Ray Steadman gives the following illustration: The grandfather entered the child’s bedroom. A wide grin brightened his kind, warm face. “Davy!” he said, spreading his arms for a hug.

“Grampa!” shrieked the delighted two-year-old from his playpen. “Grampa, hug!”

“Sure, I’ll give you a hug, Davy,” said the grandfather. And with that, the old man reached out to his grandson and scooped him up out of the playpen, snuggling the boy in his strong arms. After a big hug, the grandfather set the boy down outside the playpen, among his toys, and they began to play together.

Minutes later, the boy’s mother walked into the room. “Davy!” she said sternly. “You know I put you in the playpen because you’ve been naughty! You shouldn’t have told Grampa to take you out!”

Davy’s eyes puddled up, and he began to cry. The grandfather instantly felt terrible. He didn’t know that his grandson had been given a time out in the playpen as a punishment. Now he had made a bad situation even worse for his little grandson.

“Grampa, play with me!” the boy said in pitiful voice that broke the old man’s heart.

But the mother was unbending. “Davy, you know you have to go back into the playpen.” She lifted the boy up and put him back in solitary confinement. The boy wailed in despair.

What could the grandfather do? He knew he couldn’t overrule the boy’s mother. But his heart went out to the poor boy. Then the grandfather had an idea.

“Dad!” said the mother. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“The only thing I can do,” said the grandfather as he climbed into the playpen with his grandson. The child was being punished, and rightfully so. The only way the grandfather could show mercy to the boy was by descending to Davy’s situation and taking Davy’s punishment onto himself. 

http://www.raystedman.org/mark/mark1.html