It's not a dog-eat-dog world in Moscow.  It's not even a dog-eat-scraps world.  It's a new day in the post-Soviet city, where stray dogs dine better than some people used to.  Today's Wall Street Journal tells us that the rising Russian economy has brought the city's 26,000 strays along with it.  Now they can be seen riding in the subway, waiting for a train along with pedestrians, crossing at green lights (they're colorblind, but apparently have learned to recognize the walking man symbol).  What's good for us is good for them, and vice versa.

The principle extends far beyond the canine kingdom.  We're discovering Jesus' ways to true happiness, focusing now on the fifth Beatitude: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" (Matthew 5:7).  Yesterday we learned that biblical "mercy" is not getting or giving what a person deserves.  It is pardon, choosing not to punish.  Why give such mercy this morning?  For four reasons.

First, to stop your personal cycle of pain.  Jesus promises that the merciful will be "blessed" by God.  This "blessing" transcends your pain.  God offers you a ticket off the roller coaster of hurt.  But you must extend mercy to receive it.

If you give back what others give to you, you are constantly their victim.  They pitch--you catch.  You're trapped by your circumstances.  Your soul is a genie in their bottle--how they rub it determines who you are.  If you refuse to pardon the person who hurt you, he hurts you still.  Every time you plot your revenge you feel again your pain.  Every time you nurse your pain you increase it.  The person who hurt you may not even know you're harboring your grudge and wounding your soul.  She may have gone on with life.  You're hurting no one more than yourself.  But you can stop the cycle today.

The second reason follows the first: pardon to receive mercy.  Jesus promises the merciful that "they will be shown mercy."  This is not a transaction, a legal arrangement, as though my mercy obligates you and God to be merciful to me.  Mercy is not a means to your end, but a free gift you choose to give.

When you give it, a miraculous thing happens: you position yourself to receive mercy from God and others.  Not because you earned it, but because now you're willing to receive it.  Legalistic people are equally legalistic with themselves.  If I won't forgive you until you're punished, I won't forgive myself until I'm punished.  If I won't show mercy to you, I won't receive it myself.  If I will, I will.  Let's continue tomorrow.

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