Recently we were listening to a radio broadcast of a championship game and the fans were booing one of the stars so loudly that the commentator began to discuss the habits of fans in booing athletes. One remark he made has stuck with us. He said, ”Only saints want justice, the rest of us want mercy.” The avid sports fan demands justice and perfection in others. When their star fails to perform as they think he ought they give him the famous ”Bronx cheer.” Certainly a dedicated athlete trying his best does not welcome this kind of treatment, but that’s the kind he gets from his public just the same. The booing fan couldn’t do nearly as well himself, yet he feels justified in giving the poor struggling player a piece of his mind for failing to come through in the clutch.

No wonder David declared, ”Let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” Solomon said that ”the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

It certainly is true that we are going to need all the mercy we can get. Why then does man demand justice for others when he is in such need of mercy himself? It’s the old story of the mote and the beam. It’s so easy to overlook the big plank in our eye while finding fault with the tiny speck in our brother’s eye. Human nature has always been this way.

It is interesting to note that Jesus who did no sin was far more merciful and forgiving to the woman ”taken in adultery, in the very act” than were her accusers who had been guilty of sin. In fact, some believe that the Greek text indicates that Jesus said, ”He that is without this sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Although her accusers were also sinners and in need of mercy themselves, yet they demanded their form of justice for her. This type of thinking is still prevalent. We find the most vocal sometimes to be the one whose own private lite would indicate that they should be the most forgiving of others. This is true in the ecclesia as well as in the sports world. Why do we frail human beings make such a big thing of another’s short comings when we have so much to be forgiven ourselves?

Jesus makes it very plain when he says that God is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. We sometimes have the twisted idea that we are doing God a service when we are NOT kind to the unthankful and the evil. Somehow we are holding up the banner of God’s truth by persecuting the evil. Certainly we are not to join them in their evil, but Jesus couldn’t have made it more clear that we, while not partaking of their evil, should be kind to them. ”Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful,” says Jesus.

Christ taught us that we are going to receive mercy in direct proportion to the mercy we have shown. This thought should loom very large in our minds the next time we are tempted to point an accusing finger at another. This does not mean we condone wrong doing or wrong doctrine. Certainly Jesus did neither, but he was merciful to the sinner for, he reminded the self righteous Pharisees that ”they that are whole need not a physician.” Unfortunately Phariseeism is not dead and we must combat it as zealously as we combat wrong doctrine and living. Jesus did. No one denied the woman was wrong. Jesus simply was willing to forgive while other sinners demanded justice. Almost all problems we face in the brotherhood and with our dealings with one another could be eliminated if we just show as much mercy as we know we will need to be accepted by Jesus. At the judgment seat it will only be those who completely forgave others who will be recipients of Christ’s forgiveness. ”Only saints want justice, the rest of us want mercy.” Let us be kind unto the unthankful and to the evil because God is. ”Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”