Ep03.19: Unpacking Series - Mercy (Compassion & Forgiveness)

MERCY: 

compassion-mercy: 

• having affinity for another (‘womb’ cherishing),
• sympathetically aware of their distress,
• and actively, practically, softly contributing to the alleviation of that distress (for both victim and victimizer)

forgiveness-mercy: 

• restraint in the midst of provocation,
• releasing oneself of any anger or resentment toward an offender,
• refraining from enforcing what may be due or right,
• moving the responsibility for compensation & penance off of the wrong-doer and onto God (trusting Him to compensate you for your suffering),
• extinguishing the offender’s guilt (because of God’s atoning work),
• and gaining or regaining goodwill and favor toward them.

 

I (Shannon) love this episode, especially explaining the practical concept and process of Forgiveness.  Here we look briefly at what compassion-mercy looks like (which plays a lot into the love concept we did earlier this season), and then dive deeper into what forgiveness is, why it is so hard and yet powerful, and what it looks like in action.

TIMESTAMP:

0:00 - a quick recap of what this season has been all about, a quick review of the previous episode of 'grace', and an introduction to mercy.

15:09 - looking at the key original wording and definitions of mercy (compassion and forgiveness) and discussing the overarching idea of compassion (what it is and what it looks like in action).

41:06 - going deep into the concept of forgiveness (reviewing the issue of sin and wrong-doing, exploring what humans typically want/expect after someone does something wrong, seeing what Psalm 51 can tell us, and discussing how much a healthy grieving process helps).

1:36:30 - coming to a full definiton of forgiveness and what the implications and applications are for it (as well as how it intereacts with love, justice, punishment, etc.).

2:20:47 - looking at the benefits of mercy, a last few thoughts & comments on the topic, and wrapping up.