by John Bossange
Many practicing Christians read their Bible for some historical context to today’s current events and for spiritual guidance. Most importantly, the New Testament can offer comforting words during challenging times. For that reason, I can imagine many devout Christians joining millions of others who were appalled when the newly-elected president and his MAGA followers criticized the message about mercy given by the Episcopal Bishop Marian Budde at the traditional inaugural prayer service in our National Cathedral.
Showing mercy is an act of compassion and forgiveness, a characteristic most of us would want to receive from others during difficult times. Further, who would not want to be called kind and thoughtful, two hallmarks of a decent human being? For Christians, the Gospel of St. Matthew 5: 3-10 highlights mercy in the “Eight Beatitudes.” They are unmistakably clear: “Blessed are the poor, the meek, they who mourn, thirst for justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and those who suffer persecution.”
Christians are familiar with the blessings in the Sermon on the Mount and they know mercy is mentioned and defined throughout the Bible. Matthew 22:40 gives further guidance to live in the spirit of the Gospel. “You shall love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the laws and the prophets.” I wonder if this passage still has meaning for MAGA Christians?
This is why the comments made by President Trump calling Bishop Budde “the so-called Bishop, nasty in tone and not compelling or smart,” and “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater” were so disgraceful and unchristian. Further, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called the Bishop’s plea for mercy a “hijacked attempt to promote her radical ideology.” It gets even more unchristian with the comments made by other MAGA politicians to deport the Bishop, and that the Cathedral had been taken over by gay female activists with short hair and the face of evil.
Undoubtedly, there are MAGA postings and blogs calling for the Bishop to apologize or to be removed from her leadership position. Unfortunately, I’m sure that she has received death threats that now need to be taken more seriously with the pardons and release of the January 6th insurrectionists who will see words as a justification for violence.
A Christian would not mock another Christian’s call for mercy no matter the time, place or environment, and they would not follow a leader who has been unfaithful in three marriages, convicted of fraud and sexual assault, and instigated a riot that led to a takeover of the nation’s capitol building killing 5 law enforcement officers and injuring 174. These are not the behaviors and actions of a Christian.
Showing mercy has always been a challenge. But today where fear and hate of specific groups of people are all-too-common in America, it’s been made more difficult by the President and the MAGA party, mocking the basic, core tenet of the Christian faith: Mercy. Fear and anger, as Bryan Stevenson reminds us in his book Just Mercy, can make us vindictive, abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others.
I believe Christians of good faith will be speaking out during these challenging times, just as Bishop Budde did a week ago. A true Christian will not be intimidated by the MAGA cults “hijacked radical ideology,” and their attempt to misuse and ignore the sacred passages in the Bible to gain political advantage.
Showing mercy is not a political act. It’s an act for any decent human being to bestow upon another whenever necessary. Mercy is also an act for one who understands the true meaning of being a Christian and one who sees through the hypocrisy demonstrated by MAGA Christianity.