The opposite of mercy is the straining out of gnats. The opposite of mercy is when your religious impulses are exhausted after you have decided whether to tithe your gross income or your net income or your birthday gifts. The bondage to triviality is the curse of the unmerciful. The Lord wants us to pinch ourselves again and again lest we be found swooning in front of the television, making no plans for the weighty matter of mercy. Blessed are the merciful.
Mercy is no trifle.
It is one of the weightiest matters in all of life. The man asked Jesus how a person should act who may expect to find mercy at the judgment day and inherit eternal life. And Jesus answers that the persons who will receive the mercy of eternal life are those who have loved God with all their hearts and their neighbor as themselves. This will be even more obvious when we look at the parable that follows. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.