"Have Mercy on the Criminal"

Saturday morning I was reading the Book of Mormon in my attempt to get through it three times during the year. I was reading about the "deadness of the law" (2 Nephi 25: 27). Shortly thereafter I was out on my morning walk, equipped with headphones and playlist, when some familiar lyrics grabbed my attention.

"Have you heard the dogs at night
Somewhere on the hill
Chasing some poor criminal
And I guess they're out to kill
Oh there must be shackles on his feet
And mother in his eyes
Stumbling through the devil-dark
With the hound pack in full cry

Have mercy on the criminal
Who is running from the law
Are you blind to the winds of change
Don't you hear him any more

Praying Lord you got to help me
I am never gonna sin again
Just take these chains from around my legs
Sweet Jesus I'll be your friend."

A fine rock classic with a bluesy melody, and I had the message pounded into my head one more time. You may have figured out by now, I stole this title from two of the great songwriters, Elton John and Bernie Taupin. I'm still addicted to rock n roll, contemporary jazz, new age, progressive rock, alternative, blues, a few classical, and about three country songs. But this addiction, unlike some of the destructive ones, has its upside.

I have to agree with Bernie and Elton wholeheartedly. And since I violated one of those laws, " Thou shalt not steal" (Exodus 20: 15) in selecting the title for this post, I find myself on the wrong side of the law. 

This is an easy thing to do, since anciently Israelites wore fringes on the borders of their garments (Numbers 15: 38-39). The tassels on the prayer shawls and the "tallit katan" (translated as "little tent") are tied in a series of knots to represent the number 613, the number of commandments of the Law of Moses. 

There are several aspects of the "deadness of the law." Some violations carried the death penalty, such as Sabbath violations (see Exodus 35: 2). "Running from the law" might mean fleeing to a refuge city for accidental crimes, where no harm was intended. The criminal would find safety in the city but must remain there until the death of the high priest. The "avenger of blood" and the "high priest" were both types of Christ (see Numbers 35). It was easy to wind up on the wrong side of the law.

But even today it seems nearly impossible to escape the violation of some commandment, either by commission or omission. Even the Book of Mormon writer Lehi points out, "And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever" (2 Nephi 2: 5). So some of us give up and try to run from the law and its consequences.

The remedy is not easy either. When Adam and Eve were found to be in transgression of the law, coats of skins were made by the Lord as a covering (Genesis 3: 21). This was symbolic of the Atonement, as the Hebrew word for atonement is kaphar meaning to "coat or cover." It required the death of animals to provide the covering. The Law of Moses is described by John in the Joseph Smith Translation as a law of death. It reads,

"For the law was after a carnal commandment, to the administration of death; but the gospel was after the power of an endless life, through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father" (JST, John 1: 18). It took the sacrifice of an animal to make an atonement for the sinner, pointing to the "great and last sacrifice" of Jesus Christ (Alma 34: 10). On the festival days a sacrifice of several animals was required. For example, at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) the sacrifice was "thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year" (Numbers 29: 13). As the song says, "And I guess they're out to kill."

But I'm in good company as a criminal. Not that it lessens the severity of the crime in God's eyes. He said, "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance" (D&C 1: 31).

But He also said, "Death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator" (2 Nephi 9: 6). Is this only temporal death, or is spiritual death included in this act of "mercy?"

Like the prayer of this song, how many times I've pleaded, "Just take these chains from around my legs. Sweet Jesus I'll be your friend." Ofttimes I've felt the shackles on my feet and the shadow of the enemy as if he were about to overtake me. I've felt the chains loosed from my legs, cried with tears of gratitude, only to find myself quickly on the wrong side of the law once again.

But death is actually the answer. 

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6: 3-6).

In the end, it's not going to be good works, to-do lists, goals met, and good intentions. Not that these are bad things. Rather it will be newness of life, walking with our Friend Jesus, while accepting the transformation. Like Corianton, who perhaps wanted to "hide his crimes from God" (Alma 39: 8), we can be transformed into "men and women of God" (Alma 48: 18).

And thus, as the chapter says, "For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25: 23).