency Yeah of the kingdom right to show mercy
It's very Jesus centric, right? It's this is
the way Jesus did stuff. Yeah the king of this
thing Yeah, we should do it too. Yeah. Yeah,
it's the expectations of citizenship in the kingdom
of heaven. Mm -hmm And it's interesting like
in I guess in Matthew's gospel in particular,
but probably in all of them the word mercy is
like used pretty frequently and it's often used
in the context of like somebody asking Jesus
for something usually like physical healing like
there's a dude on the side of the road who's
like begging for money and then Jesus walks by
and he's like Jesus have mercy on me and I guess
what that reminds me is that and and then Jesus
has this interaction and like heals him right
and so that sort of shows me like mercy has this
spiritual emotional component to it, but it also
has a very Practical tangible component like
this man is not the same from that moment on
like he and so in this particular case I think
he's healed from blindness and is able to like
go out like live his life But like in all kinds
of cases, there's something concrete That like
happens as an expression of mercy. I I think
that's interesting I don't think we touched upon
it yet, but it's like the fact that like yes,
like mercy is given to us by God and we should
give that mercy to other people but People do
have to kind of like ask for that mercy just
as we go to God and we ask for his mercy as well
We ask for his forgiveness. So it's kind of like
in a way you know, just something that is kind
of a concrete and tangible is just If someone's
coming to you and they're saying, like, I'm really
sorry, you know, no matter how hard it is, that
is the opportunity for us to show that mercy,
because now we have that like tangible like signal
that's like, OK, well, this is that opportunity
now. Right. Right. I wonder, like, if that person,
he never went to Jesus and was like, Jesus have
mercy on me. Right. If he was just like, Jesus
will come to me. It's fine. He knows I'm here.
Right. And it's like Jesus is like. There's many
people that are here. I'm sure um, so I mean,
maybe Jesus still would have healed him But I
think it's just like the fact that he took that
step to be like Jesus heal me Yeah, yeah Yeah,
it's like the defensiveness of offering forgiveness
to someone without specifying What they did?
You know like if I was having a fight with my
spouse or something like that and and I just
all of a sudden said I forgive you Right. That's
not going to end well for me, right? Because
we haven't established what the breakdown in
the relationship was. So there is a part where
like the person needs to recognize their need
also. But even if not, I think Jesus is, you
know, he says, forgive them. They don't know
what they're doing. Right. Right. But that doesn't,
that's not going to bring the reconciliation
without their also acknowledgement of. I receive
that from you, Jesus, as well. Yeah, yeah, totally.
So this is for anyone who says being a Christian
is easy It's not easy being a Christian, but
it's worth it and it's the truth. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Yeah I mean Jesus did say my yoke is easy and
my burden is light, but that's true Only if you
let him do all the stuff, which is hard. Yeah,
another oxymoron. Yeah It's all very easy if
we can let go We cannot let go And therefore,
it's hard. We're in this constant push and pull.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We have this. No, never
mind. Yeah. Sorry. I was thinking about the sermon
from today that we're not talking about. So we
could talk about it. Yeah. So then. Mercy. Yeah,
it's something that people ask us for, but even
when they don't ask us for it, we can. Extend
it it just leads to a different kind of relationship
in that case. Yeah So Practically, yeah, what
does it look like? To extend mercy to someone
like the process of forgiveness Which is I think
a bit different than mercy, but it's included
in the concept of mercy like the practice of
forgiveness Has always felt a little bit Beyond
Grasp for me because it's like It's a thing that
happens in my words that may or may not happen
in my actions Right, and I think mercy can be
the same way we can say I can say oh Melissa
I'm being merciful towards you, but then actually
like I'm just gonna stay over here and secretly
still hate you a little bit or something I don't
know. I don't I hate one of you, but I'm not
gonna tell you Good I babysat your gecko. I know
my gecko Shout out to tube my son's gecko Yeah,
so mercy what does it look like I sorry no no
good. I guess it's just I feel like the way that
we practically extend mercy looks different depending
on the person. If it's like you're this like
three year old child who dropped your phone by
accident and now the screen shattered, like you're
going to be really pissed off. Right. Yeah. But
it's like, well, what can you do to this three
year old child? They don't know they messed up.
So you gave your phone to a three year old. Yeah.
So maybe that's an actual consequences of your
actions. But in that case, you are just like,
OK, like you extend that mercy versus like if
it's your an older person in your family, right?
Your parent or someone who maybe physically abused
you, right? How do you go through the process
of showing forgiveness and mercy to that person?
I guess. I don't know. It's just that I had nothing
to add. That's all I had to say. Just yeah, it
looks different in each relationship. Yeah. Yeah.
But also there's the like to get back to your
concrete stuff. I mean. historically acts of
mercy, at least in the church, is also giving
to the poor, looking at someone. There's that
great line where Jesus, oh, and Jesus is talking
to the rich young man and it says, Jesus looked
at him and loved him. You're supposed to see
your fellow human being and love them, have mercy
on them. Don't be like, you made your bed, now
lie in it. Yeah, you made some bad choices. Maybe
you got hooked on smack or you lost your job
or whatever But you don't deserve to be living
on the street, right? You know, I'm gonna show
mercy. I'm gonna help you all that kind of stuff
where you could theoretically just Be on your
merry way and ignore that stuff. But Jesus is
saying I didn't do that. So you should do the
same, right? Yeah, and we really made our bed
as sinners, right? We rebelled against the Holy
God who created us. Yeah I mean, we deserved
all of all of whatever we got for that. And God's
like, no, I'm going to extend mercy to you guys.
I'm sending you my son. Right. Right. Yeah. So
it I mean, it goes back to that that Bonhoeffer
line, that irresistible love. Yeah. Right. It's
yeah. Mercy just is love. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
it's at the risk of being the most stereotypical.
21st century Christian preacher, it's like in
The Matrix, you know, when Neo sees all the dots
and stuff. I can't remember. But it's like we
need to have like Neo lenses to see people as
people who are beloved by God, whom God is longing
to be reconciled with no matter the evils they
do, either to us or to others. That is supernaturally
difficult, right? I mean, that is really, really
hard to do. But again, this is something that
Jesus gives to us as a gift. He helps us to see
people that way. Where everything inside of us
is saying, dehumanize that person. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. Jesus rehumanizes them. So I guess
it's kind of like... You have to change your
whole like the whole way that you kind of like
present yourself in the world and the whole way
that you carry yourself and talk to people. And
I think it does require maybe a changing of looking
at different, you know, social issues and looking
at different things in the world. There's, for
example, homelessness and house population. There's
people, you know, like we said, he'll say, why
should we give them affordable housing? Why should
we do this? Why should we do that? Right. And
because. They're like, it doesn't benefit me.
I worked so hard to get here. And then Mercy
is having to be like, well, actually, even if
that person did whatever and that's why they're
there, they still deserve to have a shelter.
They still deserve to have food and water. Or
maybe they don't deserve it, but we're obligated
to give it to them as Christ followers. Like
the answer to any of the whys. Why should I help
this person? Why should we do this good thing?
Whatever. The answer is always because they are
a person loved by God. Full stop. And I've already
received infinite blessings from God, right?
So for me to withhold that from someone else
contradicts my own situation. Yeah, totally.
And I think Especially when we then put this
back in like a social context, those who are
merciful, who sort of have this Christ -like
posture, are not always going to be well -received
by the world. You know, as we keep hinting towards
the end of these Beatitudes, where it's, you
know, blessed are those who are persecuted, right?
And I think... So there's another Bonhoeffer
quote that I want to read for you because he's
great Yeah, so he talks about, you know showing
mercy to all of these kinds of people And he
says the merciful are glad to incur reproach.
So they're glad that people are like hating on
them For this reason for they know that they
are blessed Yeah, blessed are the merciful for
they have the merciful for their Lord I like
that. I like that a lot. The Blessed or the Merciful,
because God is merciful. Yeah. God is the one
showing the mercy. So like, even if the people
out in the world are like, what are you doing?
Or even if the people in the world are like,
that's stupid. Yeah. We're not following them.
The other side of it, I mean, it's not just,
you know, when you see people, you see them as
beloved by God. Yeah. You're also kind of doing
it for God's sake, too. Like I'm loving others.
I'm showing mercy to them to glorify the God
who's already blessed me with mercy. Yeah. Right.
It's it's doing things unto God as well as to
others. Yeah. I also feel like, you know, now
that like we're Christians, kind of like what
Britt said last week about how now we can wear
those glasses and we kind of see things. And
now it's better. Now we like operate, you know,
in the Holy Spirit. Yeah. It's kind of like when
we don't show mercy, it's like the audacity that
you have to not show mercy when God is showing
you so much mercy right now. It's like how how
do you live with yourself? It's like that kind
of idea. Right. And whenever I've been offered
opportunity to show mercy and I haven't afterwards,
I'm like, oh my gosh, that wasn't a proud moment
of mine. Right. And I think you do feel that
conviction because you know that how, who do
I think I am that I didn't show mercy to this
person when literally right now God is showing
me mercy. Yeah. Again, just to protect against
the implication for those thinking I have to
be a doormat to everyone as a result of this,
like, There's wisdom that's called for. These
aren't black and white rules. The question is,
God, what does it mean for me to be merciful
in this situation? It's not the same for everyone.
I always think back when there was this mass
shooting in Amish country in Pennsylvania and
a bunch of the Amish folk were like, we forgive
the killer. That doesn't mean that everybody
has to do that exact thing from now on that's
a victim of that kind of crime. But it doesn't
mean you're supposed to ask God, what is my responsibility
here? Right. Right. What does it mean for me
to be a citizen of the kingdom in this way at
this time in this particular circumstance? Right.
I know I'm going to have to show mercy, but I
don't know what that looks like. Yeah. So I'm
going to need you to show me what that is. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. There is a very real sense in which
showing mercy can also be pursuing. Justice.
Yeah at the same time. I mean Bonhoeffer is uh,
you know, he's famous for a couple things But
one of them is being involved in a plot to assassinate
hitler, right? Right. So um So it's not like
he was saying like walk all over me, right? Right.
He was he was doing something He didn't even
think that was a good thing. Well, I can go into
this much sure but um But yeah, I mean, his whole
point was you got to follow Christ in these things.
What is Christ asking me to do? What is the command
of Christ in this? If you do that, you will show
mercy. You will exhibit all these blessings and
the beatitudes in the way that it befits the
circumstance. Yeah. I also feel like the doormat
thing it's interesting because I think when you're
reading the Beatitudes it kind of might feel
like okay so I just have to let everyone be like
I just have to be super meek super quiet super
submissive no one can everyone could do whatever
they want to me and I just have to be okay with
it however I think that when you're displaying
mercy or any of the characteristics that are
mentioned in the Beatitudes you have to make
an active choice. Like you do have control in
that situation to be like, I cannot show you
mercy if I don't want to. However, I'm making
the active choice of showing you mercy. And so
there is this aspect of you're still kind of
like in control. I mean, as in control as we
can be. And kind of like with that in mind, it's
like, I guess maybe you're not like a doormat
because you're kind of just thinking like, I
could choose something else, but I'm choosing
this. And it's not being forced upon me to be
merciful. I'm choosing to do this for someone
else. Totally. Yeah, I think the piece that stands
out to me from what you were just saying, Justin,
is like that in all things, we're like following
Christ in this. And so like. Yeah, these aren't
as you said hard and fast rules and and they
aren't even like fleshed out examples Mm -hmm.
Yeah, right. There's not if this then this yep,
right so Jesus is the example like all of the
Beatitudes the poor in spirit the merciful the
meek the morning like this is who Jesus was Yeah,
and so our call is to like emulate Jesus in our
own lives And so then our orientation is not
towards mercy as an abstract concept. Yes. Yes.
Our orientation is towards Christ. Absolutely.
Yeah. I think that's definitely right. I mean,
that's what Jesus did, right? He was like, you
know, all this stuff I'm doing, I'm not just
making this up. I'm doing what my father's telling
me to do. Right. Right. I'm not winging it. I'm
not applying a calculus. The father's like, hey,
you should probably raise Lazarus. Okay. Sorry,
I don't want to get into the speculative area
of how the Trinity talks to each other, but,
you know, hey, what's up? You should go and heal
theirs. That would be cool. Yeah. Yeah. So following
Jesus in all the things, in our attitudes, in
our actions, in our figuring out what it looks
like to be faithful in any given relationship
or situation, ask Jesus. And I think also like
just practically as well I think Like unfortunately
as humans we do go through a lot of things and
people do hurt us and sometimes It's not like
you're just gonna make the decision to be I'm
just gonna be merciful to this person who caused
me immense pain Sometimes you do have to like
work on that and I just want to like mention
that You know just praying to God to be like
God help me to be merciful to someone like you
know what they did to me and help me to be merciful
to them. And maybe they'll take a week, an hour,
maybe they'll take 20 years. It might happen
in the next life. You could be like, God, at
the end of all things, when all is said and done,
when the new heavens and new earth have come,
then I want you to help me forgive this person.
I don't think I can do it now, but I know that
you can help me do that at some point. Yeah,
totally. Very cool. Yeah, so blessed are the
merciful, the people who show love, the people
who forgive when it's hard, the people who are
oriented to the way of Christ. Blessed are they,
for God has given them so much. God has shown
mercy. Preach. It's just what God's all about.
It's kind of his thing. Yeah, very much so. Even
when people don't like it and they don't agree
with it. If it's what God has called us to, then
we're going to be all right. Yeah. Cool. Thank
you so much, folks. And thank you for tuning
in to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. I
hope that in whatever situations you need to
show mercy, whether they're in the small things
or the really big things, that you can find the
way of Jesus in that and continue listening for
God's voice, calling us to show love. and calling
us beloved in the midst of that. We'll see you
again next week.