November 16, 2025
Welcome back!
President Trump recently made waves with some big-name pardons and commutations… but there’s much more to presidential pardons than the controversial cases. Catch up on the latest updates here and learn more about clemency here.
Happy Sunday,
What’s your gut reaction to a presidential pardon?
Mine is a little bit of squeamishness. The acts of clemency that make the headlines (no matter who’s president) tend to feel faintly unjust—the offender didn’t face fair punishment, they got the pardon just because they’re famous, the commutation seems to undo the justice system’s verdict, etc. Is it just me?
Sometimes, we’re right to be unsettled. But more often than we’d like to admit, I think we’re uncomfortable with pardons because we’re uncomfortable with mercy. Remember how the parable of the prodigal son ends, when the older brother hears about the prodigal son’s homecoming bash?
“He was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
Luke 15:28-32 (ESV)
God’s generous clemency is downright offensive to the law-abiding older brother—for him, fairness is preferable because he thinks he’s righteous. But Scripture describes self-righteousness as a deadly posture before God, while desperate appeals for mercy are the path to pardon.
Aware of your need for mercy, come near to the God of generous pardons:
Righteous Judge,
You never miss a shred of evidence or misinterpret the facts;
You never assume or show favoritism;
You’re never fooled by charisma or a smooth tongue;
You have no need for a jury, and Your verdicts are always right.1
But Your justice is somehow merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in love.2
We were standing among the guilty, among Your enemies,
charged with innumerable crimes, and the sentence was set.
But You don’t pay us back for what our sins deserve.3
Remembering Your mercy,
make us willing, eager, bursting to extend it to others.4
Give the Office of the Pardon Attorney and the president
discernment as they review applications.
For those who are waiting for clemency,
give them humility, true repentance, patience,
and reconciliation with You and others.
And thank You for Jesus,
who saw us in our desperate place and came near.5
In Him we have reconciliation with You and with our neighbors;
in Him justice is satisfied perfectly, and mercy is extended generously.6
Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Steph Juliot
Further Reading
1. Psalm 96:10-13
2. Exodus 34:6-7
3. Psalm 103:8-10
4. Luke 6:36
5. Mark 10:47-48
6. Romans 5:6-11
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