Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Luke 6:36 NKJV
The Lord Jesus came to people who were quite familiar with the law and brought the revelation of God without shadows and vagueness. When Jesus spoke of being merciful, he rightly pointed us to the source- The Father. The reason was because people until Christ had a vague knowledge of God. We read of Job’s testimony after his encounter with God. It was indeed a life changing experience.
In the past, I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
Job 42:5 GNT
Likewise, the Lord Jesus came also to reveal the Father unto us. Therefore, by following Him, we are gradually transformed into the fullness of His image and likeness. As Jesus straightened up things from the Law with the Jews, He would like us also to be on the same page with Him. So, He revealed that the believer’s life is a recreation of God’s image in those who are born-again.
When God created mankind in the beginning, He made them in His image and likeness. But sin corrupted that nature in man, and broke the relationship with God. As a result, man was sent away from God’s presence, therefore, he lost all his idea about what God looks like. However, through Jesus Christ, we are being recreated with this nature alive in us, and we can behold the Father through the Son. Consequently, we grow to become like the Father in everything, even in being merciful.
If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount!
Luke 6:32-34 GNT
The mercy and compassion that God expects of us is one that goes beyond the ordinary. So, the Lord Jesus asks: if your mercifulness is not different from what is common among the unbelievers, why should you receive any blessing? Even those who do not have the nature of God in them are merciful to themselves, and for the sake of what they can get back. Therefore, a believer living like this does not portray a difference from those who do not know God.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:35-36 NIV
This is God’s kind of mercy. It is beyond the ordinary. God’s mercy reaches even the ‘undeserving’. It is enjoyed by everyone, sinners and saints alike. Therefore, everyone with God’s nature in them, must make it evident by living in the same way. So, in relation to mercy: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” So we should not only be good to those who are good to us but to those who are not. To those who don’t even deserve our help.
Remember that the source of mercy is the Father. The world cannot express the mercy and the love that God reveals. This is why we have the Spirit that not only facilitates the longings of God in us but also empowers us to do it.
because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.
Philippians 2:13 GNT
Meanwhile, it is important to point out that the kind of mercy God expects of us qualifies us for a great rewards and also proves the genuineness of our sonship. In other words, those who are not merciful in this way denies their identity as children of God.
This is the reason why believers in Jesus are the only one who can show this kind of mercy. It is the fruit of the Spirit, hence, it is only those who have the Spirit that have it. As someone with the Spirit, God expects us to walk in His ways as revealed by Holy Spirit.