Mercy is NOT Optional
Mercy and love are the defining characteristics of his true disciple, and they epitomize the cruciform life – Matthew 5:43-48.
In his Sermon
on the Mount, Jesus exhorts his disciples to become “perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” But how is anyone able to emulate the perfect
righteousness of God? Simple. By performing acts of mercy for one’s enemy.
Self-sacrificial love and showering mercy
on others, especially one’s enemy, goes to the very heart of Christ’s message
and mission.
After all, that is precisely what he did
when he gave his life willingly to save others even when they were still the “enemies
of God.” How can his disciple do anything less considering what Jesus has
done for him? Showing mercy to your enemy, and especially to your persecutor, is
what it means to “take up the cross” and follow Jesus.
In fact, this is how the disciple “fulfills
the law and the prophets,” and achieves a level of righteousness that “exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees.” And it is the way in which Christ’s
followers become “perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect.”
- (Matthew 5:43-48) – “You have heard that it was said, You will love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Be loving your enemies and praying for them who are persecuting you that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens because He makes his sun rise on the evil and good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward have you? Are not even the tax collectors doing the same thing? And if you salute your brethren only, what more than common are you doing? Are not even the Gentiles doing the same thing? You, therefore, shall become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
LAW AND PROPHETS
In the passage, the conjunction rendered “therefore”
connects the exhortation to what just preceded it (“therefore, become perfect”), namely, Christ’s summons to
love one’s enemies. It is precisely by doing so that the disciple becomes “perfect
like his heavenly Father.”
Moreover, the paragraph concludes the
larger literary unit that began with his declaration that he came to fulfill
the law and the prophets. What was germinal under the Mosaic law comes to fruition
in the life and teachings of Jesus.
But now, in the messianic age, unless the
disciple’s “righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” he will
not enter the kingdom of God - (Matthew 5:17-20).
The declaration concerning the “law and
prophets” is followed by six examples of how one’s “righteousness” surpasses
others. In each case, Jesus does not simply reaffirm a statute of the Mosaic Law
- he pierces through it to the Law’s true intent, and this especially comes to
the surface in how his disciples treat others.
For example, Jesus extrapolates from the prohibition
against murder that one should not even harbor anger toward another man. Hatred
leads to murder, and instead of simply refusing to kill the disciple must seek
reconciliation with the one who offended him. And this includes one’s “enemy.”
Evil is overcome by taking positive
actions - (Matthew 5:21-26).
Likewise, the disciple must do more than simply abstain from adultery, theft, or murder, the minimal requirement of the Torah. Life in his Father’s kingdom demands something beyond the regulations handed down at Mount Sinai.
Jesus turns the law of an “eye for an
eye” into the moral principle of “turning the other cheek.” He
repudiates the popular interpretation that added the clause - “and hates his
enemy” - to the love commandment.
Since the book of Leviticus
explicitly commands love to fellow Israelites but omits any mention of the Gentiles,
so the legalistic logic goes, hatred of enemies is permissible - (Leviticus
19:18).
MERCY
But Jesus rejects this wrongheaded
interpretation. Since the commandment prohibits any act of vengeance, plainly, the
Law does not allow the disciple to hate anyone, whether Jew, Gentile, friend, or
foe.
The man with a mind conditioned to think as
this world does takes vengeance against someone who acts against his interests.
In contrast, the disciple of Christ is summoned to love his enemy and pray for anyone
who abuses him.
Does God not send His rain on the just and
the unjust? This statement is derived from the final clause of Leviticus
19:18. After commanding Israel not to take vengeance, God stresses His
identity, “I am Yahweh.”
Giving mercy to the deserving and the
undeserving is fundamental to the nature of the One who reveals Himself as “Yahweh,”
the one “who is” and who keeps His covenant promises.
If the disciple limits his love to friends
and family, how is he different from the tax collector or Gentile, let
alone the scribe or Pharisee? All of us naturally love those who do good for us.
However, loving our mortal enemy is something altogether different and foreign
to our impenitent nature, and it is most certainly contrary to the “wisdom
of this age.”
L0ve is much more than an emotion or an abstract
idea, and it is demonstrated in concrete acts of mercy. As Paul writes to the
Romans, “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is
thirsty, give him to drink.”
Likewise, John declares, “let us not love in word, but in deeds.”
And Jesus engaged in the ultimate act of
mercy when he “gave his life a ransom for many,” and this included his
friends as well as the “enemies” of God – (Matthew 20:25-28, Romans
12:20, 1 John 3:18).
Righteousness is not demonstrated by
restraining ourselves from committing sin. Instead, it is manifested by the
good we do for others, especially for our opponents and persecutors.
And Christ’s simple command to love one’s
enemy demonstrates eloquently that in his realm there is no place for hatred,
violence, or retaliation. The love of Christ should constrain every believer
to love his enemy and do good to his foes.
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