It’s nice to get what we think we’ve got coming to us, isn’t it?… what’s rightfully ours? Well… usually. Sometimes we’d just as soon not get what we deserve. “Now, you’re gonna get what’s coming to you!!”, would come the promise of the older (and usually bigger) sibling when you pushed buttons beyond the point of reasonable forgiveness. You knew you’d gone too far, and now, even though you really wish you hadn’t committed the crime… you know you deserve what you’ve got coming. But what about when you deserve the punishment, but that’s not what you receive? What about when Mom or Dad steps in just in the nick of time and saves you from certain pain and suffering, and you don’t get what you know you deserve? Some may call it getting away with murder, but the Bible refers to it as Mercy. Now let’s be clear; this “mercy” that was granted, that you received, was in no way deserved.
Former televangelist, Jim Bakker tells how mercy was extended to him most unexpectedly, immediately after his release from prison.
When I was transferred to my last prison, Franklin [Graham] said he wanted to help me out when I got – with a job, a house to live in, and a car. It was my fifth Christmas in prison. I thought it over and said, “Franklin, you can’t do this. It will hurt you. The Grahams don’t need my baggage.” He looked at me and he said, “Jim, you were my friend in the past and you are my friend now. If anyone doesn’t like it, I’m looking for a fight.”
So when I got out of prison the Grahams sponsored me and paid for a house for me to live in and gave me a car to drive. The first Sunday out, Ruth Graham called the halfway house I was living in at the Salvation Army and asked permission for me to go to the Montreat Presbyterian Church with her that Sunday morning. When I got there, the pastor welcomed me and sat me with the Graham family. There were like two whole rows of them – I think every Graham aunt and uncle and cousin was there. The organ began playing and the place was full except for a seat next to me. Then the doors opened and in walked Ruth Graham. She walked down the aisle and sat next to inmate 07407-058. I had only been out of prison 48 hours, but she told the world that morning that Jim Bakker was her friend. Christianity Today, December 7, 1998
In Luke chapter 6, Jesus, speaking to a crowd of listeners, teaches that we should treat others the same way we’d want to be treated. He talks of being kind to others and showing mercy to others the same way our Father in heaven is merciful. But mercy here, is shown as something much more than simply ‘non-condemning’; ‘not judging’. Mercy is really, as Jesus says in verse 35, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” …. Unmerited favor….that’s mercy. Undeserved, is what mercy is all about.
Who are your “enemies” but those at odds with you; those who, were it not for mercy, you would be judging harshly. And here, Jesus is telling us how to treat those, otherwise deserving of judgment. Mercy is not an “earned” thing. Mercy is a product of grace. Grace, is receiving something that you didn’t deserve. And the thing we don’t deserve, is mercy. But Jesus gives it anyway, abundantly. And we, striving to be like Him in every way, learning only from how He has taught, and shown us, must reflect that merciful nature.
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36
In Christ
Rick