Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
In Matthew’s Gospel, four times people approached Jesus with the petition, “Have mercy on me” or “mercy on us – they include two blind men, the Canaanite mother, and a father of a sick boy. Each time Jesus grants their requests for mercy.
In any Orthodox worship service, the most commonly and oft repeated petition is “Lord, have mercy.” We petition Christ today to show us the same mercy He revealed to the people in the Gospels.
Mercy means many things, including offering relief, help, healing, curing, forgiveness, almsgiving, comfort, support, providing for needs, lending a hand. Throughout the scriptures, God is portrayed as being merciful (see for example, Psalm 18:25, Exodus 34:6, James 5:11). God also commands us to be merciful to others as God is merciful to us. (see Micah 6:8, Luke 6: 36, Hosea 6:6, Proverbs 14:21-22, 31)
If we want God to be merciful to us, our only recourse is not just begging God to be merciful, we can be merciful to others which will result in God being merciful to us. James 2:13 says no mercy will be shown to the one who shows no mercy. In the post-Apostolic writing, I Clement 13:2, we are told to be merciful so that we may receive mercy. In other words, do unto others as you would have them do to you.
When we pray, “Lord, have mercy”, we’re directing God not to give us not what we deserve. We don’t want God to respond to us by His justice or righteousness but with His mercy. We want God not to respond to our excuses or explanations, repentance or rationale, but rather to treat us based on God’s own love. God says if you want my mercy, then be merciful yourselves. Christ modeled merciful behavior and taught mercy in His sermons and parables.
Mercy is standing in the shoes of the other and deciding what to do based on how the other feels. Compassion allows us to see things from their point of view. This is exactly what Jesus did in the incarnation in becoming human. He sees us humans from our own point of view and chooses to show us mercy which is the very reason for His coming into the world.
Fraternized 