The Clancy Mistrial and Your Day in Court

If you've been online at all this month, the Lindsay Clancy case has probably shown up in your feed. It's a heartbreaking story: a Massachusetts mom who took the lives of her three young children in 2023. Just typing that is gut-wrenching. Those kids, their dad, and everyone who loved them carry a grief none of us can imagine.

Whether she killed the children was never disputed at trial. The question was whether she was so severely mentally ill that the law couldn't hold her criminally responsible. After a week of deliberation, the jury couldn't agree, and the judge declared a mistrial.

I'm not the judge. I don't know all the details, and I don't need you to message me to fill me in. But this case has me thinking about a courtroom every one of us will stand in.

"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). 

One day we'll all stand before a holy Judge. And every one of us has an inner lawyer, ready to spin the story and move the blame off ourselves. We all long for acquittal.

Here are three things to know before your day in court.

1. We're guilty. No excuses.

We lie. We scheme. We steal. We cheat. If that offends you, you're not ready for your day in court. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and we don't miss the mark by a little. We miss it by a lot.

Read the Ten Commandments honestly and you'll score a zero out of ten. Then Jesus raises the bar: anger toward your brother is murder of the heart, and a lustful look is adultery of the heart (Matthew 5:21–28). We are guilty, and we deserve judgment.

2. Our defenses won't hold up.

We naturally try one of two defenses.

We minimize. "It's not that bad." "They're worse than me." "If you only knew my side of the story."

We build a résumé. "Yes, I've done bad things, but look at all the good I've done. I'm more good than bad."

Neither works. Sin isn't something we can shrink. It's treason against a holy God, and it has hurt more people than we'll ever know. And no résumé will ever be good enough to pay the debt.

3. Jesus is the only defense that wins.

The way to freedom is counterintuitive. It isn't "I'm innocent." It's "I'm fully guilty, I have no defense in myself, and I plead the name of Jesus."

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1–2)

Jesus is both our advocate and our propitiation, the payment that fully satisfies God's justice for our sin. When Jesus stands before the Father on our behalf, He isn't asking for a second chance. He isn't downplaying what we did. He's saying, "Their guilt has been paid in full. I died in their place," the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). You'll never have to carry that sentence, because Jesus already carried it.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

The biggest obstacle to experiencing forgiveness isn't God. It's us. Will you own your sin and hand it to the One who willingly paid for it?

My name is Scott Brooks. I'm a great sinner in need of a perfect defense. His name is Jesus.

What will your plea be?