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How Will God Vote, Part V
Mercy in the Age of Trump and Covid
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5:7
The beatitudes were never meant to be cheap platitudes promoting positive thinking. They challenge and rupture our easy certainties. The nature of God and the mysteries of the universe are to vast for human comprehension. A God who shares my friends, enemies, and prejudices, is too small to be worshiped. If God is made in our image we might as well just worship ourselves.
The fifth Beatitude found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew’s Gospel strikes at the very heart of our ideas about justice and vengeance. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the merciful.” He never taught, “Blessed are the self-righteous,” or “Blessed are you when you have exacted revenge on your enemies.” Jesus even suggests that our ability to extend mercy to others determines the mercy we will receive from God.
The words are simple, the application is near impossible. How are we supposed to be merciful to a president who systematically minimized the threat of a virus that has now killed over two hundred thousand Americans? It is so much simpler to mock his pain than pray for a speedy recovery. But while we say, “He only got what he deserved,” we rarely ask what we deserve.
