Vol. 43: "The quality of mercy is not strained..."

Barney Fife is not a jerk, you know!

I love to watch The Andy Griffith Show which ran from 1960 until 1968. The best years, in my opinion, were from 1960 to 1965 when Don Knotts portrayed the smug and self-important Deputy Barney Fife as the show’s comic lead. Knotts was, again in my opinion, a great comedic actor.

In the episode “Dogs, Dogs, Dogs”, that first aired in 1963, Andy, Barney and Opie rescue a pack of stray dogs that were at risk from a thunderstorm. The clip below is from that episode, in which Barney quotes Portia from Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

Please listen to this short clip before reading on…

Some believe that Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32 inspired Portia’s speech:

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!”

Deuteronomy 32:1-3 ESV

I have no idea if that scripture inspired Shakespeare, but I believe it IS true that God’s mercy is not strained - as in forced or compelled. As Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Matthew 5:7 ESV

and

“You have heard that it was said, ^‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Matthew 5:43-45 ESV

Jesus tells us that mercy is an incredibly valuable action that image bearers are required to give in order to 1) receive mercy, and 2) to be sons and daughters of God the Father in heaven.

So, the self-important Barney Fife quoting Portia is a good reminder for us all:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Wm. Shakespeare “The Merchant of Venice”

I am sure that you would agree with Barney that mercy is a quality that we all need and at least in this clip, Deputy Fife is not a jerk!

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This next video is completely unrelated to this post other than I think this is the funniest scene from the entire The Andy Griffith series. I can’t imagine being able to keep from laughing had I been on the set and it looks like Andy had a hard time!

Knotts was amazing in this scene as was the late Howard McNear as Floyd the barber wearing badge #3. Please listen and enjoy!

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