Jung Young Lee is a theologian at Drew University in New Jersey. He is also a storyteller. But his stories are not in the mold of Fred Craddock, the Disciples preacher with which many of you are familiar. Nor are they like those of Garrison Keiller of Lake Webegone fame. Lee’s stories are more metaphorical or allegorical—requiring more work than the others but very well worth it.

My only encounter with Lee was at a preaching conference a decade or so ago. He was leading a workshop of storytelling. To introduce himself and his approach, he offered an explanation of how preaching in the West, particularly in the United States, differed from preaching in the East, such as in his native South Korea.

He said that in the United States people expected the preacher to step to the front of the congregation and spend anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes explaining and applying the biblical text. Depending on the church and the tradition, the people might expect that time to include lessons on the historical, textual, grammatical and literary dimensions of the passage. They may even expect some explanation of the original language--the Greek or Hebrew.

In the East the approach is different. He said that a teacher or preacher in the East might simply walk out among the people and give them one word--like "love," "grace" or "commitment"--or one sentence--"God is love," "Jesus wept, "Surely this was the Son of God"--to consider. Then the congregation would spend an hour silently meditating over the word or sentence, letting the Holy Spirit fill it with meaning.

It is tempting to go Eastern today. After all, we are continuing our series on the Beatitudes and we find ourselves at verse 7: "Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy." What more is there to say? The plain meaning of the text is clear. There are no Greek words that must be explained to grab the full significance of the statement. There are not textual difficulties over which scholars argue. There are no hidden Old Testament allusions that need to be revealed. It is pretty simple: "Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy." The temptation is to simply say it and let you spend the next 15 minutes or so meditating on it.

But this isn’t Korea, you are not likely to be comfortable with such an approach and what would our listeners on KSIX think? Something must be said, but what?

Maybe if the beatitude is so clear, the question we might want to consider is how we can live up to it. After all, being merciful can be hard.

A couple of weeks ago it seemed like every day I had a person or two come by the church looking for financial help. One young man came by with his family. They were homeless, but he had just gotten a job. They wanted to know if we could help them out with just a few dollars to buy food until his first check arrived. Then there was a pregnant mother of four who needed money to do her laundry and to buy milk for her children. Another person who came by was an older man. He had lots of health problems, but at the moment he needed gas money to make it to the funeral of a family member. All of them were clearly in need. All of them were hurting and needed help. But I have to tell you it was hard because all of them had been here before. Each had come at least once, and some more than once, looking for help.

While I know the merciful are blessed, it was hard to be merciful. It was hard to dip into the limited discretionary fund and help them again. How can I come to be more compassionate?

Of course, mercy is not just about caring for the needy. It can be hard to be merciful in other ways.

Molly Layton is a therapist. She tells the story of a woman named Phyllis who had come to her after her marriage failed. What Molly saw in Phyllis was tremendous anger toward her husband. In fact, she spent a great deal of her energy devising ways to make his life miserable. She would keep him waiting for the children, stealing the time he had with them. She would strictly enforce the rules regarding the children’s telephone conversations with him, interrupting if they went too long. She did whatever she could to bend the rules in her favor and hold him to the very letter of the law. Anything that she could do to hurt him, she did. She offered no mercy at all.

While she might be extreme, she is not unique. My guess is that most of us know someone who can’t forgive a wrong done to them. It is hard, but it can be done. But how?

Maybe the key is recognizing that we are not only those who are to offer mercy but we are those who stand in need of it as well. Maybe the key to being more merciful is recognizing that we too need it, just as much as those who need it from us.

Years ago, Jesus made that point to Peter. The disciple came to Jesus and asked how often he had to forgive a fellow follower who had hurt him. He suggested to Jesus that seven times might be appropriate. But Jesus told him 77 times. In other words, he was to forgive as many times as needed.

To make sure he understood why, Jesus told a story of a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. He called in one of the servants. This servant owed the king the equivalent of fifteen year’s salary. That would be $165,000 at minimum wage. The king told the servant to pay up, but he couldn’t and so he fell on his face and begged the king to give him time to pay his debt. Moved, the king offered the servant mercy. He forgave the man’s debt and set him free.

Well the lucky servant went out and immediately he came upon a man who owed him a mere $4000. He grabbed the man by the throat and demanded that he pay the money right then and there. Unable to pay, the man begged for mercy. He asked for time to pay off his debt. But the servant was unforgiving and threw him in jail.

When the king heard what had happened, he was furious. He called in the servant, reinstated the debt and threw him in prison. Why? Because the man had forgotten the mercy he had received. He had forgotten the grace that was extended him and therefore did not extend it to others.

Jesus’ point: Don’t forget the mercy given you when it comes time to give mercy to another.

Saint Augustine understood this point well. He cast it in terms of begging. "You hear the voice of the beggar," he said, "but before God you are yourself a beggar. Someone is begging from you, while you yourself are begging from God."

His point: Don’t forget to treat the beggar with the mercy God treats your begging.

A few days ago I happened upon what may well be an example of mercy granted in recognition of mercy received. A study published last year shows that church-goers, people who gather to worship the God of grace, people who have acknowledged the mercy of God, are significantly more generous in giving to charity than non-church-goers. The average church-goer gives 2.3 percent of his or her income to help others, while the non-church-goer gives only 1.3 percent. More significantly, those who have the least to give, those whose incomes are below $10,000 a year, give more than 5 percent of their income to charity while those who have incomes of more than $100,000 give just more than 2 percent. Could it be that those who have historically had to count on God’s mercy the most are willing to be more merciful toward others?

One would like to think that this beatitude speaks for itself. And maybe it does, to a certain extent. But the challenge it poses is not to our understanding or our intellect. The challenge it posses is to our will. It calls us to act with the same overflowing mercy toward others with which God has acted toward us.

So the next time someone comes to you with a need, or the next time you find yourself holding a grudge, the next time you find it hard to muster much compassion or forgiveness, the next time mercy seems hard to come by, consider again the cross, the reminder of a far greater mercy given to you and to me. Amen.