Matthew 7 v 7-9
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
This is the first Beatitude which is calling the Christian to aim higher in their lives. As subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are expected to act mercifully.
Mercy for Mercy
The common interpretation of this Beatitude is that if you show others mercy, they will show you mercy.
This really doesn’t ring true for me. So maybe, this means when we show mercy to others, and in general, mercy will be shown back to us.
God’s Perspective
Remember the Sermon on the Mount is God speaking to His people. And I believe, the Beatitudes are His rules for the Kingdom of Heaven.
So from this perspective, when we are merciful to others, God says He will bless us by showing mercy. Others, may not show mercy back, but we will receive mercy from God anyway.
Compassion and Mercy
The word for ‘mercy’ here can be translated ‘compassion’. This may help us to further understand the verse. So if we show compassion, God will have compassion on us.
Pure of Heart
Purity is an important concept in the Old Testament. The Law had many rules on how to remain pure. It was achieved through the observance of sacrifices and rituals. An unclean person would struggle to maintain their connections within the community without the appropriate commitment to purity.
Mixed and Unmixed
The Old Testament also paid attention to mixed and unmixed things.
Leviticus 19 v 19
You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.
Unmixed was consider more pure than mixed. So, biblically speaking, for our hearts to be pure, we need to have an ‘unmixed heart’.
Seeing God
This Beatitude tells us that if we aim to be pure in heart, we will see God. But surely God says in Exodus:
Exodus 33 v 20
But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
So how do we ‘see’ God?
The Orthodox church developed a theological concept in the 13th Century called the Essence-Energies Distinction.
The idea is that we can’t experience God’s essence, but we can His energies.
A good example is that we can’t encounter the Sun as a ball of burning gas, but we can experience its warmth and light.
We cannot engage with the essence of a friend, but we can encounter their energies; their particular manner and idiosyncrasies.
With God, we cannot know His Essence. It is too holy and awesome for us to comprehend. We can however experience the Trinity’s energies; the love of the Father, the life giving words of the Son and the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Perceiving God
I believe this Beatitude is telling us that if we aim to be pure in heart, be clean in our intentions and be unmixed in our thoughts, we will see or ‘perceive’ God.
The more we focus our attention on God and fill our hearts with thoughts of Him, our eyes will be opened and we will perceive His energies as they act upon Creation.
We will perceive Him moving through our lives, both in the past and the present. And then ‘see’ Him as He leads us into the future.
How many Christians do we know that have a total disregard for the Laws laid down by God in the Old Testament. I hear them saying “ look how many rules and regulations, it’s crazy and thank Jesus for coming to do away with them!”
Without understanding the meanings of those Laws it’s difficult to gain a more complete understanding of the Beatitudes. I really enjoyed this piece on Mercy and Purity and how you linked it back to it Law in the Old Testament