Mercy
As many of you know, last week the Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, preached a sermon at the National Cathedral that has gone viral on social media and in the news. Most of the focus has been on the final few minutes during which she spoke directly to the President, pleading with him to be merciful, especially to those who stand on the margins and now fear for their well-being.
She has been both applauded and ridiculed, which is a telling statement about the state of our nation. Mercy, a foundational virtue of the Christian tradition, has become divisive. How is this possible? Didn’t Jesus show mercy when he ate with sinners (Matthew 9:10) and healed lepers (Luke 17:11-19) and refused to condemn the woman accused of adultery (John 8:11)?
Reading a column this week in The New York Times by David French helped me understand what we are experiencing today. He began by quoting a 2024 post on X by Benjamin Cremer, a Wesleyan pastor and writer.
“When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like sins. When you worship power, the harsher the treatment towards your ‘enemies,’ the more righteous it will look. When you worship power, the value and dignity of others is solely measured by their conformity to you.”
Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves these days is not which side we’re on but “Who or what do we worship?” Because to whomever or whatever we give ultimate allegiance will determine not only our actions but our justifications for those actions. Who or what we worship defines who is good and who is a sinner, who belongs and who should be cast out.
As Christians, our ultimate allegiance is Jesus, the Son of God, the Word through whom the world was created and became flesh to live among us, who died on the cross and rose from the tomb. The Jesus we worship rejected earthly power (Luke 4:5-8). He chose not to exercise power over others but to share God’s power with others.
Because of our annual tradition of celebrating the Conversion of St. Paul as our patronal feast, we missed the gospel appointed for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany. In this passage (Luke 4:14-21), Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
These acts of compassion and mercy, Jesus says, are how God’s power is made known. And since this is Jesus’ calling and purpose, it also ours as his disciples.
Who do you worship? Whose light will you shine?
