THE DUTY OF MAN.
..to .” love mercy ”, Micah, 6. 8.
The prophet Micah was a peasant from Moreshethgath.
As we saw when considering the first of the three sections previously, he is hot against injustice, against wealthy men evicting poor tenants. We now come to consider the second of the three sections when he reminds us that we must not only do justly, we have also to love mercy. Mercy is not something that can be demanded. It has to be freely given or it ceases to be mercy. In a sense it may even be seen to be in contrast with justice. It is a consideration of the spirit of a law and not just the letter of it. It arises from consideration of the feelings of others. It expresses itself in an outpouring of compassion for others, everyday simple acts of kindness is mercy in action.
The parable that Jesus told of the debtor who was forgiven a large sum of money and then refused to forgive a fellow servant a small sum was not transgressing any law. He was simply insisting on his rights, rights that did not show any forgiveness, yet he accepted the forgiveness that was shown to him.
When we see examples of a combination of justice and mercy, integrity with thoughtfulness, honesty with generosity, we recognise true human greatness –would that we could see more of this
Our weekly ‘Reflection’ can be found at Worship and Activities.
And the Pastoral Letter from our Interim Moderator can be found under Pastoral
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