In the Lord’s great mercy He did not put an end to the people or abandon them, for He is a gracious and merciful God….Christ said: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy….Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Nehemiah 9:11; Matthew 5:7, 9:13)
A Hateful Teen Changed
By God’s grace, Hashim Garrett learned how to forgive others. He was 15-years-old, hanging out with a gang on the streets of Brooklyn, NY. He was shot six times, nearly died, and was paralyzed from the waist down. Hashim lay in the hospital dreaming about revenge. He thought, “Just wait till I get better and see that kid again.”
Lying on the sidewalk after his shooting, Hashim called out to the Lord for help, and to his surprise, he survived and felt a wonderful peace. During his rehab, he wondered if he took revenge on this other boy, why should God not punish him (Hashim) for all his sins? He remembered, “Six months earlier, I shot a kid over drugs and now it happened to me.” Hashim could not feel superior to the other criminal. They were fellow sinners who both deserved punishment from God and both needed forgiveness from the Lord and other people.
Hashim was raised in a loving family, but he rejected the good and chose to embrace anger and hatred. During rehab he said, “I decided to forgive. God saved my life for a reason, and I had better fulfill His purpose. I would never go back out there and harm someone. I’m done with that mindset and life. The Lord wants us to let go of resentment and stop hating.”1
Today, Hashim is married with two children, and works with inner city youth, promoting peaceful solutions to hatred and violence. By God’s grace, as Hashim helps others, it helps his own healing. He agreed with Joseph’s words to his brothers, “You meant to harm me, but God meant it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”2
Grace and mercy overlap in the Bible. Chuck Swindol says: Mercy is God’s decision not to punish us. And grace is God’s decision to save and bless us. They are flip sides of the coin of Christ’s love.
Jesus’ Parable
In Matthew 18, Peter asks Christ: “Master, how many times should I forgive someone who hurt me? Seven?” Jesus replied: “Try seventy times seven.” Then the Lord said, God’s kingdom is like a king squaring accounts with his servants. One servant ran up a debt of $100,000. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and everything he possessed be sold to repay the debt. The big debtor begged at the king’s feet, “Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.” Touched by the man’s pleading, the king forgave him and erased the huge debt.
When that first servant left the room, he saw another servant who owed him $10. The forgiven man seized the second man by the throat and demanded, “Pay up now!” The second man begged, “Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.” But the first servant wouldn’t budge. He had the second man arrested and jailed. When others saw this, they were outraged and told the king.
The king summoned the first servant and said: You evil man! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy? The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt.
Then Jesus delivered the punch line: That’s exactly how my Heavenly Father will treat each one of you unless you forgive others from your heart.3 Here is one big reason for showing mercy.
We Show Mercy to Others Because the Lord Is Merciful to us
Ephesians 2:4-5 Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.
Remember the character of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). He is infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably loving, merciful, and gracious even to disobedient and rebellious people like us. Instead of punishing our mutiny against Him, the Lord gives us new hearts, minds, and lives in Jesus. We were and are still undeserving, but God snatches us like burning sticks from a fire.4 So how can we refuse to be merciful? Our forgiving others never earns our forgiveness with the Lord. But not forgiving others proves that we ourselves are not forgiven by God.
Chips Off the Old Block
We know the saying, “Someone is a chip off the old block” or “They are cut from the same cloth.” We say this about children who look or act like their parents. We use these sayings also when character qualities or behaviors of mentors, teachers, or coaches rub off on their students or team. These likenesses don’t happen immediately, but they grow and develop over time. Positive change comes as learners live in close relationship to their parents, mentors, or teachers.
Scripture says that Jesus is the living Stone, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him. And Christ’s followers who trust and obey Him will never be put to shame. And we are also like living stones, “chips off the old block.” God the Holy Spirit enables us to imitate Jesus and give our lives to serving our Savior and other people.5 That’s what Hashim learned in the opening story. That’s the point of Jesus’ parable above.
We are not meant to be only takers from God. We receive mercy, love, grace, and goodness from the Lord and must pass on mercy, love, grace, and goodness to other people. What He gives to us, He expects to pass through us to others. God said to Abram: “I will bless you…and you will be a blessing to others.6 Christ says: Freely you have received. Freely give.7
Scripture says: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Lev 19:18)
To be continued
You may also like: Total Forgiveness in Jesus: The Rooster Story
Rosamond Herklots on Forgiveness
Luther Longs for Forgiveness
Forgiving Others
Forgiven and Forgiving (Part 1)
Forgiveness (Getting it from God, Showing it to Others)
Notes (various Bible translations) : 1 Adapted and expanded from Tim Keller’s Forgive, page 16. 2 Gen 50:20. 3 This is a paraphrase of Matt 18:21-35 with help from Eugene Peterson. 4 See Amos 4:11; Zec 3:2. 5 1 Peter 2:4-10. 6 Gen 12:3. 7 Matthew 10:8.