Mercy Over Judgment

Mercy Over Judgment

When I looked into the backyard I immediately made the judgment, “This can’t be good.” Two guests were seated facing each other, and given their histories, I was sure trouble was brewing. The first guest, who I’ll call “Jerry,” suffers from severe mental illness. He has never given us his name (he will usually identify himself with a random string of letters). He has never said a word that makes any sense. The other guest, who I will call “Steve,” is a noted neighborhood tough guy. Just last week, Steve verbally threatened another mentally ill guest, and a fight was narrowly averted. 

Now Jerry faced Steve with a very agitated manner. He spoke loudly and incoherently while he rapidly pushed gravel around with his feet. All the while he remained seated, leaning toward Steve. I was sure Steve would not stand for this very long.

So I moved from the back porch into the yard. I headed toward where Jerry and Steve were seated. I wanted to be ready to get between them.

I got close enough to see Steve’s face.  But what I saw surprised me. Instead of the threatening scowl I expected, there was a slight smile. Nothing about Steve suggested he was bothered in the least by Jerry’s antics. For the next fifteen minutes or so Steve sat there listening quietly, and occasionally nodding his head as if to understand Jerry. For his part, Jerry seemed satisfied with Steve’s patient presence. And then Jerry got up and walked out of the yard. Steve turned his attention to a friend seated a few chairs away.

Earlier in the morning the “Word for the Day” came from James 2:13, “For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment.”

We seek at Manna House to welcome our guests without judgment, to be merciful. The hospitality we strive to practice welcomes guests as they are. We try to have no agenda except to treat our guests with respect, to honor their dignity. 

But I find that it is a spiritual struggle to live into this hospitality. It is easy to fall into judgments and to stray from mercy. It is hard to be present with compassion instead of condemnation.

Part of my struggle comes from the reality that not every guest is all sugar and sweetness. A few are downright unpleasant, such as Steve. Some are difficult to understand and work with, such as Jerry.

A larger part of my struggle comes from who I am. I carry within myself the judgments of “respectability” favored by our society. Those judgments encourage me to honor those who are well dressed, well spoken, and well behaved, and to dishonor those who are not. The judgments of respectability also encourage me to see myself as successful, and therefore to have solutions that will save those “less fortunate.”

I had carried that judgment with me when I had first looked at Jerry and Steve. I had expected conflict based upon my judgment. But they were practicing mercy, God’s mercy, toward each other.

Their witness to God’s mercy in the face of my judgment brought me back to something else James wrote, something that overturns those judgments of respectability. “Listen my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the Kingdom that God has promised to those who love God?” (James 2:5).