Nine Days a Queen

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” — Psalm 51:1 (KJV)

Lady Jane Grey was a teenager when she was caught up in a power struggle she didn’t choose. When the young King Edward VI died in 1553, powerful men around her pushed her onto the throne to keep his Catholic half-sister, Mary, from becoming queen. Jane was queen for only nine days before Mary’s supporters won. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and a few months later she was condemned to death. She was only about sixteen.

Jane was known as one of the most brilliant young women in England, fluent in several languages, and a sincere, thoughtful Protestant Christian. She was offered her life if she would give up her faith. She would not.

On the scaffold she spoke to the crowd. She was honest that accepting the crown had been wrong, though she had not sought it. And then she said this:

“I pray you all, good Christian people, to bear me witness, that I die a good Christian woman, and that I do look to be saved by no other mean, but only by the mercy of God in the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ.”

She also said something remarkably honest about her own failings. She confessed that “when I did know the Word of God, I neglected the same, loved myself and the world.” A sixteen-year-old facing death did not pretend to be perfect. She trusted not in her own goodness, but in God’s mercy.

Then she knelt and prayed Psalm 51, the great prayer of repentance: Have mercy upon me, O God. She gave away her gloves and handkerchief and her prayer book. And when the executioner knelt and asked her forgiveness, as was the custom, Foxe says she forgave him “most willingly.”

There are two things to notice here. First, Jane’s hope was clear and simple: not her family, her learning, her goodness or her title, but “only by the mercy of God in the blood of His only Son Jesus Christ.” That is the hope of every Christian, whatever age they are.

Second, she forgave the man who was about to kill her. That is the way of Jesus, who prayed for those who crucified him. Forgiving people who hurt you is one of the hardest and most Christlike things you can do.

Most of us will never face anything like Jane did. But all of us can learn her honesty about our failings, her clear hope in Christ, and her readiness to forgive.

One thing to do this week: think of someone who has hurt you. This week, ask God to help you forgive them, even if it takes time. If it would be safe and wise, think about how you might show them kindness.