Mercy me!

A blind man came to Jesus and squawked, “Have mercy on me.” He cried literally, “Mercy me!” (Mark 10:46-52) or, “Pity me!” The crowd rebuked him and told him to shut up. The needy have little political weight then or now. The largest political contributors are the rich. We are a plutocracy, not a true democracy. Like the crowd, we do not want to hear from the destitute. We do not want to hear from Jesus about helping them. Should we show pity or be hardhearted like the crowd in this story? Mercy means God granting even to the unworthy favor, healing, benefits, opportunities and particularly salvation in Christ. Do we feel sympathy with the misery of others? A remarkable thing about Jesus is that instead of judging people for their plight, he was overcome with compassion. Are we?