4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
His love has reached out to each one of us - even though we deserve judgment for our sins and the punishment of spending eternity apart from God, He sent His Son so that we might be spared that judgment and walk in the power of a redeemed life. And, because we have been shown mercy, He calls us to be people who demonstrate mercy - by exercising compassion toward others and by adopting an attitude of extending forgiveness toward those who may have offended us. We are called to share what we ourselves have received.
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In James chapter 2, the writer elaborates on what true mercy looks like.
8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;9but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Later in the chapter, he writes:12So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.13For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Helen Johnson is a mother and grandmother who lives in a suburb of Birmingham known as Tarrant or Tarrant City. According to AL.com, Johnson's two daughters, a niece and two grandchildren, ages 1 and 3, live with her in their Tarrant home. The kids' mother gets a welfare check - $120 a month - but late last year, that check had been lost in the mail. Johnson herself gets a disability check, which was set to come the week of an incident that has been communicated around the Internet.
The first Saturday of December, the family had gone two days without food. Helen went to a Dollar General store with $1.25 and thought that would be enough to buy a carton of eggs. When she realized she was 50 cents plus tax short, she stuffed five eggs in her pocket out of desperation.
By the time she got to the door, Tarrant police Officer William Stacy was there, and told her to stay put. The officer said he'd already talked to Dollar General officials and they said they weren't going to press charges. While she waited, Officer Stacy went inside the store and returned with a carton of eggs.
He is quoted as saying, "I felt like it was the right thing to do. I didn't want to pass judgment on her."
The following Tuesday, Tarrant police came to the Johnson home and took her back to police headquarters where they signed her up for the Tarrant Toy Drive, and also are helping to coordinate the offers of food and clothing also pouring in, said Tarrant police Sgt. Larry Rice.
Officer Stacy is quoted as saying "I'm not a big fan of the spotlight, but I'm happy it's drawing attention to law enforcement officers.'' He added, "I just like to do my job, do the right thing and come home at the end of the day. But I feel like this story is needed instead of everyone being negative about law enforcement."
Stacy said, "This really opened up a new door for us...We're going to try to give the love and support that the U.S. has given her to the rest of the city."
But the story doesn't end there. After this act of grace, Helen hugged the officer - a scene that was captured on video and placed on Facebook.
Another AL.com story covered the commendation that the city gave to Officer Stacy. It also reported that Stacy and other Tarrant officers took two truckloads of groceries to Johnson, and the police department kept getting donations. People contacted Tarrant offering to help from across the U.S. and as far away as Australia. Police Chief Dennis Reno said Stacy has gotten money in the mail, and he's put that straight toward a charity fund the department set up for Johnson's family.
These donations aren't just helping one family in need, though. They're helping many more in need in Tarrant.
These donations aren't just helping one family in need, though. They're helping many more in need in Tarrant.
One act of kindness - grace instead of judgment. It has generated a whole lot of media attention, and it should. The spiritual parallels are not hard to find here.
Helen Johnson was in need - she was hungry and had not eaten for days. She did not have enough money to buy the food she had selected, so she resorted to stealing 5 eggs. Instead of being arrested, she was shown mercy, and the compassion multiplied.
Whether we admit it or not, we are all needy people, and we have a craving, a hunger deep inside - for satisfaction, for fulfillment, and I would contend, a relationship with our Maker. We look for all sorts of ways to fill that void in our lives, and instead of humbling ourselves before Almighty God, we, in a sense, withhold, or steal, from God and seek to get our needs met in other ways. While God desires our entire lives, we hold back and attempt to go out on our own. We are willing to settle for the "5 eggs" in life that we attempt to acquire by our own devices, rather than allow God to extend the riches of His kindness to us.
But, the good news, even while we withhold our hearts, our time, our treasures, and more from the Lord, He is still reaching out. When we sin against Him, He is willing to show mercy toward us. When we face temptation, He provides a way of escape and when we succomb, He extends forgiveness.
And, His mercies are multiplied. As the result of this one police officer's act of grace, many are being blessed - not only Helen Johnson and her family, but families all across her city, because the word has spread. Why? Because I believe that people are attracted to acts of kindness - it touches something deep inside. Our obedience to be used of the Lord to show compassion can make a powerful impact on the people with whom we interact.
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