Heaven Hang On..........

MATTHEW 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
The problem is we don’t know what “righteousness” is. And I suspect the Jewish audience taking in the beatitudes two-thousand years ago didn’t either.

Growing up there were rules for how long my hair could be, what color it could be, what I could wear, listen to, how loud I could listen, what I could watch and who I could watch it with... So many rules prompted by good intentions but not written on tablets of stone by the hands of God. Instead, they were etched on my brain by Sunday school teachers, parents, preachers, Christian magazines and books. And they left me confused, as confused as an ancient Jew living under the laws of the Pharisees, about what exactly “right” was. I had no idea what rules, if any, were important to God? What is righteousness?

And so Jesus, knowing I’m stupid, makes it simple. He defines righteousness. “Blessed are those who show mercy,” he begins. If I want to be righteous, to follow Jesus, I can’t pass by the wounded on the other side of the street. I have to stop, stoop and dress the wounds regardless of the wounded’s stature, smell, or the cost to me. I have to do more than write a check and say a prayer, more than turn the poor and battered of this world over to a political party or government program. It’s my job to play basketball with a kid of another color, teach him to read, give his mom a dress or a job or a meal. Righteousness is meeting the needs of people.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:12-13) And yet when a woman was cursed and kicked around the yard across the street three years ago I paused before helping. I was scared, she was filthy and I knew her bad decisions and bad company were to blame for the beating. And when I was a kid my father wondered how to pay the bills sometimes and I wondered if I’d always have a house or food. And our church paused. My prayers went unanswered. No groceries came, no word of encouragement brightened the day, no money was slipped into our mailbox.

We are surrounded by the sick in need of aid, prayers in need of answers. Blessed are those who become the hands of Heaven stretched out to the lowest and least. Blessed are those who lavish upon others the mercy poured out on them by God.