Hymn - "Have Mercy On Your Servant"

"Have Mercy On Your Servant"
Tune: King’s Lynn
(LW 193 “By All Your Saints in Warfare”)
Matthew 18:21-35

“Have mercy on your servant,”
The servant begs his king,
“Oh, sir, be patient with me,
And I will payment bring,”
But what he owed was weighty,
The debt great and severe,
No hope for restitution,
With judgment drawing near.

But lo, the King had mercy,
The servants’ debt forgave,
No penalty he rendered,
No sentence he proclaimed,
But simply, freely pardoned,
He cancelled what was owed,
The debt no longer weighing,
The king his mercy showed.

The servant met another,
Who owed a small amount,
But he, no mercy showing,
Would settle this account,
He had the debtor punished,
The irony, how great,
Unmerciful, ungrateful,
This servant filled with hate.

But when the king heard of it,
The servant was denounced,
“You are a wicked servant”
The righteous king pronounced,
“Why did you not show mercy,
as I had done to you?”
The servant jailed and punished,
Received what he was due.

O Lord, our king and master,
Our debt of sin is great,
But we know your forgiveness,
In Christ you clean the slate,
Now move our hearts to mercy,
In all we say and do,
That we reflect forgiveness,
Which we know first through you.

© Thomas E. Chryst, 2005.