Matthew 5:1-12Matthew 18:23-35

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,It droppeth as a gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath: it is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomesThe throned monarch better than his crown.(The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, scene 1)

In our practice of "mercy" there is a kind of "I'll scratch your back -- you scratch my back" philosophy. Be decent to others and they will be decent to you. It is like the story on which George Bernard Shaw based his play Androcles and the Lion. Androcles was a Roman slave who lived in the days of the Emperor Tiberius. He ran away from a cruel master and took refuge in a cave. A lion came wandering by, limping badly. He held out the damaged paw to Androcles, who skil…