| Justice vs. mercy. Which judgment are you happiest or most grateful to hear about? It usually depends on what side of the judgment you’re on, doesn’t it? Justice, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is defined as “the maintenance or administration of what is just, especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” Mercy is defined as: “compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power.” In other words, a recipient of mercy is one who does not receive the punishment due to them for their wrongdoing.
We serve a God Who is just in nature, and yet His just nature works in beautiful unison with another of His perfect attributes: merciful. Romans 2:4 tells us that it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. God’s holy and righteous nature requires justice, yet James 2:13 informs us that mercy is God’s first choice. In the Old Testament, we see time and time again His mercy demonstrated toward His beloved, yet rebellious children. Of course, the greatest display of mercy is shown in that while we were still sinners, the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die as us, for us. We deserved to die—that was just punishment for our sin against a holy God, yet Jesus took the full punishment for our sins: past, present, and future. This display of mercy and grace imparts an important truth to apply to our lives: the merciful one absorbs the debt of the mercy-receiver.
Let’s go a step further than receiving mercy—trust this: we want to be merciful. In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives a promise to the merciful: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7, NASB). Jesus tells The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18. If you don’t know the story, in short, a servant owed his king a debt he could never repay on his own. Justice for the king demanded that the servant and his wife and children, along with all of his possessions, be sold. The servant begged the king for patience so that he could repay him. However, the master felt compassion and released the servant—completely forgiving his enormous debt!! What an indescribable relief that must have been for the servant, and what a hit on the king’s treasuries to be okay with never seeing that crazy sum of money back in his possession. But that’s the beauty of mercy—of compassion and forgiveness—the release of the material or a perceived need in exchange for that which holds eternal significance.
Now, before this becomes misconstrued, this is not an excuse for wicked behavior. Ongoing abuse, lying, sexual immorality, etc., cannot go unpunished. But oftentimes, the effect of mercy—and extravagant mercy at that—makes way for conviction, and even compassion and mercy, in a repentant heart as it becomes reconciled to a new perspective. But Jesus warns us what happens to those who don’t become merciful after receiving mercy: that same servant went out and encountered a fellow servant who owed him the tiniest fraction of what he was forgiven, and instead of showering him with mercy like he received from the king, he grabs him by the throat and demands repayment. The king heard what the servant had done and called him wicked. After rebuking him for not showing mercy to his fellow servant, the wicked servant was delivered to the torturers and forced to repay all of his debt. Jesus tells us that the Father will do the same to us if we do not forgive our brothers and sisters their trespasses. That’s sobering! Giving mercy and forgiveness does not mean we condone behavior or allow someone who mistreated us to have a place of trust in our lives—it just means we’ve released ourselves from the effects of sin and wrongdoing, and have submitted to the ways of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Is there someone in your life today that you can release from a debt? It could be a financial debt, but it could also be an emotional debt. It will cost you upfront as the debt will not be satisfied, but the release will be an act of mercy upon yourself as you are released from unnecessary weight like unforgiveness, bitterness, pain, and resentment. Release the debtor and receive mercy for yourself today!
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