Napoleon and the Mother's Plea for Mercy

I remember an incident that took place in history. Many of you remember Napoleon Bonaparte, the great dictator, I guess, if you can say that, at least the well-known dictator of France. And his goal was to conquer Europe. And 1 of the reasons why he was so successful is he introduced a new strategy into the warfare of the day.

And back then, if you remember, these guys would just kind of line up their riflemen, and then the other riflemen would line up. And they would just kind of take shots at each other. I don’t know who came up with this as the way to do combat. But anyway, they just line up and start shooting each other.

Napoleon said, forget that. He just got his guys and said, storm them. And so he would get his troops to charge the line of riflemen. And so the line of reasoning was that he could throw more guys at him than they can put lead in the air.

That was the strategy. It was a simple strategy. Overrun him. Overpower him.

So he was winning battles left and right until somebody adjusted. But he was winning.

Now the strategy is great unless you’re 1 of the front line of Napoleon’s troops. That’s kind of a little rough on you, charging guns and bullets. So many times the men deserted. Now you know in times of war, if there’s desertion, what is the penalty for that?

It’s death, it’s execution. So there was a young man, 1 of Napoleon’s troops, who did desert, and he was captured, he was tried, and it was found that he did desert and he was sentenced to be executed. His mother, it turns out that this young man was actually the only son of a widow. And the mother figured out what had happened and where Napoleon’s headquarters were and she went to him and asked for mercy.

And Napoleon said, he’s not getting mercy, and sent her away. The next day, this mother returned and asked for an audience with the emperor. And she asked for mercy. And he said, he’s not getting mercy, and sent him away.

And this happened day after day after day after day, like the impromptu widow. This woman was doing the same thing. The day came when Napoleon had had enough of this lady.

She showed up again and she again bowed at his feet and said, Sire, please have mercy. Finally he got up, looked at her and said, woman, your son does not deserve mercy.

And she said to him, true sire, if he did, it wouldn’t be mercy. And he just looked at her and let the boy go. Mercy can only be extended to a guilty person. Mercy is something that can never be earned.

It is a gift. That is what God extended to us. Does this make sense?