Luke 6:36 meaning

The parallel Gospel account for Luke 6:36 is Matthew 5:48.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (v 36).

Jesus sums up everything He has been teaching in Luke 6:20-35 with this concluding remark: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

He is contrasting the external self-righteousness of the those who would love, do good, or lend to others while expecting payment in return with the perfect and complete righteousness of your heavenly Father. We are to be merciful to others, just as God the Father is merciful to us.

It is interesting to note that the parallel passage in Matthew 5:48 states, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” There could be several reasons for this difference.

First, Jesus could have said each statement in different settings. Matthew may have recorded one (The Sermon on the Mount—Matthew 5:1-2) and Luke recorded the other (The Sermon on the Plain—Luke 6:17b). This would make sense if Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount” teachings were a core part of His ministry. He would communicate them more than once to His disciples and sometimes with different points of emphasis.

A second reason for the difference could be found in Matthew and Luke’s audiences. Matthew may have used the term “be perfect” (Matthew 5:48) because his Jewish audience would be more familiar with the need to follow the Hebrew Law perfectly. Luke may have used the term be merciful because mercy gets at the heart issue that the Greeks were in need of hearing.

In either case, the themes of mercy, perfection, and the Law are all related to one another. James 2:12-13 explains these connections:

“So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”

The law of liberty is mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement. Being merciful is the perfection of the Law.

Jesus is saying that we are to live and have the same level or degree of harmony (righteousness) as our heavenly Father. We are to be complete in our walk. To be whole. Part of being whole is to seek harmony with all around us, in truth and grace. Resisting the world and its evil while loving people. As we will see, people often don’t understand Jesus. Jesus will be crucified for being perfect, or complete. He courageously exposed the hypocrisy and corruption of the political and religious elites. He also mingled with tax collectors and sinners, while exhorting them to repentance.

He calls His disciples to similarly live the character and quality of moral wholeness. We are to be what our Creator intended us to be and live out and fulfill His design and purposes for us. If we desire to gain the reward of becoming God’s sons, we are to be like our heavenly Father. We are to reflect His image, and are called to be self-governing, community-building seekers of harmony.

When we act as God wants us to, we are living the abundant life He came to give (John 10:10). We enter, participate, and reign in His heavenly kingdom. The reward God promises for seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is to call us His sons, and appoint us to reign over His kingdom when He comes in His glory (Matthew 5:45; Revelation 3:21).

Mercy is a key theme throughout the Old Testament and it is a key theme throughout Jesus’s New Covenant as well.

The three main terms that are translated “mercy” in the Old Testament are “Channuwn” (H2587), “Rachuwm” (H7349), and “Checed” (H2617). “Channuwn” describes pity and gracious generosity (Proverbs 14:21). “Rachuwm” depicts familial bonds of affection (a father to his son—Jeremiah 31:20; or a mother to her nursing infant—Isaiah 49:15; or a husband to his wife—Hosea 2:19; or Joseph among his brothers—Genesis 43:30). “Checed” describes a steadfast and faithful love (Psalm 100:5).

All three terms are combined in several Old Testament verses (Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13). One verse that contains all three was uttered by the prophet Jonah, “I knew that You are a gracious [‘Channuwn’] and compassionate [‘Rachuwm’] God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness [‘Checed’], and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:2). Mercy is definitely a characteristic of God.

Jesus announces that those who are merciful are “Makarios” (“Blessed,” happy and fulfilled). It is not difficult to see why. For those who are merciful shall receive mercy. This idea, this Mercy Principle is repeated time and again by Jesus, not only within this sermon but throughout His ministry.

The Mercy Principle is simply: be merciful and receive mercy.

Jesus’s Mercy Principle is the crux of Jesus’s prayer in Matthew 6: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Mercy is also the focal point of Jesus’s reemphasis which immediately follows His prayer:

“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
(Matthew 6:14-15)

A short while later, in this sermon, Jesus will affirm the Mercy Principle by reframing its truth in the negative:

“Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon and you will be pardoned.”
(Luke 6:37)

Even the golden rule follows the Mercy Principle.

“Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”
(Luke 6:31)

Jesus repeats the Mercy Principle in His parables of the unforgiving debtor (Matthew 18:23-35).

And of course, Jesus practices what He preaches, even without needing forgiveness Himself. Jesus forgave the paralytic (Mark 2:5). He forgave the sinful woman who washed His feet (Luke 7:48). He forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11). He forgave those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34). Jesus the Messiah came to forgive. And He teaches His followers to forgive.

The kingdoms of this world are built on blame and condemnation. When something goes wrong someone must be blamed and punished. This is a wretched system. And wretched are those who are judgmental, for they shall be condemned.

But Jesus teaches that when someone is merciful (forgives another of the wrong done against them) they enter into a blessing (“Makarios”) because they too shall receive mercy (from the King). In a world of wrongs and sin, mercy is often the unmistakable act of love. Mercy runs counter to the systems behind the kingdoms of this world. But mercy is a major platform in the Kingdom of God. And it is a major component of the Good Life that Jesus exemplified, taught, and offered.