In 1997, a young man named Jerry was caught stealing a calculator from a Walmart. According to the law, the crime was punishable with a maximum two-year prison sentence. However, the state had recently passed a “three-strikes” law that increased prison time for repeat offenders. Because Jerry had two prior offenses, he was sentenced to 16 years for shoplifting the $50 calculator. Believing the penalty was excessive given the minor nature of the offense, the defense attorneys representing the young man tried to have the sentence changed. The lead prosecutor for the state, however, refused to show mercy or release Jerry for time served.
A similar case based on California’s “three-strikes” law resulted in a 50-year prison sentence for a man who stole $150 of videotapes. His case reached the Supreme Court in 2003 on the argument that the state had violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. One of the justices confronted the unmerciful state’s attorney. “Is there some rule that you can’t confess error in your state?” he asked. But in the end, the Supreme Court upheld California’s 50-year prison sentence for the man who stole the videotapes.
Criminal justice is a very tricky business, especially when politics gets involved. Many “tough on crime” initiatives are popular with voters. Therefore, politicians push them with strong rhetoric about justice, and some will even brag about “showing no mercy” to criminals. No doubt some people should be confined for many years, or even the remainder of their lives. But today, the United States incarcerates more people than any country on earth, and in some states, the laws allow no consideration of a person’s circumstances or the relative insignificance of their offense. Mercy, it seems, is not popular with American voters.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” One of the most common facets of Jesus’ teaching is the link between our relationship with God and our relationship with others. How we treat others, he revealed, is how our heavenly Father will treat us. Much of contemporary, politicized Christianity, however, seeks to sever this link. We want to believe we can be driven by vengeance, anger, and retribution toward those we believe are beyond redemption, but somehow still see ourselves as the worthy recipients of God’s mercy.
According to Jesus, this is an impossible scenario because it’s not how divine mercy works. In order to experience mercy, he says, we must be people who also extend mercy. Therefore, we cannot simultaneously be unmerciful and full of vengeance and be citizens of the kingdom of the heavens. We cannot expect God’s mercy for ourselves and pray for “overwhelming violence...against those who deserve no mercy.”
Daily Scripture
Matthew 5:3–12
James 2:12–13
Weekly Prayer
From From the Liturgy of St. Basil (329 -379)
Remember, O Lord,
those who are poor and in need,
the widows, the orphans, the strangers,
those in captivity and those in exile,
the sick and the suffering.
Remember, O Lord, those who love us
and those who hate us;
those who have asked us to pray for them,
and those whom we have not remembered through ignorance.
Remember all Your people, O Lord,
and pour out Your rich mercy upon all.
Amen.
