Sunday Rewind: Mercy, Me?

We asked a friendly, yet direct question to a player at Thursday night's live tournament: "Do you believe Jesus is merciful?"

We say Jesus is -- and it was shown in how He treated a woman who supposedly was caught in the act of adultery. Check the first part of John 8 for details.

A crowd brought the woman before Jesus, pointing out how the Old Testament law called for such women to be stoned -- and this was for the most part an accurate quote of the Lord (Deut. 20:10).

But the crowd apparently didn't realize a couple of things. Jesus could have told them the law required the "adulterer and the adulteress" to die -- both of them. (Perhaps He wrote that in the sand in John 8:6, 8; we don't really know.) Jesus also could have told them He was the Lord who spoke the command to Moses in the first place.

The accusing crowd eventually left -- and Jesus told the accused women: "I do not condemn you.... From now on sin no more." (John 8:11, NASB)

At that moment Jesus showed mercy -- and He reinforced it elsewhere by saying, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." (Mt. 9:13)

Poker can be a "take no prisoners" sort of game. The goal is to claim all the chips from everyone else. But when a moment of mercy makes itself available, don't be ashamed to show it. Click on the "mercy" label below for some examples we've noted at poker tournaments.