“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” – Matthew 5:7 ESV
Forgiving King, Unforgiving Servant
In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable of a forgiving king and an unforgiving servant to demonstrate what a heart posture of mercy looks like.
A servant owes the king a massive debt that he’s unable to pay. He falls facedown before the king and begs for patience and mercy. Instead of imprisoning the servant and his family, the king forgives the servant’s debt and lets him go.
Then the servant goes to a fellow servant who owes him a few thousand dollars, demanding he repay him right away. The fellow servant falls facedown before him and begs for patience and mercy. But instead of showing his fellow servant the same mercy the king had shown him, he has the man thrown in jail. News of this reached the king. “Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’” (Matthew 18:32-33 NLT).
Jesus ends the story by saying, “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart” (Matthew 18:35 NLT). James 2:13a says the same: “There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others.” (NLT).
The Forgiven Become the Forgivers
In today’s culture, it’s common practice to cut off anyone who’s hurt you, offended you, or even simply disagreed with you. There are rarely second chances granted. But this is not the attitude God calls His forgiven children to have. Quite the opposite, in fact.
When we look at our long list of sins and our seemingly endless number of shortcomings, when we consider how much undeserved mercy we’ve been shown by God, our response should be to pour out that same mercy onto others.
Godly mercy isn’t contingent on apologies. It doesn’t take into account whether the offending party has asked for forgiveness. Godly mercy is generous, impartial, and motivated by love.
We have received God’s mercy and we continue to receive it daily. And when we show that mercy to others, we can know with assurance that we will receive His mercy on the day of judgment: “But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you” (James 2:13b NLT).
