We are called to be merciful
Mercy and mercy are words that characterize God's New Testament relationship with the world. Let me remind you that in the Old Testament these relationships were largely built on justice and retribution. Probably, not only for the Old Testament man, but also for our contemporaries, it would be easier to live in the categories of justice and truth, when everything is clear and logical: there is an offense - there will be punishment, there is virtue - there will be encouragement. The same is true in the relationships between people: there are good ones - you can help and sympathize with them, there are scoundrels - they need to be condemned and despised. In a word, everything is on its shelves.
The coming of the Savior into the world overturns the usual foundations and establishes mercy as the basis of life. Christ shows mercy and compassion to tax collectors, fornicators, and outright sinners - who, of course, realize that they are wrong. The basis of the relationship is forgiveness - an integral part of mercy. Christ also reminds that God loves everyone and commands the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same thing when he says that God saved us not according to our works of righteousness, but according to His mercy. It is quite natural that if the Lord builds such a relationship with the world, then he expects the same from us. He says directly: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
Gospel sermons
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.”
Matthew 5:7. “Mercy is a voluntary benefit. Timely payment of good for evil."
The bliss of the thirst for truth has not yet been known. Just anticipation. Obviously this is a process throughout earthly life. Seeking God's truth is the result of God's touch on a lost person. The thirst for truth is entering the world of holiness, the world of light, the world of love. The thirst for truth is the thirst for perfection. The thirst for truth is the thirst for God. That's why there's delight. This is where this bliss comes from! I remembered the words of the holy Apostle Paul when he preached to the Greek elite about the invisible and unknown God. Speaking about God, he noted one most important detail, a fundamental detail of human existence: “ From one blood He brought forth the entire human race to live on the whole face of the earth, assigning predetermined times and limits to their habitation, so that they would seek God, whether they would feel Him and not will they find it, although He is not far from each of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being
. Acts 17:26-28. It was God who put this passion in us in truth. God has placed in us a desire for excellence. God has placed in us an attraction to God. Such a revelation reveals that by neglecting this search for truth, the search for God, we become guilty before God. We refuse His truth! We choose to lie. We make a choice in favor of evil. We choose the devastation of hell by refusing the bliss of heaven. We plunge ourselves into the cruelty of godlessness. Every person is a participant in the conflict of good and evil, lies and truth, darkness and light. And no matter how bitter it is to admit, every person in this struggle suffers defeat. Defeat of light, defeat of good, defeat of truth. And we sometimes accept such a defeat as inevitable, surrendering our conscience, selling our truth for lentil stew, justifying it with a secret thought, they say, no one sees, no one knows, there is no other way in this world. We are all a little bit Cains, creating hack-work, lying and trampling on the truth, hating reproof, fearing the light, hating the light, and, in fact, like Cain, we kill our brothers Abel. We kill in the struggle for happiness, multiplying evil and plunging into its abyss. This is where the reason for the growing activity of evil, cruelty, and lies lies. This is where the nature of war is rooted. This is where unbelief, religious fanaticism, and intolerance to truth feed. In this fierce struggle between ourselves and ourselves, we, like the philosophers of Athens, most often prefer to remain in the familiar world of lies. We calm our conscience, like the Athenians, with laughter, turning the acute mental pain that has arisen into a joke. We console ourselves with false hope, saying that we will return to this topic at another time. However, for those who, realizing their spiritual poverty, mourning their hopeless condition, began to search for truth, the beauties of truth, love and truth are revealed. For those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, God gives the ability to overcome hatred. For those who hunger and thirst for the truth of God, it gives the ability to forgive enemies. For those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, God gives the power to have mercy. He said and... choked. There is a pause here. Seek mercy - yes! Hoping for mercy - yes! Have mercy? And the world appears before your eyes. Vicious. Cruel. Struck by depravity. Insatiable in his greed. This is how our contemporary sees this world.
“The black wind is circling over the bridges.
The ground is covered with black smoke.
Strangers look like wolves.
And one of them could be me...”
To be merciful to this world? I admit that this gloomy picture causes shock and literally makes my blood run cold. Admitting one's involvement with this pack of wolves does not come easily. But there is nothing to object to. Everyone has sinned. All fall short of the glory of God. Everything is immersed in the blackness of sin and covered with the blackness of despair. And into this darkness the words of the Savior sound: “Blessed are the merciful.”
From apocalyptic blackness, from the environment of a wolf's grin, from the kingdom of death, Christ invites you into the kingdom of light and mercy. He who seeks truth will inevitably come to Christ. He rises above the world! “I am the way! True! And Life." Only He is the Truth.
Above a world engulfed by evil, a world stricken by evil, His love rises. Love of His Father! “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life
" John 3:16.
It is clear to me when I come for pardon. To my father. To the teacher. To the policeman. To the judge. To God. Who is not familiar with the words “ Oh my God!” Be merciful to us and bless us, illuminate us with Your face
» Ps.66:2.
A simple prayer. And very understandable. The one who calls on God clearly experiences the consciousness of his tragic delusion. He realized that he was in darkness. He realized that he had no way out. He is looking for the truth. He hopes for mercy! God! Be merciful to us. A picture from the Gospel comes to mind when Jesus Christ pointed to a praying publican. “ The publican, standing in the distance, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven;
but, hitting himself on the chest, he said: “God!” Be merciful to me, a sinner!“ Luke 18:13.
The publican is in contrition. He does not raise his eyes to the sky. He remained at the threshold, ashamed to go inside the temple. He is suffering. He doesn't demand anything. He doesn't judge anyone. He calls out to God and begs: “God!”
Be merciful to me, a sinner!’ This state of mind is understandable to me.
In my prayers this request is literally constant. After all, approaching the truth, seeking the truth, desiring the truth, I discover my depravity, deceitfulness, I see that every cell stores not only the genetic information of the body, but is also affected by lies. That’s why it’s sick, that’s why it’s mortal, that’s why every cell suffers, because it’s affected by sin, it’s in captivity of sin. “ For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now;
and not only she, but we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, and we groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body .” Rom.8:22,23. And the Lord shows His mercy to me. Forgiveness of sins is an incredible mercy. This is daily mercy. Listening to my prayers is the greatest mercy. Listen to my confessions, when, asking for God’s mercy, I hear within myself this reproach “so many times”, “you already promised not to do this”, “all your prayers are false”, “you promised and did not fulfill”…. And yet, the merciful Lord listens, and by listening, he forgives, and by forgiving, he gives peace to my heart. I remembered the story that Jesus Christ told his disciples.
“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to make payments, someone was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and since he did not have anything to pay with, his sovereign ordered him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and everything that he had, and to pay. Then that slave fell and, bowing to him, said: “Sovereign!” Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you everything.” The Emperor, having mercy on that slave, released him and forgave him the debt. That servant, going out, found one of his companions who owed him a hundred denarii, and, seizing him, he strangled him, saying: “Give me what you owe.” Then his comrade fell at his feet, begged him and said: “Have patience with me, and I will give you everything.” But he didn’t want to, but went and put him in prison until he paid off the debt. His comrades, seeing what had happened, were very upset and, when they came, they told their sovereign everything that had happened. Then his sovereign calls him and says: “Evil slave!” I forgave you all that debt because you begged me; Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you? “And, becoming angry, his sovereign handed him over to the torturers until he paid him all the debt. So will My Heavenly Father do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart for his sins
" Matthew 18:23-35.
Incredible story. In this story I recognize myself, a great criminal. I will recognize the Lord, who has had mercy on me. It is I who am a great debtor to God, a criminal, a villain, a thief and a murderer. It was I who came to Him, the Lord of life, mourning my depravity, begging the Lord to forgive me, realizing, however, that I was not at all worthy of forgiveness. He forgave me everything. He destroyed all my IOUs. He not only forgave, but also justified me. As I read the story Jesus told, I felt a surge of anger toward the hero of the story. How could he, having received forgiveness of such a debt, not forgive some trifle? And suddenly the truth that I am looking for, like light in the darkness, burst into my soul. The words of Christ penetrated into the heart. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7
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If I have been merciful by the Lord, can I not be merciful? If I do not show mercy, will the Lord have mercy on me? The truth of God was revealed to me in this story of Jesus in a way that it had not been revealed before. And I recognized myself. It’s me who so often makes demands on my neighbors, fair demands. “Here is the receipt. You promised." The demands were fair, but they destroyed the peace of my heart. And the evil returned. And a feeling of anger boiled up. And the blissful peace left. ABOUT! If only I would exact punishment from my neighbors for debts and misdeeds. I saw my cruelty, judgment without mercy in the simplest things. With unrighteous feelings, with an unrighteous look, I saw in my neighbors their mistakes, their miscalculations. I gladly entered into judgments and discussions about certain actions of my brothers. I discovered that even among my closest people, brothers and sisters in faith, my judgments were mainly aimed at discovering errors, criticizing views, condemning dissent. Blessed are the merciful. Reflecting on this story, the thought came to me that by demanding justice, condemning, arrogantly towering over the guilty, I am trying to affirm my carnal “I”. I'm trying to satisfy my pride. So am I not being deceived by convincing myself that the Lord has had mercy on me? Pardoned unconditionally? Pardoned, certainly? “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.”
My heart fluttered.
Fear gripped my soul. The truth of God enlightens my mind, and I begin to understand that I was mistaken. The truth of God reveals my cruelty, anger, condemnation of my neighbors. God's truth gives me the ability to see those who suffer from my unforgiveness. Those who are captivated by my word of condemnation. The truth of God helps me to notice my brothers whom I judge without mercy. Blessed are the merciful, and if there is no mercy for others, there is no right to count on mercy for me. Neither from neighbors, nor from God. If I am without mercy, I am not pardoned, I am crushed by all my sins without mercy, without condescension, without a chance of deliverance. It's horrible! The flesh is still trying to rise up, to justify its judgment with a high goal. The flesh is trying to prove to me that it was necessary to rebuke the captives of sin so harshly for their own good. The flesh twists, trying to console me with the thought that in this world there is no other way, for only cruelty and harshness of judgment can stop the depravity and fall of others. But the word of Holy Scripture sounds like an alarm, penetrating my heart. “ For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy
;
mercy triumphs over judgment
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James 2:13. And I begin to repent. And the spirit of truth powerfully conquers the impulses of the soul and the soul is filled with compassion. The heart is crying. I see my neighbors whom I have condemned. I see my neighbors whom I have not forgiven. Didn’t accept, didn’t understand, rejected with his indifference. I see my neighbors, suffering, slandered, robbed, beaten, whom I left lying along the road. I see a Samaritan bandaging his wounds, which I passed by, holding his “holy” head high. I see the Lord, truth incarnate, who bends over my brothers, washing their feet. He loves them. He is merciful to them. He is merciful to Peter. He is merciful to Thomas. He is extraordinarily merciful to those who crucify Him. He is merciful to those who mock Him. “Father forgive them!” The merciful Christ commands me. “ Be ye therefore merciful, just as your Father is merciful
.” Luke 6:36. As Father! I, beggar, insignificant, sinner from the sole of my foot to the crown of my head, am merciful like the Father? Beating yourself in the chest, at the threshold of the temple, begging for mercy - this is understandable. But to be merciful, as the Father is merciful - the awareness of the greatness of this spiritual act humbles and crushes, so that all that remains is to cry, ashamed of one’s actions. The truth of God is revealed as a source of freedom, as the power of love, as a treasure of mercy. Generosity. Generous. A word that defines a person of great soul. A person capable of doing good to everyone. Forgive the offenders. Love your enemies. Be merciful. Be gracious. Be able to be compassionate. The work of God's grace is amazing. Christ simply said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” And he drew me along with Him. I began by realizing the bliss of poverty. To do this, I had to come down from the mountain of vanity, take off the mask of success, and honestly admit my failure. I thought it was humiliating. It's a shame. This is a catastrophe. However, the incredible happened. Realizing my poverty, and mourning the emptiness and meaninglessness of my life, I began to search for the truth. And lo and behold! The truth led me to the ability to be merciful. Show mercy to offenders. Have mercy on those who suffer. Have mercy on the lost. Be merciful like the Father! This comparison blew my mind. Wow! This is truly bliss. This means that the Lord performed such an operation in my heart that He filled me, a poor spirit, with the wealth of grace. He made me able to love the world as He loves. He made me able to have mercy on my enemies, just as He had mercy. He made me able to wash the feet of even traitors, as He washed the feet of Judas. And this is truly bliss. To have mercy is bliss. This is an incredible act of a heart filled with God's love.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy!
Tags: God, Lord, life, Jesus, word, Christ
Look not only inside yourself, but also around you
So, what are mercy and mercy? If we hear these words, then first of all we imagine works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering those who need it, and so on. However, mercy is not only about deeds, or rather, not primarily about them. Deeds are only manifestations, the fruits of what reigns in our heart and moves it. For a Christian, such a driving force should be love and compassion. The Monk Isaac the Syrian calls this state “a merciful heart”: “A merciful heart is the burning of the heart for all creation: about people, birds, animals, [even] about demons and every creation of God. When remembering them or looking at them, a person’s eyes shed tears. His heart is touched by strong pity, and he cannot hear or see any harm or small sorrow suffered by the creature.”
The saint speaks of the state that God gives as a crown, as a reward for a person’s spiritual work. Our task is to think not about the crown, but about how hard this reward is achieved, how we can learn to love. Learning mercy, as a rule, occurs in the most ordinary and everyday moments, which we may not pay attention to in the routine of life. I think they happen almost every day.
For example, there may be a lonely neighbor living in your house who doesn’t leave her apartment for several days and no one knows how she feels. Or you saw a pensioner in a store, embarrassedly counting change because he didn’t have enough money for groceries. Or someone became ill on the street. All this is so familiar, so ordinary that sometimes we don’t even pay attention to these people, but it is precisely in such moments that mercy is cultivated in a person. Therefore, I often remind parishioners that a Christian looks not only within himself, but also around him, at his neighbors, so as not to miss the opportunity to serve them.
Remain human
It is with regret that we have to admit that acts of mercy are unnatural for us. I think everyone felt how hard, how painfully it sometimes breaks through. To learn to love and be merciful, you need to force yourself to do such things. This rule applies to any virtue: for example, you don’t want to pray, but you understand that without prayer your life will turn into hell, so through not wanting, you force yourself and start praying. It’s the same with acts of mercy: you don’t want to open up, get out of your little world, because it’s hard to come into contact with someone else’s pain and need, but you need to do it. There is a wonderful aphorism - it’s a pity, I don’t know exactly who it belongs to: “As long as a person feels pain, he is alive. As long as a person feels someone else’s pain, he is a person.”
There is so little mercy in the modern world because most often we simply do not notice those who need help. We are so busy with ourselves, our problems and experiences that we simply have no time to look around. But for fulfilling this commandment, the Lord promises us salvation: He says that we will have mercy!
How important this is for a Christian can be understood from the services and the prayers that we say. The most common request and the shortest prayer is a request for mercy: “Lord, have mercy!” The same is true of the publican’s prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and the Jesus prayer, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It should be noted that God’s promise to grant pardon also works in the opposite perspective: if we are not merciful, then we will not be able to accept God’s mercy. Therefore, the commandment of mercy can be a blessing, but it can also become a sentence. It is no coincidence that the Lord warns us: “If you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew 6:15).
Priest Oleg Chernichenko
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Those who practice the virtue of peace towards God, their neighbor and themselves are called peacemakers and are blessed by God. The first peacemaker is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Word. Through Him, reconciliation and unity of man with God occurs. The first and main work of Christ on earth was to establish peace between God and people hostile to Him because of sin. Reconciliation took place through the crucifixion of the Lord on the Cross.
And if Jesus Christ is the first peacemaker, then, on the contrary, the first disunifier and scandalist was the devil - an apostate before God and a liar-seducer before angels and people. He separated the host of angels and brought them out of subjection to God. Our forefathers, Adam and Eve, were seduced by deception and deprived of paradise. Until now, conflicts and disagreements continue to exist between people. The devil knows well that if a person is close to God, then he is blessed. And he tries to lead a person into sin with lies and other demonic tricks, thereby alienating him from the Creator. Saint John Chrysostom says: “Where there is strife and quarrel, there is disorder and all kinds of evil, there is the devil.”
They say that one young monk settled near the cell where the elder and his novice labored. Other monks living nearby decided to take care of him and help him a little with food. The elder, seeing such an attitude, became envious, because no one had ever shown such concern for him. And he sent his novice to tell the young hermit to leave that place (the cell in which the young monk settled was the property of the elder), supposedly the elder himself would soon need this cell. But the novice did not convey these rude words, but said that he was sent to inquire about the health of the young monk (at that time he was a little ill). Returning, the novice reported that he had carried out the order. The elder, a few days later, was informed that the monk was still there. He again sent his novice with orders in a more stern tone to remind the young monk that he should have left his cell long ago. And again the novice, taking pity, showed love and care, saying that the elder was again interested in his health. At the Sunday service, the elder was again informed that the monk had not yet left, and the elder wanted to personally go and force him to leave his cell. The novice, having learned about the elder’s decision, hurried to get ahead of him and was the first to run to the young monk. “My elder did not see you today at the Liturgy, he became worried about your health and decided to come and visit you himself!” The young monk, excited, rose from the bed to meet the good old man and, falling at his feet, said: “Geronda, I am not worthy for you to come to me. It was I who should have come to you and thanked you for the kindness you showed me!” The elder was surprised, thought about it and, having calmed down, returned to his cell. He asked the novice, wondering how the young hermit had achieved such perfection in such a short time, and whether he had given him the exact orders to leave his cell. The novice, embarrassed and showing the elder due respect, confessed to him the whole truth. The elder, after listening to him, burst into tears and said: “My child, from now on you are my elder, and I am your novice!”
“Jesus Christ is the God of peace,” says John Chrysostom. – And if His disciples fight with each other, they cannot be called disciples of a peaceful God. For just as quarrel divides, so harmony unites.”
“If His disciples fight with each other, they cannot be called disciples of a peaceful God.”
Let us love the goodness of the world by fighting first with ourselves. So that, having come to terms with our inner world, we can maintain peace within our neighbor and, with a clear conscience, strive with love for the Lord through repentance, forgiveness and humility. Peace is a great virtue and joy for those who seek it.
Peace and strife depend on us
Peace and strife depend on us. The wise Sirach says: “If you blow on a spark, it will flare up, and if you spit on it, it will go out: both come out of your mouth” (Sir. 28:14). And how many times, instead of saying kind words, we made fiery and incendiary speeches! So let the gift of speech be given to those who stir up love and peace! Blessings to the peacemakers!
Translated from Greek by Konstantin Mitin Publishing house Ορθοδοξος Κυψελη
