“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you, to act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Showing Mercy

One only needs to open the daily newspaper to be reminded of the need, not only for justice in the world, but also for mercy. It is the duty of the courts of law to see that justice is served, but mercy is embedded in the human heart. It is seeing things through the eyes of love and compassion. Occasionally we may find ourselves judging someone who has made a grave mistake, and find it difficult to have compassion, feeling instead that they deserve to suffer for their misdeed. Mercy does not erase the crime or its consequences, but simply makes it more bearable. If a criminal is truly penitent, a merciful judge may sometimes change a sentence from death to life imprisonment. To have compassion for the guilty does not mean we must approve of their deeds, it simply means that our hearts are open to a loving God whose mercy is freely given, and we, ourselves, may be in need of that mercy one day. As Portia says to Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, “and earthly power doth then show likest God’s when mercy seasons justice.”

lhart@gwi.net