| March 21
Providence, Rhode Island - March 21, 2010
Our text for today is about a violent mob intent on the death penalty. On one side is the victim, embarrassed and ashamed. On the other is the Christ, the daring Savior, doodling in the dirt, disarming his critics, and delivering the criticized. Whenever life doesn’t suit us, the typical response is to blame a culprit. Scapegoating has become our most common form of violence to one another, short of punching somebody in the nose. But far more hurtful. Ours has become a by-golly-somebody’s-gonna-pay-society! Underlying our penchant for assessing blame is our favorite game: “Ain’t it awful how so-&-so is?”
On Capitol Hill, its constant finger-pointing. I saw where a man sued fast food chains because of his obesity. It’s like the Dennis the Menace cartoon: “How come I always get blamed for the things I do?” Others try to get rich prosecuting the tobacco companies for their smoking addiction. The financial corruption that’s stalling our economy has lots of fall-guys, from Wall Street to Fannie Mae. The White House party crashers got their 5 minutes of fame and plead the 5th. Don’t blame us, what we have to say might incriminate us. If a basketball team loses a close game the players should’ve won, we what-if the coaches or slam the refs. If a shooter blows somebody away, we target Smith & Wesson. If our grandchildren are bratty, we blame it on A.D.H.D. I thought all kids are like that! Even God takes it on the chin: earthquakes strike and we call it “an act of God!” I don’t know, maybe I missed something here, but if I should I die in front of my computer, I’m blaming Bill Gates!
One of the most common forms of scapegoating is when people are engaged in amiable conversation. Usually putting down someone different from us. It can be cruel, behind-the-back-stuff usually is. It’s so handy to have an explanation for all your troubles focused on one person or group. And people will unite based on who they’re against. Herodians and Pharisees were a lot like today’s Democrats and Republicans. But they were united against Jesus. We do it because there’s a payoff. Scapegoating allows us to form strong bonds, a sense of fellowship and a feeling of power. Because all you need to destroy somebody’s character is a rumor and a phony sense of community established by somebody with an ax-to-grind. In our country’s national life, when times are hard, the predictable ones at fault rise to the surface, like Obama or Palin, or the Congress or the Tea Parties, depending on your outlook. 9/11 made it hard on Islam.
Yeah, it may be unfair but it’s not new, for these same dynamics are at work in the Gospel. Notice in the story John says twice for emphasis: “they caught HER in the act of adultery.” What about the guy? Think of the sheer lengths the scrupulous stooped, just to make Jesus look bad! It gathers force like a brewing storm and draws into its circle other blamers until the whirlwind picks up this poor woman and dumps her at the feet of Jesus. It was the best thing that could happen to her.
What got his goat was they based their actions on religious sanction. Any effort that has to have religious backing to justify its cause has lost already, because it can’t stand on its own merit. Having your cause underwritten by God is advantageous to us getting our way like nothing else can. The Pharisees knew that. And so did Jesus, which is why he separated the church from the state. “Well, Moses says we’re justified in stoning her. What do you think?” Having God back our blaming makes it sacred violence. As if it’s better than normal, run-of-the-mill violence. Sometimes its called a “crusade,” other times “deeming.” But the idea is the same: we want our way at all costs. Whatever it takes. “Moses told us we could stone her...” It’s a shrewd move. Blamers are mean but they’re not dumb. They know how to get what they want. They tried to put Jesus in a crack where he could either be accused of opposing Rome or spurning Moses. You don’t want to do either one of those. But the ploy backfired because Jesus was wise to their scheme.
Notice that he doesn’t do anything. It’s important to see Jesus doing nothing about this. Because anytime we encounter somebody playing “Ain’t it awful how so-&-so is,” you know there’s a scapegoat up-in-there somewhere! So it’s best not to respond. A hate mob is like a hurricane, that picks up steam as it moves across the tropical waters, gathering more and more victims into itself. So is any group that has it in for somebody. They like lots of company, and take comfort in numbers. So they bring this red-faced lady to Jesus, “Stone Her!” And everybody’s piling on. But Jesus.
He stopped the mob’s momentum by “bending over and writing on the ground.” He refused to go along with the crowd and contribute to the violence. Their tactic is to pull you down to their level. Jesus remained above it because he’s better than that. He was redemptive not destructive. John’s detail about drawing in the dirt is the only time in the Bible that Jesus writes anything. People have speculated about what he wrote. Maybe it was the sins of the stoners. They’re dead-set on wasting her and he turned it back on the accusers! Don’t you love it? Can you think of any indictment more agitating? That’s the thing about fault-finders, they don’t think they have any sins. For anyone to judge somebody else, that’s what you have to think. Sin is something others do; those folks that don’t measure up.
I find it interesting that Jesus doesn’t “rank sins” in the same categories as religious people do. That’s because Jesus was a lot more interested in what a person could be than what she used to be. Far more obscene than her physical act were the sins of the spirit; those inner demons that wreak outward havoc. And my hunch is, those were the kinds of sins Jesus was writing on the ground: self-righteousness, self-delusion, vindictiveness, meanness, cowardice, hate, jealousy. I think Jesus was a lot more concerned about the corrupt shenanigans over at the temple, the perversion of making religion a money-making matter, than what she was doing in bed.
After the writing lesson, Jesus delivered the best one-liner in the Bible: “Let the one who is without sin among you, cast the first stone!” With that stunning surprise he pulled-the-rug out from under them all. Their animosity was directed outward and he turned it inward. And in the process, transforms the death penalty into contrition. And that’s how Jesus broke up a mob of finger-pointers, surrounding a common victim. One by one, they slink away in silence.
That’s how you stop brutality: by refusing to participate in it; and by turning its energy in on itself. Righteous hallelujahs to all! At the end of the story only two are left standing: The woman and Jesus. Misery meets mercy. The soiled plaything confronts perfect holiness. Genuine holiness cited no legal formalities about Moses, because he never thought much about the “letter of the law.” Only the medicine of grace. Because the letter takes life. But the spirit gives life.
Life is always Jesus’ agenda, which is why John communicates on two levels. What they’re attempting with the woman, they would eventually do to Jesus. On the cross, they tried to make him a scapegoat. But he took that away from them too, by being a “sacrificial lamb!” He knew firsthand about being victimized by a mob who blamed him for society’s ills. “Others he saved, himself he cannot save.” No doubt he empathized with the woman, so he showed her mercy. But John makes it clear that we can never claim God’s sanction for our meanness.
God prefers sacrificial lambs to scapegoats. The way of the cross is to disarm hate with love, and overcome evil with good. It was a new way to live in the world; never been tried before; founded not upon violence and hate, but an approach based on compassion and forgiveness. You and I are invited to become a part of that world. The One who taught the ethic of the 2nd mile offers the gospel of the 2nd chance. Jesus believed in this poor woman; and that she could rise above her circumstances and respond to his graciousness. And she did.
Her accusers relied upon the age-old method of projecting their inner demons onto someone else and getting rid of her instead of the demons. Jesus wouldn’t play along because he intended to form a community of forgiveness, compassion and acceptance. They tossed her to the ground for what she did. He lifted her up off the dirt because he believed she could do better than that.
John doesn’t finish the story. We aren’t told whether she went back to her old ways or accepted Jesus’ new way. But tradition has it that she was the woman who later “broke the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and washed Jesus feet with her hair; thus anointing him for burial.” All that’s left is Jesus and this woman looking at each other. I suspect that day will come for us too. Someday, standing face-to-face with the Son of God. What’s been done is done. And everything will hang on his verdict of it. All I gotta say is, we better be thankful Jesus responds with grace and not stones!
Which is more appealing, self-righteous religious fanatics with rocks in their hands or the kind-hearted man with the grace of God in his heart? One is repulsive. The other is redemptive. They said “Stone her! Get rid of her!” He said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more!” Some people still don’t get it. We are called to be witnesses not judges. Can I get a witness? The Bible says sin has a way of being found out. Makes no difference whether we’re “good” sinners or “bad” sinners. Today’s unpardonable sin is getting caught! I can tell you this: keep doing something ignoble long enough and you can “Be sure your sins will find you out.” When we get caught, we better hope it’s Jesus doing the catching!
Providence Prayers: (3/21/10) How thankful we are O God, that none of us gets what we deserve; that we are the beneficiaries of Thy limitless grace. Receive our worship as we offer our best to Thee, imperfect as we are, but in Christ–made washable by his forgiveness.
We pray not just for those who have too little, but those who have too much: too much power that they’re indifference to those their power affects; too much health that they can’t understand the ones who are sick; too much wealth that they prize money more than people; too much knowledge that they’ve lost the common touch; too much virtue that they can neither see their sins nor appreciate Thy grace. As we would be forgiven, help us to forgive. May the power gained in prayer and worship be turned into truth and justice in our daily life.
For the world in which we live, and Thy providential care, we offer our grateful praise. For the knowledge of the scriptures, for the beauty of the life of Jesus, and how he shows us to treat the mis-treated, and the good news that underneath our frail, tentative lives, are the everlasting arms of God. Be near to all who are laden with pain and the burden of living with things that used to be or might have been. Bring healing and peace. Be close to those who have to live without the person they want most, but can no longer have. We dedicate this hour of worship to Thee, as we pledge our love for our church and for one another, as disciples of Thy Son, in whose name we pray... Back |
