When we sail, we will cross paths with captives. Enemy combatants. What are we to do with them?

No quarter, and take no prisoners?

Full quarter, and take no lives?

The big question we look at today is who among us has what quarter, and how should we treat them in light of quarter?

I’ve heard it said both ways: Kill’ em all and let God sort them out, and Love ‘em all and let God sort them out.

Let’s paint a picture.

The sun is dawning on the horizon. After a harrowing firefight of cannonballs and blunderbusses that allowed no rest throughout the night, the enemy ship flying the black flag of the Jolly Roger is finally calm. All that can be heard is the creaking of wood as the ships are lolled on the surface of the water.

Sails will need to be mended. Holes in the deck need repair. The ship was not the only casualty. Starbuck and Ishmael have bled out. Burial at sea will be necessary. You’ve been sailing with Ishmael for five years and had many conversations, and your stomach pulls up into your throat when you begin to think about it. John Mark took a cannonball to the shoulder and went overboard in a mist of blood that settled onto the deck.

As you watch the sun rise over the ocean waters, no land in sight, you hear movement. The sound of wood knocking together. The light splash of a lifeboat rocks on the surface of the water. As you follow the noise with your eyes, scanning for danger in your battle torn weariness, you see them. Two figures, wearing black tatters, also wet with glistening blood, climbing a rope they had cast up onto the deck.

“Halt!” you shout as the adrenaline spikes in your body once again. The two men freeze, clutching the rope for dear life, and they begin to beg for mercy. “Give us quarter! We beg you! Don’t throw us back into the sea.”

Your eyes narrow. With your own gun aimed on them, you allow them to board, but stand at the edge of the deck. Six inches of wooden platform is all that exists between their next breath and their final breath. The scales are balancing out as you find the scoundrels wanting and prepare to cast the pair back into the merciless water rolling beneath them.

Through clenched teeth, you recite them their crimes. “You killed Starbuck. You killed Ishmael. You killed John Mark. You assaulted us. You fired on our ship. We lost men, and supplies, and will have to take on new burdens of work, and now we must sail on just hoping we can make it to our next port of call.”

“Have mercy on us,” they plead with clasped hands.

“There’ll be no quarter for heathens on this ship,” you declare as you ready your blunderbuss to blast these scurvy knaves back into the abyss from whence they came. With your finger on the trigger, a nail scarred hand gently comes to rest on your shoulder.

Without turning to look, you know it’s your Captain.

“Murders. Pillagers. Thieves. Marauders. Terror of ports and plunderers of goods. Ruffians. Rapscallions. Heathens. Such were you, but I had mercy on you. I paid the ransom for your crimes, clothed you in my clothes, fed you with my food, gave you full quarter on my vessel, and called you my son. Shall I throw you back into the sea without bottom or shore? Will you give this beggar what you deserved or what you received?”

How shall we then live?

Wherever we are on our journey, specifically of faith but in general life, we can develop amnesia for what we’ve been brought through. In the moment, the stress and confusion and pain seemed unbearable. But now? That’s it’s over? How quickly we can forget.

This is especially true for who we are and what we’ve been forgiven of.

Will we hold a grudge and go to war against our own family, especially among the household of God?

We will grow so petty as to fence our territories and say to someone who has been given full quarter, “You shall not pass!”?

Will we grow bitter and combative and see other members of God’s family, enemies who have been forgiven and adopted as sons and daughters, as infringing on our spaces and titles?

Will we refuse to forgive, refuse to work towards trust, deny fellowship, or even commit silent mutiny against them? Will we deny them greeting and welcome because of an offense? The Lord has laid down His arms against you, and given you full quarter. Will you give no quarter and take no prisoners of your own? Will you allow your disappointments to fester into resentments that poison you and those around you?

I hate to say this, but if that’s true, you may need to make a long, quiet, and prayerful contemplation of whose side you’re on. Today is the day to look in the mirror, turn your back on the resentment you’re harboring, and remember that in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, God has forgiven the unforgivable in you.

Lay down your arms and open them wide instead.

Which kingdom will you bend your knee to today?

Stay Anchored and keep fighting the good fight,

~ J.P. Simons ⚓️

Here’s what all of this looks like, straight from the mouth of the son of God.

²¹ Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

²³ “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵ But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. ²⁶ Therefore, the slave fell to the ground and was prostrating himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷ And feeling compassion, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’²⁹ So, his fellow slave fell to the ground and was pleading with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ ³⁰ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. ³¹ So, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. ³² Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. ³⁵ My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts.”

Matthew 18:21-25, LSB