SIDEWAYS GRACE AND MERCY UPSIDE DOWN: THE BEATITUDES
BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 5:1-12
FEBRUARY 11, 2001
In Israel near the village of Nazareth where Jesus grew up, just four miles away from that village, there was a great city named Sepphoris. Sepphoris was a cosmopolitan city with Romans and Greeks and Asians and Jews. It was the city of Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great and he was the Tetrarch of Galilee; the Ruler of Galilee. Sepphoris was the capital city of Galilee.
In that city, the Jews had their rabbinical schools. If you wanted to become a Pharisee and you lived in Galilee, you had to go to Sepphoris and you had to go to the Jewish rabbinical schools. After you graduated from the schools, you had to receive the endorsement of two Pharisees and then you could be called a rabbi. But what does the city of Sepphoris have to do with us as Christians? Why are Christians today so interested in the city of Sepphoris?
Certainly, Jesus went there. It was only a walk from the hills of Nazareth down into the valley and back up the other side. That’s how you arrived at the great city of Sepphoris. Probably Jesus and Joseph worked in Sepphoris because Joseph, the Bible tells us, was a carpenter. The Greek word is “tekton,” and this word can mean “stonemason, carpenter or any kind of craftsman.” Certainly, we know in the time of Christ there were great construction projects going on in the great city of Sepphoris. Probably Joseph and Jesus worked there as carpenters and stonemasons.
But, you see, there’s another reason the city of Sepphoris is so interesting to Christians today. It’s because a growing number of Bible scholars believe that Jesus went to school in Sepphoris. They believe He went through the rabbinical schools in the city of Sepphoris, that He actually became a Pharisee, and He received the title “Rabbi.” Of course, now biblical scholars understand that the title “Rabbi” was rarely given to itinerant teachers in the time of Christ. Jewish leaders and members of the Sanhedrin never would describe an itinerant teacher as a rabbi. And yet in the Bible we see even Jesus’ enemies call Him “Rabbi.” Members of the Sanhedrin call Him “Rabbi.” Pharisees call Him “Rabbi.”
There were four titles given to rabbis in the time of Christ, and two of them were only applied to those who graduated from the rabbinical schools and had become a Pharisee. All four of these titles including those two are applied to Jesus Christ. Of course, it is speculative, and we do not know that Jesus went to school in Sepphoris, and we do not know that He graduated from the rabbinical schools there, that He was endorsed by two Pharisees or that He became a Pharisee and thus was called a rabbi. We do know this. We know that Jesus condemned the Pharisees. He condemned the Pharisees, and if He had once been one of them, then His condemnation of them probably angered the Pharisees all the more.
When you turn to Matthew 23, you see what Jesus had to say about the Pharisees. He called them hypocrites. He called them whitewashed sepulchers, clean on the outside but dry bones and rotten on the inside. He called them serpents. He called them a brood of vipers. He said to them, “How will you escape the fires of hell?” He said to them, “You search the world over to make one convert and you make him twice the child of hell that you are.” Not nice words. He condemned the Pharisees, and there’s a mystery to that because, in a lot of ways, Jesus was like the Pharisees. I mean theologically. Jesus was far closer to the Pharisees than He was to the Sadducees. You see, the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead. They denied the angelic hosts and the angelic realm. They did not believe in angels holy or fallen. The Sadducees denied the supernatural and the working of miracles. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were very close to the theology of Christ. Politically, Jesus again was far closer to the Pharisees.
In Israel at the time of Christ, we might think of four religious political groups, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Asyians and the Zealous. The Sadducees had sold out to Rome. They had Roman money in their pockets. They did the work of Rome. They were servants of Rome. Therefore, they were of the aristocracy and very wealthy. If the Sadducees sold out to Rome, the Asyians bailed out. They bailed out from Rome. They went and hid themselves in enclaves, separated from society. They adapted a monastic lifestyle in communities such as Qumran. They did not want to be salt and light on the earth. They were neither in nor of the world.
The Zealots were militant. They sought the violent overthrow of the Roman Empire through force. Jesus said, “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus was not a Zealot, not a Sadducee, not an Asyian. Politically He was far closer to the Pharisees who held to their beliefs while peacefully resisting Rome. The Pharisees were, in many ways, good people. They believed in marriage, in the institution of marriage, and they believed in fidelity in marriage. They believed in celibacy until marriage. They fasted. They prayed daily. They tithed. They were temperate. You never saw a drunk Pharisee. You never saw a gluttonous Pharisee. In fact, the Pharisees condemned Christ for hanging out with gluttons and drunkards, publicans and sinners. But why did Jesus condemn these good people called the Pharisees?
He condemned them because they had no mercy and they sought no mercy. It was all about mercy. The Pharisees felt no need of mercy from God, little need of mercy from God. They were so good that they felt self-righteous. They gave very little mercy to others. The Pharisees controlled the synagogues, and they actually had the power to decide who could go to worship and who couldn’t. They were very hard on sinners. They had very little mercy. Jesus condemned them. “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”
What about you? Are you merciful? As you come to the communion table this morning and you partake of the bread and the cup, are you aware of your own need for mercy? Are you thankful? Do you well up with gratitude when you think of the cross and the mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ? Are you merciful towards others? Do you have mercy on others?
The word mercy in this 5th Beatitude is the Greek word “eleos.” This word simply means “compassion.” It means compassion. Blessed are the compassionate for they shall obtain compassion. Sometimes the word eleos means, “to forgive,” but that’s only because forgiveness is an expression of compassion. Sometimes the word eleos means “to give alms to the poor,” but that’s only because the giving of alms is an expression of compassion. Sometimes the word eleos means, “to minister to the sick,” but that’s only because ministry to the sick is a manifestation of compassion. Mercy means compassion, and Jesus calls His people to be people of compassion.
I heard some time ago the story of a young Christian couple who decided to get married. They were both afraid of marriage because both of them had parents whose marriages ended in divorce, but their love was greater than their fear. They decided to go ahead and get married, and they instructed the bakery that was making their wedding cake to put a scripture verse on the cake. They said, “We want you to put ‘I John 4:18’ on the wedding cake.” 1 John 4:18 reads, “There is no fear in love for perfect love casts out all fear.” The people at the bakery didn’t really know the Bible. Instead of putting 1 John 4:18 on the wedding cake, they put John 4:18 on the wedding cake. They didn’t realize that there was the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John, so they put John 4:18 on the wedding cake which reads, “You have had five husbands and the man whom you now live with is not your husband.” Not a particularly good verse for a wedding cake.
If you look at that verse, if you look at John 4:18, you see that Jesus said those words to a woman at Jacob’s Well near Shechem in the region of Samaria. This woman had had five husbands and she was now living with a man who was not her husband, but Jesus had compassion. He had compassion on her. As He shared with her, she came to faith, and there’s every indication that she went and became a missionary to her village.
When the disciples returned and saw Jesus talking to this woman, they were stunned for two reasons. First of all, Jesus was a rabbi and rabbis did not talk to women. They did not talk to women in public, and they did not teach women because in that patriarchal male chauvinist society as it was, to teach a woman was to cast pearls before swine. But, you see, this was early in the ministry of Christ, and the disciples did not yet understand. They were just beginning to understand that Jesus treated women with dignity. Jesus viewed women and men as equal in the sight of God.
They were also stunned because this woman was a Samaritan. She was a Samaritan. As the Bible says, the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. The year was 722 BC when Sargon II and the armies of Assyria swept over the region of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They took captive the Jews. We’re told in the book of II Kings that 27,290 Jewish men, women and children were taken into captivity, into exile. But a few Jews were left behind in Samaria, some of the poorer Jews. As the Assyrians and the Babylonians, their captors as they moved in, the Jews began to intermarry with the Assyrians and the Babylonians, producing offspring, producing children of mixed blood. The world called them Samaritans but the Jews called them dogs. They called them dogs, half breeds. They hated the Samaritans because the Samaritans had compromised Jewish blood and they had tainted Jewish blood. They had tainted the Jewish religion, having built a temple other than the temple in Jerusalem.
Now you have to understand all that to understand the beauty and the glory of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You see, a lawyer came up to Christ. The lawyer said, “Rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said, “You’re a lawyer. How do you read the law?” The lawyer said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “You’ve answered well. Do this and live.” But the lawyer, seeking to justify himself, said, “Who is my neighbor?” Thus, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.
He told about a man who was traveling down the Jerusalem Jericho Road and fell amongst robbers who stripped him and beat him and left him half-dead by the side of the road. Jesus said a priest came by but just passed by on the other side. And so, a Levite came by, passed by on the other side. They did not stop to help. But then there came a Samaritan, a dog, a half breed. As he journeyed down that road, he saw this wounded Jew and he was moved with compassion. He went to him and ministered to him, pouring on oil, bandaging him, putting him on his beast, taking him to an inn, caring for him there. When he had to go away for a few days, he paid the innkeeper saying, “Take care this man. If you should need more money than this, I will pay you when I come back.”
Jesus said to the lawyer, “Who proved neighbor to the man who fell amongst the robbers?” The lawyer said, “The one who had mercy on him.” Eleos. The one who had mercy on him. Mercy is compassion, but it’s not just compassion towards the needy. It’s compassion towards the needy no matter what their race, no matter what their gender, no matter what their religion because Christ calls His followers to love all people. We’re even supposed to have compassion on our enemies.
In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you helped to receive, what credit is that to you for even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. But I say to you, do good, lend expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be called children of the most high for He is kind even to the ungrateful and the wicked, so be merciful even as your Father in heaven is merciful.” This is the call of Christ upon His people. “Blessed are the merciful. They will obtain mercy.”
On a cold rainy night in Georgia in 1965, a man named Richard James was driving his car down a country highway. It was 11:30 PM and pouring rain. He saw a car abandoned to the side of the road and just ahead of it a woman walking down that highway towards the town in the rain. This woman was African American. In 1965 in Georgia and in the south, tragically whites and blacks oftentimes did not stop to help each other. As this man looked upon this poor woman walking in the rain, he was moved with compassion. He pulled his car over and said, “Ma’am, can I help you? Let me give you a ride.”
She was so grateful. Richard James took this woman to the nearest town where she was able to find help. She was so grateful that she asked him for his name and address. He was hesitant to give her his name and address, but she said that she would just like to send him a little thank you. And so, he did give her his name and his address. It was seven days later that there was a knock at his door and a delivery man with packages. Inside was a brand new color television set, and inside was a stereo console record player and other gifts and a note. The note said, “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but also my spirit and then you came. You came along, and because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others. Mrs. Nat King Cole.”
It’s an amazing little story, but it is sometimes true that when we have compassion on others, the blessing comes back to us. It doesn’t always work that way in this life. It doesn’t always work that way in this life, but Jesus wants you to know that when you’re merciful and compassionate towards others regardless of race, gender or creed… If you love other people because you follow Jesus, you will be blessed – if not in this life, in the life to come. One day Jesus is going to look at you and He’s going to say, “Come, oh blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and in prison and you visited me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Mercy. That’s the call of Christ upon His people.
Before we come to the table this morning, I want to tell you a little story. This story is old and often told. I’m sure some of you have heard it. It’s a story about a bus that was traveling years ago from New England all the way south to Florida. As the bus passed through New Jersey, three college students got on the bus. They were on their way to Florida for summer vacation. As the three college students got on the bus, they saw an old man sitting there by himself in clothes that were shredded and torn. He looked kind of odd. He looked kind of lonely. They gave him space. You know what I mean. They were a little bit afraid of him, uncomfortable with him. They gave him space.
As the journey continued and they made stops along the way, these three college students began to try to engage this older man in conversation. He was very private and did not want to talk. Finally, one of the college students said, “Where are you going?” The old man said, “All the way to Jacksonville.” The college student said, “Well, do you have family there?” The old man thought for a second. He said, “I don’t know. I might have.”
The college student said, “You don’t KNOW if you have family in Jacksonville?” The old man said, “No. You see, for many, many years, I’ve been in federal prison. Before I went to prison long ago, I lived in Jacksonville. I had a beautiful wife and two wonderful little children. I could not bare the thought of my children growing up without a dad and my wife being so alone. I told her that I wanted her to divorce me and marry somebody else. I told her not to write me. I told her that if she wrote me, her letters would not even be opened. They would just be returned from the prison and that I would not write her.
When I got to the prison, I told the authorities there that if my wife writes, just send the letters back and don’t even let me know. I don’t want to know. And so, for all of these years,” he said, “I’ve never heard from my wife. I don’t know if she wrote or not. But two weeks ago, as I learned that my release was imminent, I wrote a letter to her. I don’t even know whether she still lives in the house, and I don’t even know whether she’s still at that address, and I don’t know whether she still lives in Jacksonville. But I wrote her a letter and I said, ‘If you’re still there and if you still love me and if you still want me, I’ve been released and I’m coming home. If you want me to come, would you tie a white ribbon on that oak tree in the park where we used to picnic in the suburbs as you come into town, and I’ll know that you want me to come.'”
He told the three college guys that this park was right by the highway. He said, “As we drive in, I’ll be able to see whether she’s put a white ribbon there or not.” As they came to the suburbs and the highway approached the park, the three college students and the old man were all standing up looking out the window of the bus. As they approached the oak tree, they were stunned to see not only a white ribbon, but the whole tree was flooded with white ribbons. It was covered with white bedspreads and white pillow slips. The whole tree laden with white. The three college students began to just cheer, and the old man began to cry. Of course, it is said that that old song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree” made famous by Tony Orlando, is loosely based on this allegedly true story. A few details change. White to yellow, other details. But, you see, the story is amazing because it describes the incomprehensible, undying, never-ending love that a wife can have for her husband. You see, it’s God who truly has incomprehensible, undying, never-ending love.
If you’re a Christian, you’ve come home. You’ve been set at liberty. You’ve been given your freedom, and you’ve come home. You’ve been welcomed into the loving arms of your Heavenly Father like a prodigal come home. You’ve basked in His love and His mercy and His grace.
As you come to the table this morning, you celebrate that. We celebrate that. But also, as we come to the table this morning; we remember that, having received mercy, we are called to give mercy. We are called to be people of love, compassion, mercy and grace. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.