There is a story about Queen Victoria of England. She was a close friend of Principal and Mrs. Tulloch of St. Andrews. Prince Albert died and Queen Victoria was left alone. Just about the same time, Principal Tulloch died and Mrs. Tulloch was left alone. Unannounced, Queen Victoria came to call on Mrs. Tulloch when Mrs. Tulloch was resting on a couch in her room. When the Queen was announced, Mrs. Tulloch struggled to rise quickly from the couch and to curtsy. The Queen stepped forward: "My dear," she said, "don't rise. I am not coming to you today as a queen to a subject, but as one woman who has lost her husband to another."

That is what God did in the person of Jesus. He came not as a removed monarch, but as one of us. In his mercy, Jesus shared in our own pain. And so this attitude of mercy is a mark of our nature as a Christian people.