Okay, quick, answer this question: What is mercy? If you are a regular student of the Bible, you will have a “pat” answer. Mercy is “unmerited favor”. See, I have a pat answer. But, what is unmerited favor???
Have you experienced mercy lately? I have. Here’s the story…
January 4th I was on my way to the mall. (I had to exchange a pair of shoes from Christmas.) As I was getting onto the ramp to the highway, a State Trooper pulled me over. (What was I doing wrong? I knew I could not have been speeding. I had my seat belt on. I wasn’t driving erratically. I wasn’t even talking on my cell!) As I handed the Trooper my license and registration card, he said to me, “I pulled you over today because your Inspection expired the end of September.” (WHAT??? Are you serious? That’s not my “area” in our marriage! That is Paul’s! How could this be? September? That was 3½ months ago!) “Expired?”, I said. “I am so very sorry. I really had no idea!”
To make a long story short, I ended up with a ticket! I knew I was guilty, but I really wanted to fight it! So I sent in the necessary $50 “bond” and I plead “not guilty”. Today was my hearing…
I stood before the Magistrate. I was really nervous. He seemed nice (but that could just be a trick). Finally he asked me what had happened. I explained that it had been a hard year; that I had 6 surgeries because of breast cancer. I told him that my mother passed away at the beginning of September. And I went to India for two weeks at the end of September. And then I had surgery October 13. He finished the story for me. “And somewhere in the middle of it all, you lost track of the Inspection.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “Somehow we lost track of it.”
And then he asked me a most important question: “So what were you expecting from this hearing today?” “Well, sir,” I said most carefully, “I was hoping for mercy.”
There it was. The reason I was there. I was guilty. I had driven my car without a valid inspection. I had broken the law. I really didn’t mean to, but I was guilty. But it was easy to break that law. I was too busy with other things (funeral, missions trip, surgery). Those items were all very important and worthy reasons. But I still broke the law.
“Mercy.” The judge seemed to contemplate all that the word meant. “Yes, I think I can show you mercy,” he said. “In fact, we can just make this disappear.”
WOW! Just like that, it was gone! It was all over! All I had to do was ask…MERCY!
