In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a moneylender. Shylock demands repayment from Antonio who owes Shylock a substantial sum of money. Shylock takes Antonio to court to exact a “pound of flesh” as repayment. Portia, an accomplished lawyer and friend of Antonio; disguises herself as a man and presides over the hearing as the prosecuting judge.

     As the trial progresses, Shylock takes out his knife to cut the flesh from around Antonio’s heart. Yet Portia stops and reminds him it is illegal for anyone to shed even a drop of Christian blood. Were Shylock to proceed with his act of vengeance, he would forfeit all his possessions and be left penniless.

     Revenge works well in plot lines where the hero levels the playing field for the victims by bringing the wrongdoers to justice. However, revenge has real drawbacks in real life. In short, revenge can make the initial offense harder to get over. Vengeance keeps one focused on the harmful treatment, while preventing the individual from moving forward in life. While feelings of anger and pain are completely understandable, these emotions don’t serve us well in
the long term.

     Paul encourages every Christian to leave room for God’s wrath. God is much better equipped at dealing with our perpetrators than we are. As we trust God to mete out justice to those who hurt us, we are free to heal and prepare for the new opportunities God has waiting for us. The point, however, is not to ignore your feelings, which also can lead to physical and mental health problems. Rather than allowing such feelings to poison our soul, the most fruitful approach is to take the advice of poet, George Herbert: living well is the best revenge.

     Therefore, each of us should take great caution the next time we try and extract a pound of flesh from our antagonists. The skin we save may well be our own.