When W.C.
Fields, the humorist and lifelong atheist, was dying in a sanitarium, a nurse
was surprised to find him reading the Bible. When she asked him what he was
doing, Fields wisecracked, “Looking for a loophole.”
Mark’s
Gospel shares with us one of the most wonderful and effective prayers in the
New Testament. “And
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-52). In
this Gospel, I submit that Bartimaeus found a huge loophole! “Have mercy on me.”
When I was in
3rd grade, I got caught stealing a toy in a supermarket that was
across the street from my house. The
manager called my mother, and she came over to get me. After she made me apologize to the manager, she
pulled me home by my ear, really angry that I would betray her trust in me and
embarrass her to the neighbors. When we
got home, Mom sent me to my room and said, “Wait right here! Think about what you’ve done! When your father gets home, we’ll decide what
to do with you!”
All kinds of
thoughts were running around in my head, not the least of which was “Man, this
spanking is going to hurt!” When Dad
came home, I got really scared. As my father
began unbuckling his belt, I began pleading (much like Bartimaeus), “Please,
Dad! No! I’m sorry!” The very moment he
was about to let loose on my behind, the phone rang. Dad said, “Saved by the bell for the moment!”
and he left the room to see who it was, forgetting about me for the time being.
It was my Aunt Jenny, Mom’s sister. Mom told her what I had done. Aunt Jenny offered to come by and take the
both of us to confession right then—me for violating the fourth and seventh
commandments, and Mom for losing her temper with me. By this time, Mom and Dad could see that I was
sorry. And I was. Truly sorry. Not because of the punishment I might and
ought to receive, but because I had offended her and Dad, by not obeying them
and staying out of trouble. I escaped
the spanking that day, learning what a gift mercy is.
But our trip
to the confessional was still made—it was an occasion for me to learn yet
another lesson. Sin is sin. Mom spent as
much time in the “box” confessing her anger that day as I did for stealing a toy!
We both received God’s mercy and forgiveness.
We all live
on the edge of God’s mercy. We can’t be
afraid to jump into the depth of His kindness. There’s a great democracy among all of us. We all exist on the precincts of God’s mercy.
None of us can demand God’s favor! God’s kindness is not primarily wages due to
us for work well done. All is a pure
gift due to the Body of Christ given to us and His Blood poured out for us on
the cross. If this is true for the
saints among us how much more for us who are deeply flawed? It seems to me that I must handle my very
deep flaws by basically living on the edge of God’s compassion!
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