Category: Pondering Peace
A Plea for Mercy
Upon awakening one morning recently, I realized I was already thinking about a story told by the prophet Nathan to King David long ago. It is a story about two men – one rich with many flocks and herds and another very poor who had only one little lamb. The poor man had raised this ewe lamb so that it grew up with him and his children, ate his meager food, and snuggled against his chest. She was like a daughter to him. One day a traveler came to visit the rich man. Instead of using an animal from his own flocks, the rich man seized the beloved lamb of the poor man and prepared it as food for his guest.
This is a story about the abuse of power, of the wealthy man taking what little the poor man had, just because he could. It is a story of hardheartedness and cruelty, of using power to take what is beloved to another and then destroy her without empathy or regard for the rights or sorrows of others.
Upon hearing the ending to this story, perhaps thinking it a real life situation that Nathan was bringing to his attention, King David was shocked and became enraged. He declared that the rich man deserved death for this action “because he had no pity.” At the very least, he must pay restitution for the lamb fourfold. Nathan then unexpectedly points the parable at King David. “You are the man!”
The background for this story in 2 Samuel 11-12 is the narrative of King David abusing his power in taking Bathsheba for his own desires and attempting to cover it up first through deception and then through having Bathsheba’s husband killed. Thinking his coverup successful, King David grants the prophet Nathan an opportunity to speak to him. Afterall, the last time he had given Nathan audience, the prophet had spoken words of God’s steadfast love and blessing on his kingdom.
This time, however, in faithfulness to what God now called him to do, Nathan made use of his audience with the king to speak truth to power, despite its risks, through the telling of this parable. King David’s deeds had been grievous, but his capacity for empathy enabled him to imagine the poor man’s sorrow and condemn the cruelty of the rich man’s abuse of power, bringing him to confess his sin. Psalm 51 expresses his deep repentance and longing for God’s cleansing forgiveness.
It is very easy for those who hold massive power to abuse it for their own self-interests and desires. Certainly that was true in ancient times, as well as in our day. Yet there was in the Hebrew scriptures the expectation that the king was to rule with justice. And the measure of justice in a nation was how the poor and powerless are treated. Psalm 72’s prayer for the king is an example of this expectation. It reads in part: “May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice… May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor… For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life;” (Ps. 72: 2, 4, 12-14, NRSV). Pity, or mercy, on those who are the most vulnerable and action to deliver them from oppression are marks of a king, or national leader, who rules with divine blessing.
When Jesus spoke about the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25, he taught that the blessing of God on a nation depends primarily on how we treat “the least of these” – those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, or imprisoned. In fact, in divine empathy, Jesus identifies himself with them, saying that what we do to them, we are doing to him. “The least of these” are not people of lesser value or worth, but rather they are those who have the least power and are most vulnerable to being mistreated. God’s concern and compassion are especially focused on these.
The rhetoric of our recent election season was not kind toward those who are most vulnerable in our nation. Too often they were misrepresented, targeted, and used for the political purpose of raising fears and outrage and gaining political power. As a result, those who are most vulnerable anticipated the incoming administration with anxiety and some trepidation.
Aware of these fears and finding herself in the situation of having the newly inaugurated president in her audience, the Right Reverand Mariann Edgar Budde made use of this opportunity and took the surprising move of speaking directly to the president at the end of her sermon. In a now well-known plea, she asked that he have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared – those who are gay, lesbian, or trans, those who are immigrants, those who are refugees fleeing war and persecution, and those born here who worry their parents may be deported. Her plea for mercy was for those who are the most powerless and vulnerable in our society. She spoke with the utmost gentleness and humility. Although the direct appeal came as a surprise, it was not the bold confrontation that Nathan used with King David. By offering a plea for mercy in such a manner, she actually expressed respect for the president by appealing to his capacity to respond with mercy toward others. She justified her plea with the words, “Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger.”
It would appear from what has happened during the last couple weeks that, unlike King David, the prophetic message has not been taken to heart nor heeded. Furthermore, members of the House of Representatives have submitted a resolution that condemns her sermon for “promoting political bias instead of advocating the full counsel of biblical teaching.” It’s quite audacious that members of Congress feel they know better than an Episcopal bishop the full counsel of biblical teaching and that they consider mercy for the vulnerable a “distorted message” when it is at the very heart of biblical teaching. Jesus pointed out “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23).
During these troubling times, we as people of faith are called to commit ourselves ever more deeply to lives of mercy. Jesus taught us to do this. He said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). And he pronounced the blessedness of those who are merciful, for they will receive mercy (Mt. 5:7).
We also need to speak up on behalf of those who are most vulnerable in whatever circles of influence we may have. Admittedly, it is often easier not to do this. In a letter written from the Birmingham jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. decried those who were “more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.” Rev. Budde’s advocacy for the most vulnerable and her plea for mercy have been an inspiration to speak up for many of us across our nation.
She ended her message with a prayer that basically summarized what she had said were the foundations for unity in what has been called “a culture of contempt.” “May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and to walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.” May this be our prayer as well.
Ruth Rosell
Director of the Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita
Central Seminary, Overland Park, KS
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash