Matthew 5:7 - The Merciful

Matthew 5:7 reads, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (New American Standard Bible, 1995)

This is the fifth Beatitude, which are conditional blessings: If you do such-and-such or--more importantly--if you are a certain kind of person, particular type of character, then you will be blessed. That's why one version reads:

"They are blessed who show mercy to others, for God will show mercy to them." (New Century Version)

Do we have to become a forgiving person before God forgives us? That reads too much into the verse.

People who are merciful can afford to show mercy to others because they've already received mercy themselves from God. How else would you know what mercy looks like if you hadn't experienced yourself?

Even when we've received forgiveness for offenses both small and great, we may horde God's mercy and not want to "pay it forward."

Peter tried to ask Jesus a rhetorical question. He thought he had the answer when he questioned Jesus, "When someone wrongs me, how often do I have to forgive them? Seven times is enough, right?" (Matthew 18:21, my paraphrase)

Jesus responded, "No, seventy times seven," as if to say, "Don't bother trying to keep track!" Jesus followed up with a parable.

Once upon a time, there was a king with a servant who owed him millions of dollars. The servant begged for leniency and the king wrote off the entire debt. The servant, in turn, wouldn't give that much grace to a fellow servant who owed him a few measly dollars--and threw the second servant into debtor's prison. 

Jesus concluded the parable:
“34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. 35 'That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.'” (Matthew 18:34-35, New Living Translation, 2015)

This warning was given to Jesus' own disciples, people who had already received God's mercy and forgiveness for themselves. But it's like a stream or waterway that gets clogged. The water gets stagnant and turns into a muddy bog or marsh. God can't keep showering blessings on people who keep those blessings to themselves. Jesus tells us, "Freely you received; freely give." Keep the blessings flowing. (Matthew 10:8, NASB95)

That is why we pray, "Our Father in heaven... forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." (Matthew 6:12, NLT)