Susanna 1-9,15-29, 34-62; Psalm 23; John 8:1-11
Elizabeth writes,
Thrown any stones lately?
Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone...
Today's gospel opens this up. Thrown any? Have I?
A woman is caught in the very act of adultery and brought to Jesus as a test case. Her accusers think it is cut and dried. Guilty? Yes. Witnesses present? Yes. Stone her, Jesus?
Jesus is between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. The ones trying to bring him down are finally going to have their day.
A woman is caught in the very act of adultery and brought to Jesus as a test case. Her accusers think it is cut and dried. Guilty? Yes. Witnesses present? Yes. Stone her, Jesus?
Jesus is between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. The ones trying to bring him down are finally going to have their day.
Not quite. Jesus turns it around.
He does not acquit or condemn the woman.
They drop their stones and slink away.
He does not acquit or condemn the woman.
They drop their stones and slink away.
I can't help noticing that the man caught in adultery is nowhere to be found. Nor can I read this passage without letting my outrage at the treatment of women in this world of double standards emerge.
And then it falls away as surely as the stones that dropped.
I don't let go of my desire to get on my soapbox about injustice against women because there is none. I drop my rock because I am not without sin either.
I don't let go of my desire to get on my soapbox about injustice against women because there is none. I drop my rock because I am not without sin either.
This is tricky. We do need to stand for justice, but my stone does not have "justice" written on it.
My desire to accuse is not pure. I want THEM to pay. Their stones--and mine--have "revenge!" carved in.
My desire to accuse is not pure. I want THEM to pay. Their stones--and mine--have "revenge!" carved in.
But if THEY must pay for injustice, then I must, too. I must pay for my serious transgressions. I must pay for harboring prejudice in my heart and letting it come out in my behavior. I must pay for the lies I have lived or told. I must pay for the ways I have hurt others through my actions. The list goes on and on.
Jesus does not teach us to punish each other--to make each other pay--when we fail, when we sin, when we are hurt. He calls us to respond only after we look in the mirror. Then, if we are honest, condemnation of one another is out of the question.
I do love to collect stones--I have them from most places I have been blessed to visit. Lovely ones, smooth ones, tiny to large I have a ton of stones.
God help me to keep from throwing them.
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