The dozen or so men formed a rough circle around the woman, who searched frantically but vainly for a route of escape. She looked much younger than the savage brutes who stalked her. The men, mostly middle-aged in appearance, with an occasional one or two more wizened than the others and three or four barely old enough to sport a beard, were all dressed in well-worn, Kandura-like, brown or otherwise drab-colored robes. They picked up rocks the size of tennis balls with their dirty paws as they perspired in the heat of the sun. Their full beards could not hide the excitement in their eyes as they closed in on their prey. One of them licked his parched lips while another alternately taunted and cursed the frantic female underneath his foul-smelling breath.
The woman cried out something in a strange-sounding tongue. She fell to her knees, and the tone of her words took on a pleading effect. Someone threw a rock. Then another person did likewise. Then a third and a fourth as the first few men reached down around their crudely made sandals for other rocks, never taking their eyes off the victim. The woman’s head covering slipped to her shoulders, revealing dark locks of hair now matted with blood. The pelting of stones had a disparate effect. Many missed their mark, clattering on the hard surface of the ground
If you think this hypothetical event happened thousands of years ago in biblical times, think again. In fact, it is based on a news video I watched of a woman stoned only thirty or so years ago for the same reason in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Was it sanctioned by the Afghani government? I don’t recall, and as far as the victim goes, knowing that fact cannot bring her back to life. Today, women in at least five countries in Africa and the Mideast face stoning for adultery, and undoubtedly, there are as many other countries where this continues to happen, perhaps extrajudicially in the savage hinterlands, regardless of whether the country admits to the possibility or not.
In fact, this barbaric practice was likewise recorded two thousand years ago when Jesus walked the Earth and perhaps existed another thousand years before that. The Gospel of John (7:53–8:11) tells us of another condemned, powerless woman facing a mob armed with stones. Jesus was there. He could have joined in, but instead, he stood at her side, took her side, advocating on her behalf, tempering justice under the law with mercy for the penitent sinner. For even if the prescribed penalty for a male caught in adultery was equally harsh—and it was not—there was the matter of how to apply the law and who it was that applied it. Like education, liberty, and other rights, a woman did not (does not) enjoy the same rights as a man. He might receive a slap on the wrist, while she might be put to death as an example to other women.
The quality of mercy
Mercy is central to knowing your Creator, who likewise is merciful. David says (Psalm 103:8), “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” In one sense, it is part and parcel of justice. Mercy is not earned but freely given. When you show mercy to others, you are exercising this spiritual gift and joining with God in this lofty pursuit. But . . .
Today, we find powerless people of either sex in our society hunted down while hiding in their homes, or outside a courtroom where they have appeared dutifully as instructed by a magistrate, or on their way to church, or just out and about. They are unceremoniously and forcibly pulled from their cars or out of the arms of their loved ones and pushed roughly to the ground to be handcuffed and carried away, perhaps never to be seen again. We are told that the alleged 20,000,000 migrants who came to our country last year (2024) were murderers, rapists, gang members, or lunatics. Really? All of them? Were even the several million children malhechores as well? There are many Americans calling for justice, no matter how harsh, and applauding this ungodly, dystopian culling of the good with the necessary apprehension of the bad. This practice often sends those caught in the net to notorious prisons abroad or unfamiliar lands on distant continents without due process and in violation of international norms not to mention our Constitution.
In the Beautitudes, Jesus says “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy”. What does this verse say about God? What does this verse say about you? We cannot delegate this responsibility to others yet along to our federal government.
Mercy also can refers to works of charity for the unfortunate such as widows and orphans. We as Christians do not do good works to “earn” our salvation. We do good works (or should be doing good works) because of our salvation. Jesus once again says that what we do on behalf of the hungry and the poor we are actually doing for him. And what is it that we are doing?
I desire mercy, not sacrifice
The Lord God said in Hosea 6:6: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledg-ment . . . rather than burnt offerings.” In the historical context, the Israelites seemed to be ritualistically or mechanically shuffling through the requirements of worship while oblivious to the need to put their faith in action in their communities. And this neglect seemed to center on a lack of mercy afforded to others, such as women caught in the act of adultery.
The Holy Bible seems quite clear on where God stands on the question of aliens. For example:
Deuteronomy 10:18 “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner (גֵּר or ḡêr, noun; masculine) residing among you, giving them food and clothing.” Again:
“Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice . . .” Deuteronomy 24:17
The Hebrew word “ḡêr” refers to a temporary dweller, a new-comer (one who has no inherited rights) according to Brown Driver-Briggs. Sounds like an undocumented immigrant or someone perhaps with a temporary visa. Until recently, noncitizens with viasa had certain rights in this country, but now these rights are threatened, denied or in doubt. Yet, one can retain these rights with a one million dollar “Gold Card” visa.
I appreciate that we cannot take in tens of millions of people each year from around the world. I know that the majority of these individuals may be unskilled or barely educated laborers looking for work here at a time when our college graduates cannot find jobs. I understand that our businesses and industries outsource work overseas to cut costs and maintain their ability to stay competitive, which further reduces available jobs. I am also certain that artificial intelligence will reduce the need for workers. How, and from where, will American citizens—let alone undocumented workers from abroad—find jobs, and how will they live absent any ability to subsist?
Furthermore, how can our social service sector provide food, shelter, and health care for these immigrant families? The problem seems unsurmountable, though we, as a nation, have solved intractable problems before. Yet can we presume to be a “Christian nation” if we are behaving in ungodly ways? Did God provide caveats in His injunctions for extenuating circumstances?
"If we are not able to see Jesus in the poor, we will not be able to see Him in the Eucharist."
And let me be clear: those who come to America and run afoul of our society—who seek to do harm to others and so on—should face the consequences of their criminal behavior. But we should not attack harmless people in our society who want only what we want and what we, ourselves, did not earn. It was given to us through an accident of birth: freedom, a new beginning, the right to worship. Instead, we are currently attacking the problem as if migrants were weeds in our garden and not the living and breathing souls created and loved by God, who loves us. And that goes likewise for the poor. We must see God at work in their lives, too. Mother Teresa once said that “If we are not able to see Jesus in the poor, we will not be able to see Him in the Eucharist.”
Who are the merciful?
When you search the news, history and the literature for merciful people, Mother Teresa is near the top of the list. She spent sixty-eight years of her life in Calcutta living among not just the sick and the poor but those considered to be untouchable. In 1979 Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. If you check out her profile on Wikipedia, you may note that she was involved in several controversies. Some complaints might be legitimate and at first blush other accusations seem to be unfair or the work by opportunists using her name without her consent. None of us are perfect and I challenge her distractors to spend sixty-eight days yet along sixty-eight years in Calcutta surrounded by disease, death and dying.
Oskar Schindler was an industrialist and member of the Nazi Party during World War II. However, many of the workers in his factory were Jews, and when he understood that the Nazis were exterminating Jewish people as rapidly as the Gestapo rounded them up, he decided that the most important mission he had was to keep as many Jews out of the concentration camps as possible. Because he ran a factory that was essential for Germany’s ability to wage war, his workers were given some leeway that ordinary people did not enjoy. By adding Jews to his labor force, he was able to personally save the lives of 1,200 people.
You don’t have to be a Catholic Saint or a German industrialist during wartime to engage in merciful acts to others. Nor must you be personally wealthy. My wife and I are involved with a community street ministry and we take our grandchindren with us when we can. It is very satifying to provide warm clothing or gloves to people standing in the cold, or baby formula, bread, simple toys, children’s books or period products to hungry families. It is also worthwhile to carry some extra cash in your wallet or purse in case you see someone in a supermarket trying to process the sticker shock for a pound of hamburger before sadly returning it to the shelf.
Until recently, we lived in a charitable country known for its mercy. For example, the U.S. has the greatest number of millionaires of any other country and is about to be home to the first trillionaire, but what does this mean? How are we, as a nation, and the world as a whole better for this? Some wealthy humanitarians have given money generously in the areas of health, human rights, food security, the arts, and so on. Yet, with one stroke of a pen eleven months ago, a source of revenue worth more than all the private donations combined was written off the books.
Consider the following:
U.S. foreign aid has long played a critical role in tackling poverty, hunger, and inequality worldwide, which is why the Trump administration’s recent cuts were met with public outrage and pushback from development and humanitarian organizations, including to Oxfam. Despite widespread public support for U.S.-funded foreign aid, the Trump administration has shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) , which funded the majority of U.S. humanitarian and development assistance worldwide to people in some of the worst crises. The effect of these cuts on people is dire: At least 23 million children stand to lose access to education, and as many as 95 million people would lose access to basic healthcare, potentially leading to more than 3 million preventable deaths per year.
Tomorrow is the beginning of a new years (2026). This is a perfect opportunity to resolve to be merciful to others: To our relatives, to our friends, to our fellow citizens, to strangers from other lands, to those in need. For only in serving others do we ourselves become truly free.
#mercy
