Mercy - compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
A number of years ago I was working in North Carolina managing food service at a university. Picture me in a dress shirt, tie and floral patterned apron. The Lord saw fit to put under my charge 130 employees spanning 6 different dining options on campus. Let's be clear, I was there for the reduced price education (I was en route to a MA in counseling at the school) not the puck-like burger I was flipping.
One particular location, a cafeteria that shall remain nameless, took up the bulk of my time. This place demanded that I understand shipping and receiving as well as various tasks associated with providing food for a dorm of about 1200 students three times a day. Knowing my days were long I trained a man in his late 30s to arrive with the delivery trucks at 4:30a.m. about three times a week to anchor the shipping/receiving department. He was an ex-convict on a work release program and I enjoyed getting to know him.
After months on the job I began getting phone calls at 4:40 each delivery morning, no sane person wakes up at that time, to come cover him because he was absent. This went on for a little over three weeks. My patience wearing thin I stomped in to my boss's office and declared, "I am ready to fire this man. My days have only gotten longer and he hasn't shown up or called for over three weeks."
Mr. Bowers, my boss, was insistent; "You may not fire him. Policy states we have to give him three chances."
I couldn't believe it! In what universe does someone not show up to work and still have a job after weeks of unexplained absences? Still, I tore up the pink slip I had filled out and fumed as I awaited his return. A few days later he shows up to my office, head down. There were no explanations that would suffice, so he didn't offer any. He slumped down in the chair, looked up at me with quizzical if not hopeful eyes and awaited my declaration.
In that moment I learned afresh that mercy triumphs over judgement. I leaned forward and gently said his name and asked him if we could put these things behind us and get back to work. He perked right up and left the office with a smile. Our relationship improved by the day after that.
There were regular check-ins, conversation about custody with his children, new circles of friends that he developed and more. I began to share my faith with the man and as I listened I learned about the rigors of incarceration from a man on the other side of the bars. A heart that desperately wanted to change but until that moment of being handed back his job, simply couldn't get it figured out. What changed?
Mercy. With me he didn't have a scarlet letter on his chest. He was not a cast away underserving of a second chance. This is the story of the cross for any and all who come to Jesus in faith and repentance. It's also the ongoing story of deliverance for all those who already know Jesus personally but struggle daily with various strongholds or sin they deeply desire to expunge from their record.
Mercy triumphs over judgement.
For the rest of this week we will learn from John 8:2-11 about a woman in the deep and dark entanglement of sin, people who sought to expose her by using her as a pawn in their own self-righteous scheme, and a Savior who shatters all boundaries of mercy previously known.
One final note... the mercy my employee experienced was not because I was merciful. Rather, my boss required I be merciful when I would rather judge the deserving man and find a more suitable replacement. Thank God.
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