The Strength Of Mercy

 

I have spent a lot of time traveling recently and have noticed bits of drama in many airports. Rushed connections, late arrivals, crying babies, romantic reunions and overcrowding make for colorful expeditions. Last week, I watched the drama unfold in an airport Starbucks. I was in the middle of a 10 person line, waiting for my $4 “fake” coffee, when a frantic teenage girl rushed up and started asking everyone if she could go ahead of us, because she was about to miss her flight. A very big man in a muscle-bearing T-shirt walked up at the same time and just shook his head, mumbling under his breath and shaming her. She quickly made it to the front, bought a banana, water and a coffee and raced away down the hall. A little old lady in our line said, “I sure hope she makes her flight”….. and then mumbling/shaming/muscle dude went on a rant. He said that her flight was closing its doors when she asked the flight attendant if she had time to go get a Starbucks. The flight attendant discouraged her, but apparently told her she had 3 minutes. Mumbling/shaming /muscle dude made an impassioned F-bomb laced, loud speech about the idiocy of risking a $500 flight for a cup of coffee, and then the little old lady hushed us all by looking muscle dude straight in the face and said, “Sir, we know nothing about her. She may be a diabetic. All we know is that she really needed that banana and coffee.” The little old lady showed us all the strength of mercy and made a much stronger impression than muscle man.

The coffee and banana-seeking teenager may have been a diabetic or maybe she was just foolish enough to risk a flight for a coffee, but the point is, we didn’t know. We don’t know much at all about many of the people we encounter daily. We may think the well-dressed executive who never shuts up is a pompous snob, or he just may talk about himself a lot because he is very insecure. We may think the happy mom leading around her immaculate children in smocked dresses has it all together, but she may be broken and suffering deeply. We certainly don’t know the history and intimate details of the panderers at our major intersections. If we do not take the time to get to know people, we have no right or reason to make assumptions on their life. We are called to be in relationship, to love the unlovely, to minister to the poor and sick. It takes strength to show mercy. It seems to me that we all need to assume less, listen more and treat everyone with the compassion we crave to receive. When we feel too busy or too weak to help, we have the privilege of calling on the God of all mercy and love to fill us up, so that there is overflow for even the strangers we encounter at Starbucks. This is the strength of mercy. Be strong, my precious friends.

 

 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him” 1 Timothy 1:12 (NLT)

 

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 (NLT)