Dear Friends,
Last week, I wrote to you about a story from John 8:3-11 in which religious leaders attempted to trap Jesus in his words, using a woman who had committed adultery as a prop. And I shared some things I was learning from a book by Matthew Croasmun called Let Me Ask You a Question. I stopped in the middle of the story after Jesus drew in the dirt and noted that the religious leaders didn't see this woman as a person but as a pawn they could use for political gain, while Jesus refused to play their game and, instead, took the time to pay attention to the human being in need in front of him. I said I might talk about the rest of the story this week, and I want to do that now.
First, here is the story,
"At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
"But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
"At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'
“'No one, sir,' she said.
"'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'”
In addition to seeing this woman as a pawn, the religious leaders see this woman as a sinner worthy of condemnation in a very black and white sense. She is, in their eyes, irredeemable and, therefore, disposable. Jesus too names the woman's behavior as sin. But in his eyes, sin doesn't define her or make her disposable. Jesus sees the person she is meant to be and can still become. As Croasmun puts it in Let Me Ask You a Question, Jesus seeks to convict her rather than condemn her, inviting her into healing and transformation. And he has an important lesson for all those who seek to condemn another person: The moment you condemn another, you condemn yourself.
When Jesus said, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” he exposed the hypocrisy not just of the religious leaders present on that day but the hypocrisy that resides in the heart of each of us. We look at the evil done by someone else and want them to receive just punishment for what they have done. In this case, the woman's accusers proposed the death penalty - ultimate judgment with no chance of redemption, as the law prescribed. But none of them was righteous enough to pronounce such a judgment. Jesus' proposed plan caused them to recognize, one by one, that to call for this woman's execution was to call also for their own. And we are no different. None of us is righteous enough to call for the death of someone else, not unless we want to call for our own as well. If we don't want to be seen as irredeemable or disposable, we cannot see anyone else this way either. And of course, the application of this point extends far beyond the death penalty to much milder forms of judgment and condemnation.
I like what Croasmun says about this,
"As we engage with Jesus' question - 'Has no one condemned you?' - let's consider those people by whom we feel condemned, perhaps our co-workers, our family, church members, or ourselves. Imagine Jesus inviting them to cast the first stone - but only if they are without sin. Watch as, one by one, they drop their stones and walk away. This is how Jesus sees us and those who would condemn us. Jesus disarms them. Only then can we hear anew Jesus' question to us: 'Where did they go? Has no one condemned you?' Jesus invites us to live free from the condemnation of others and even of ourselves.
"But how about those whom we condemn? We also must imagine those people we all too easily condemn - people unlike us, people who condemn us, people whose sin looks so much like our own that they upset our self-righteousness. Imagine Jesus inviting us to cast the first stone - but only if we are without sin. Watch as, one by one, we drop the stones intended for someone else. Consider the release of condemnation that comes with each dropped stone. Look at Jesus' face as we walk away. Hear again Jesus' question, addressed this time to each person we've been tempted to condemn: 'Has no one condemned you?' Let's accept Jesus' invitation to live as people who no longer condemn. Only then can we begin to hear and act on Jesus' words spoken to us: 'Go now and leave your life of sin' - beginning with the sin of condemnation."
A prayer for today:
Jesus, thank you for your incredible grace for me. Thank you that you have opened the way for me to forgiveness and life. Help me to receive these good gifts. And help me not to forget that they are gifts. Help me never to become a hypocrite who imagines myself to be righteous enough to judge another to be worthy of condemnation. Instead, fill my whole being with grace, humility, and love. Amen.
Love in Christ,
Michelle
