Instant Judges
Can we trust people to see themselves in the other?
Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” - John 8:1–11
Public opinion is being challenged in a big way these days.
Because everyone has a hand-held recording device in their smartphones, we get to be witnesses to things we never would have seen before.
That makes us judges.
We don't really have a choice in it. It is a natural reaction to what we see, or think we have seen.
It is rare that we get the whole story or the bigger picture, and when we do, we have trouble understanding how to deal with it.
In today's reading, we know nothing about the woman. We also have no idea how she was caught in the very act, as they said.
Who was she with? Where were they? How did this all come about?
If this was a trial, at least in our day, she would have a chance to defend herself, and we would hear from the accuser as well.
Did he not know she was married? Or was he the one who was married, and then wasn't it also his fault?
When we withhold judgment, we have a chance to understand the situation, and that adds layers to the issue at hand.
We can go too far in trying to understand the behavior of the accused, however. After all, Jesus lets the woman go, even though she could have been guilty.
We do that today. Our concern for the accuser is sometimes greater than our concern for the victim.
So, this story is a form of parable for us. Who do we see ourselves as in the picture?
And can we live with the decisions we make?
More to come...