Hi newgene87
Great insight Gina!
Here is another version of the Scripture you are considering:
Luk 16:5 `And having called near each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first, How much dost thou owe to my lord?
Luk 16:6 and he said, A hundred baths of oil; and he said to him, Take thy bill, and having sat down write fifty.
Luk 16:7 `Afterward to another he said, And thou, how much dost thou owe? and he said, A hundred cors of wheat; and he saith to him, Take thy bill, and write eighty.
Luk 16:8 `And the lord commended the unrighteous steward that he did prudently, because the sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of the light, in respect to their generation.
Luk 16:9 and I say to you, Make to yourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye may fail, they may receive you to the age-during tabernacles.
Who is OUR Lord, but THE LORD.
So.
If we see a "sinner", who in our books is deserving of 40 lashes by a iron tipped leather whip, and we reduce the charge to only 6 lashes with a feather duster, the exercise of mercy after getting the guilty to admit the level of their guilt, renders appreciation for the levity of the penelty. When our authority to act on our Lord's behalf is counted back to us, the mercy we have given, shall not be appointed as violation of the Lord, but as representation of HIS MERCY to us and all.
Tit 3:3 For there was a time when we also were deficient in understanding, obstinate, deluded, the slaves of various cravings and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.
Tit 3:4 But when the goodness of God our Saviour, and His love to man, dawned upon us, not in consequence of things which we,
Tit 3:5 as righteous men, had done, but AS THE RESULT OF HIS OWN MERCY HE SAVED US....
So you make friends OUT OF THE MAMMON....seeing yourself as a steward of the Lords Authority to act on our Lord's behalf with HIS Mercy.
Remember also the King which pardoned the debtor who went and exacted every last penny that was due to him. When the King heard about the unmerciful fellow, he put him in prison and why? Because He had given the chap Mercy and this was the expectation that had to follow but didn't.
To whom much is forgiven, much is required! ~