Mercy Rule

Win some, lose some.

So goes baseball.

The boys held their own against, well, a better team. They were only down 4-0 in the third inning while the last team to face this same opponent went down by 19 runs in the third inning.

But then came the fourth. Balls instead of strikes. Balls in the outfield. Balls in the infield. Pop flies missed. Ground balls passed. Balls thrown too far. Balls thrown too short. Balls thrown to the left or right of the baseman. Basemen nowhere near the base.

Not their finest moment.

Twelve runs later, they reached the welcome end to a long and painful inning.

And the end of the game.

The young boy in the bleachers in front me, distracted by his own self for most of the game, popped up from his seat as folks started to leave.

“It’s over already?”  A quick glance at the scoreboard told him all he needed to know about a game he’d mostly ignored. He paled a little. “Ohhh. The Mercy Rule.”

Ohhh. The Mercy Rule.

::

The Mercy Rule comes into play from time to time in sports that don’t have a game clock, effectively stopping the game at the arbitrary point at which rulemakers conclude that a team would have an insurmountable lead.

In our baseball league, that insurmountable lead is 15 runs.

Our boys saw the Mercy Rule operate from both sides in their tournament this weekend. Once when they had a 15 run lead, and again when they faced a 15 run deficit.

In either case, a chasm ruled too far to cross.

The Mercy Rule spared the languishing team.

It spared them when they’d come to a place where they clearly could not win. But more than that, they could not even lose. They couldn’t get out of the game.

But for the Mercy Rule, the thrashing would go on without end.

::

Oh, the Mercy Rule.

We know it ourselves, don’t we?

The enemy holds an insurmountable lead. His scorecard filled front and back in his incriminating scrawl.

Sins and transgressions.

Failings and guilt.

Debt that could never be paid.

And a game that goes on and on and on. Inning after endless inning.

Hopelessness.

Humiliation.

Shame.

Until . . .

. . . the Mercy Rule.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

In His great mercy.

Four of my favorite words in all the world. In His great mercy.

The Mercy Rule underscores everything He does for us.

New birth.

Living hope.

Resurrection from the dead.

Indestructible inheritance.

Salvation.

All because of the Mercy Rule.

Nice to have in baseball.

Lost without it for all eternity.

::

(Jephthah and Judges 11? Yeah, yeah. It’s still coming. Who knew Judges was written to be read on the wrestling mat?)