Snowgood's Blog

By: snowgood

Mar 14 2010

Category: Uncategorized

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Come now, and let us reason together – Isaiah 1:18

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. – Matthew 15: 25-28

Four weeks ago Marks & Spencer relieved me of £193, and in return I obtained two pairs of trousers, 2 shirts, and a cashmere jumper.  All was fine until the purple pullover started pilling.

So off we trundle to M&S, confidently seeking out an attendant who would no doubt understand that on this rare occasion the goods weren’t up to scratch.

Now don’t get me wrong here (because the returns staff were only doing there job) but sadly things didn’t go to plan.

Firstly a bank statement showing the transaction was not deemed to be proof of purchase, which is sad as apart from my shoes I was fully kitted out in Blue Harbour attire.  As Cashmere is delicate my “domestic” had kindly hand washed the garment, but apparently it should have been machine washed at 30 degrees centigrade.  So sadly the product could not be replaced, or refunded.

Now this was not what I’d hope to hear.  In their defence “We had not washed the item according to the instructions”.  In our defence we suggested a hand wash is likely to be far more gentle.  So along comes the supervisor who in effect said,

No Way José.

Was I disappointed?

No, I was absolutely FUMING.

So we walked out the store and saw a friendly security guard.  The shopping habits of the last 27 years have largely been, “Buy clothes at M & S. The new formula? NEVER shop there again!

Then I thought there has to be another way.  The security guard, triggered my next move.  “Can you tell me if there is an overall Manager in the store today?” (No that wasn’t a joke.)

Hold on he says, using his walkie talkie.  a few minutes later a young girl with “Manager” on her badge arrived.  She listened to my story (a life-time M & S customer), and she looked at our clothes.

It certainly clicked that we were good customers, and we were on the brink of never coming back.  Surely there was some room for “Goodwill” in these circumstances?The “Manager” walked about 15 paces into the store and got onto an intercom.  She talked, she listened.  She came back, and smiled.

“Yes, you can have a new jumper.”

My little adventure clearly shows the tension between “The Law” and “Justice”.  One could argue this out from both sides.  Yes, we had broken the rules, Marks and Spencers were “within their rights”.  On the other hand the pilling was only on the outside of the material (apparently indicating a likely defect) and our polite but firm reasoning coupled with 2 full sets of clothing as evidence of our loyalty were quite compelling in our defence.

The Lord’s message to Israel through Isaiah was “let us reason together”, and Jesus himself seemed almost dumbfounded by the tenacity of the Canaanite woman who reasoned with him.

So there you have it, my natural sense of justice together with a voice for justice won through.

We all appear to be created with an innate sense of Justice.  Where does it come from?  Why do young kids shout out, “It’s not fair”.  Even adults seek for what is right.

Whether it be M.P.s expense claims or the release of a child killer, the nation cries out for justice.

The internal knowledge of Right and Wrong, is nothing less than an acknowledgement of an Higher Order.  That Higher Order, is in fact a Higher Being.  God Himself.

Thanks be to God, that he sought to overthrow the justice and judgement we all deserved, and sent Jesus to bear our sin.  Justice or Mercy?

I’ll take “Mercy” every time.

SO GOOD