Mercy Wins

James has spent the opening of chapter two exposing favoritism in the church, and he has pressed the point hard. Whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Showing partiality is not a minor lapse in manners. It is lawbreaking. Then, as if he has been leading somewhere all along, he lands on this. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

That last sentence has often been lifted out and put on walls, and it deserves to be, but it means more in its place. James is talking to people who have been judging. They sorted the rich man from the poor man. They decided who was worth a seat. And James says that the measure you use for others is the measure that will be used for you. If you show no mercy, you should not expect any.

This is close to what Jesus said about forgiveness, that the Father forgives those who forgive. It is not that mercy earns us anything. It is that a person who has actually received mercy from God becomes a merciful person, and a person who remains stubbornly unmerciful gives evidence that the mercy never took. Mercy shown is the fruit of mercy received.

But the final phrase is not a threat. It is a promise. Mercy triumphs over judgment. When the two meet, mercy wins. That is true at the throne of God, where the just judgment we deserved was met by the mercy of the cross and mercy prevailed. James is asking us to let it be true in our small courtrooms too, the ones we hold in our heads about the neighbor, the ex, the coworker, the relative who never changed.

So the turn for today is to find the judgment you have been quietly holding and let mercy win there. Not by pretending the wrong was not wrong. By choosing to treat the person as God has treated you. On a Sunday, in the house of God, that is the most fitting thing you can do.