Choose Mercy
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48: Lam. 2:8-15; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Matt. 12:1-14
My book club has been deep into an incredible read that’s been hard to put down. The book is called Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. It tells the story of an intriguing 86-year-old Portuguese man who moves to a small town in Georgia and becomes captivated by a set of 92 portraits in a coffee shop. He dreams of purchasing them all and restoring them to their inspirations. It’s not the kind of book that would normally grab me from a description, but it’s one of the most meaningful pieces of literature I’ve read in a long time. I’ve even thought about asking the whole church to pick it up.
There’s a line in the book that has stayed with me. A grandmother says to her grandson, “Baby, they’s justice and they’s mercy. If you not sure what to do and you gotta choose one or the other, I say always go the mercy way. If you make a mistake, make it for mercy. Bad mercy don’t hurt nearly like bad justice, and always remember, the eye of God can see.”
It’s such a powerful line—and I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil the book or, really, give away my sermon for Sunday—but it captures something essential about the heart of God and the way of Jesus. That line has been echoing for me as I’ve read this week’s Gospel.
In today’s passage, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and is immediately accused of breaking the law. The scene is a collision of justice and mercy, law and love. The Pharisees want order and fairness; Jesus wants restoration. He reminds them that the law was given not to restrict compassion but to teach it: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Sometimes we stand in that same place of choice—between what seems fair and what gives life. The Gospel invites us, again and again, to choose mercy. As we watch the tragedies of life unfold, where cruelty can seem almost habitual, we still have a choice in how we respond. Even when justice makes all the sense in the world, mercy has the power to break a cycle and open the door to healing.
Maybe that’s what restoration really looks like—the moment when mercy gets the final word.
John+
Question for Self-Reflection: When have I faced a situation where I had to choose between justice and mercy—and what guided my choice?