This beatitude lacks the explicit antithetical parallel pattern of the previous sayings. The antithesis is embedded in the conditions that create the need for mercy. According to Robert A. Guelich, professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, “Merciful refers to the act of judging rather than to the acts of kindness.” The act of judging is our response to circumstances. Mercy occurs when the human situation or normal human response would typically demand a different response. When we are wronged, the most typical human response is to require an “eye for an eye” (Ex. 21:24). Jesus’s gospel, however, requires mercy, forgiveness, and leniency, not punishment and vengeance.
Those who are merciful in this life are those who have been wronged—because there is otherwise nothing about which to be merciful. Since they have been wronged, the gospel alleviates those wrongs. The mercy we show becomes the mercy we receive, a concept with other parallels in the New Testament:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matt 7:1–2)
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. (Luke 6:37)
Both sayings connect how we judge with how we will be judged. The rule by which we measure will measure us. This concept is probably from the market place. Those who measure precisely on the mark, or even a little short, are setting up a rigid standard, while the generous who provide more than the “measure” are operating by a kindlier standard. Luke adds the concept of condemning. Both Matthew and Luke specifically warn about being judged as we judge, then have a second metaphor of “judging.” Luke provides two: condemnation and forgiveness.
In all of these cases, the prohibition is not really against judging, but rather in judging too harshly. Indeed, it is not so much a prohibition as a caution. Perhaps a good way to rephrase it would be: “Be careful how you judge, for you will be judged by the same standard you use on others,” making it more parallel to the easily understood “forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”
All of these passages reveal a connection between our actions toward others and God’s actions toward us. Jesus shows us a microcosm of the heavenly world in which we, though mortals, act as “gods” who constantly pass judgment on our fellow beings. It is a literary parallel to God the Father who judges us from heaven. We experience the attributes of Godhood as we learn to be merciful and forgiving. As we learn these principles, God may be more merciful and forgiving toward us, not because we earn “points” toward salvation, but because we become more closely attuned with our own potentially divine nature.