Have mercy ...

Theology Time for the week. Oh dear. I’m still stuck on the Beatitudes, primarily as recorded by the Gospel writer Matthew as being a part of the Sermon on the Mount. This is a little-known segment of the Christian New Testament, largely redacted by the fundamentalist segment of our country—the so-called Evangelicals. To many “hard-shells,” the ten “blessings” seem more of an embarrassment than a directive or mandate. We’re stuck with them, though, at least until the new Bibles come out.

Certainly, our target this week would be an insult to the likes of Franklin Graham, the latest self-appointed prophet of propriety. It does appear that the fifth of the Beatitudes represents a case in which the Galilean stops preaching and starts meddling. Without any apparent embarrassment, he announces, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” Can’t one just hear the “Out of Context Crowd” clamoring for the microphone?

Merciful? Oh my goodness. What in the world was he talking about? It doesn’t appear to be a typo, for it agrees with another directive later in the same document, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

Merciful? Who needs it in a world moved to such a degree by raw hatred of others? Who needs it in a country led by person who begins each day with digitally transmitted scorn and vitriol published against those who disagree with him in the slightest?

Merciful? Who needs it in a world where so many condone murderous executions because of the physiological makeup of a specific persons, amidst the tacit approval of so many in our own country?

Merciful? I struggle with the concept when I hear people around me promote the persecution and demeaning of those the Galilean called his beloved.

Merciful? How does one explain the concept to young children in a country that builds aircraft carrier after aircraft carrier while healthcare clinics in its rural areas go broke for lack of funding? (We might come back to this one later.)

Merciful? How do you explain mercy to a young child of five who has just been told, and implanted with a primal fear, that a loving old man in the sky will send their precious bodies to an everlasting pit of fire for the slightest mishap?

There are those who say, “Oh, we’re fulfilling the ‘merciful’ stricture when we point out to sinners their shortcomings and admonish them for their evil ways.” They add, “Oh, it is also quite merciful to instruct the uninformed. What better example of mercy than to interrupt their sinful, albeit peaceful, ignorance and let them know about the everlasting pit of fire? Now that’s what you call real mercy.”

The Galilean tells me that he’s not sure about all of this. People seem to be putting themselves in the position of determining what constitutes a sin. He thinks they are limiting themselves to the whole concept of mercy as he sees it, which is to provide succor to those the world deems “the least,” not the “most.”

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t really talk to the Galilean. Nor does Franklin Graham. I just read the words he is reported as having said.

I don’t think many others do. Shall we be merciful to them by pointing out the errors of their ways?

Heck, I guess we’ll have to.

I need to talk to that man.