N.T. Wright

“Mercy” isn’t the same as a shoulder-shrugging “tolerance,” an “anything thing goes” attitude to life. “Anything” doesn’t “go.” “Anything” includes arrogance, corruption, blasphemy, favouritism and lawbreaking of all kinds. If God was “merciful” to that lot, he would be deeply unmerciful to the poor, the helpless, the innocent and the victims. And the whole gospel insists that in precisely those cases his mercy shines out most particularly. So must ours.