The Mortal Enemy of Mercy

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

- Matthew 18:28

Yesterday, we looked at the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. A man is forgiven a huge debt (10,000 bags of gold owed to his king) and immediately goes out and … well … tries to collect on the people who owe him money.

Why was the “unmerciful servant” so unmerciful?

If the person who owed him his 100 silver coins had paid his debt, the unmerciful servant would have had at least a little bit to pay his king. It wouldn’t have been anywhere near enough. But he wouldn’t have been completely empty-handed. He would have saved face a little bit.

Have you ever said something like this: “If somebody had done X, I could have done Y.” We repeat this to ourselves and tell ourselves that we would have escaped embarrassment if only someone else had come through on their part. In short, someone else is to blame. And while there may be some truth to the mantra that we keep telling ourselves, blaming the entire situation on someone else’s shortcomings only fuels our self-righteousness and drains us of mercy.

Blame-shifting is the mortal enemy of mercy. It prevents us from receiving mercy for ourselves and makes it impossible for us to extend it to others.

The unmerciful servant is so fixated on blaming someone else for his own embarrassment that he can’t enjoy the forgiveness he’s received. Who cares that he couldn’t pay a miniscule portion of the debt? It’s forgiven! Embracing that extravagant gift rather than rehearsing and re-rehearsing someone else’s small offense against him would have set him on the path towards mercy.

Where do you see this pattern creeping into your life? Can you identify ways blame-shifting is interfering with your capacity to receive and extend mercy? Shift your focus from the blame to the mercy today. See what it does in your life and relationships.

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