Mercy doesn’t seek to set the score even, to dominate or to control. It is a clean heart before the Lord stripped of judgments and resentments. Mercy is anchored in love, and anchored, mercy keeps us steadfast in moral character when the sea of unjust circumstances swirls wild around us.
Photo by Janko Ferlič
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13
Eye for an eye?
In the iconic novel-turned-musical Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is released from prison after serving a 19 year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. Seeking someone willing to host an ex-convict, Valjean knocks on the door of the Bishop of Digne, Myriel, who treats him kindly. Yet upon leaving, Valjean steals a silver candlestick. The police later find Valjean with the silver and report it to Myriel who insists the stolen silver was a gift.*
This scene in Les Misérables has always reminded me of Jesus’ words in Matthew Chapter 5:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt. 5:38-42)
Jesus calls us to love radically even when love is unmerited, to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. We are called to love when our sense of justice tempts us to retaliate or to withdraw, and we have to place justice in God’s holy hands because we are not equipped to render it.
There are people in our lives who, given the opportunity, will abuse us and slap us when we turn the other cheek, and we will all face injustice at some point in our lives. A friend holds a grudge. A boss pushes too hard. A spouse hides an affair. It doesn’t feel just, and it isn’t. How do we show mercy when we have just cause to be angry?
Mercy, anchored
Mercy is the choice of compassion in a situation that could provoke anger or retaliation. Formally defined, it is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” Mercy reaches beyond what seems logical into God’s heart to see that, just as he is a God of mercy, we choose to show mercy to others. Just like Myriel, we give away the stolen silver without despising the person who stole it. Just as God forgave us, we choose to forgive those who trespass against us.
Friends, before we go any deeper, we want to be clear that we do not condone staying in an emotionally or physically abusive relationship of any kind, and we don’t believe God calls us to stay in those situations either. Yet there are times in life that we will be persecuted or treated unjustly. In these circumstances, we are called to turn the other cheek. To go two miles with one who forces us to go a mile. To persevere over our physical weakness and persecution with grace and dignity of spirit so that God can mature our characters.
I think of the image of Jesus being mocked, maimed and spat upon during the crucifixion and his words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Matthew 27:27-31, Luke 23:34).
Jesus’ response to persecution is mercy anchored in pure love, and this is the model he gives us to live by.
Mercy doesn’t seek to set the score even, to dominate or to control. It is a clean heart before the Lord stripped of judgments and resentments. Mercy is anchored in love, and anchored, mercy keeps us steadfast in moral character when the sea of unjust circumstances swirls wild around us. At some point, we will all find ourselves in that sea.
Guys, this isn’t easy. Our human wills defy submission to authority and to things outside our control. It’s not fair when we’re asked to work on weekends. It’s not fair when we are pushed to pull an all-nighter or beyond our physical limitations; when we have medical conditions that limit our ability to work; when we are out of work or don’t have enough work; when pay is cut and we can’t pay rent; when we’re maxed out and can’t get enough sleep; when the choppy waters threaten to sink our meager ships. Our choice to stay anchored in mercy keeps us from wrongly responding to unjust circumstances.
Steadfast
The Bible is full of examples of anchored mercy and a strength of character that defies human understanding. Stories of perseverance and courage. The story of Nehemiah is one of my favorites.
Nehemiah, a holy man, was led by God to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem nearly 100 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon and exiled. Rebuilding the wall takes place in 500 B.C.
As it is told in Nehemiah, the other peoples in the regions around Jerusalem (Horonite, Ammonite, Arab, Ashdodite) saw that Nehemiah and his team were rebuilding the city wall of Jerusalem and closing its breaches, and they became angry and plotted against Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4:7-9). God let Nehemiah in on the plot and Nehemiah’s response is supernatural.
Under Nehemiah’s leadership, laborers rebuilding the wall kept swords strapped to their sides as they worked, and they worked from dawn until the stars came out. They were guards by night and laborers by day, and everyone, including Nehemiah — from brothers to servants to guards — took on night watch with weapons at their sides (Nehemiah 4:21-23). Everyone was stretched beyond human capacity. The circumstances were not fair; they were supernatural. Supernatural challenges require supernatural wisdom and supernatural strength, and in that supernatural strength, the wall was rebuilt in just 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15-16).
The first time I read Nehemiah, uncharacteristically early for me on a weekday morning, I was on the verge of a breakdown. Facing the day ahead and anxious, I sat sprawled out on a blanket in my hallway, sobbing and swallowed by the choppy waters of injustice swirling around me — shipwrecked. Searching God for breath itself. I felt trapped, and my circumstances didn’t feel fair.
It dawned on me when I read about Nehemiah and his circumstances, tears streaming down my face, that following Jesus doesn’t mean my circumstances are going to be easy or just or fair. I could not control my unjust circumstances, but I could control my response to injustice. My supernatural circumstances and challenges required supernatural strength. The right response was to turn my cheek and to surrender justice to God, and I did. I chose mercy anchored in love that accepts a wrong without needing to repay wrong for wrong, or eye for an eye. Mercy that prays for my enemies and runs two miles when I was forced to run one. It was hard and right.
Friends, the enemy is dead set on destroying God’s plans to rebuild the broken perimeters of our lives and to restore our sunken ships.
To be steadfast, in the examples of Jesus and Nehemiah, we need to approach the inevitable unjust circumstances of our lives with supernatural wisdom, supernatural strength and mercy anchored in love. In the same way, we are called love and to pray for our enemies. Just as Jesus and Nehemiah did (Nehemiah 6:14).
God, give us the will to extend mercy when we have the opportunity to, and when the unjust circumstances of life are pressing in on us and we feel shipwrecked, Lord, catch and steady our hearts so that we can forgive our enemies and pray for them in the model you gave us for persecution. Remind us that you are there in the injustice and that you are using this season or circumstance to refine our characters.
Stay tuned for our next blog where we will look deeper at the connection between forgiveness, judgment, faith with works, mercy and the posture of our hearts.
*source: Les Mis background
Verses for study:
Matthew 5:38-45
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Matthew 27:27-31
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Nehemiah 4:7-9
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Nehemiah 4:21-23
So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.
Nehemiah 6:14-16
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.