Bonhoeffer on the Fifth Beatitude: Blessed are the Merciful

"These men without possessions or power, these strangers on earth, these sinners, these followers of Jesus, have in their life with him renounced their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own needs and their own distress were not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others. They have an irresistible love for the down-trodden, the sick, the wretched, the wronged, the outcast and all who are tortured with anxiety.

...In order that they may be merciful they cast away the most priceless treasure of human life, their personal dignity and honor. For the only honor and dignity they know is their Lord's own mercy, to which they owe their very lives.

...One day God himself will come down and take upon himself their sin and shame. He will cover them with his own honor and remove their disgrace. It will be his glory to bear the shame of sinners and to clothe them with his honor. Blessed are the merciful, for they have the Merciful for their Lord."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship