From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Second Week of Advent
John 7:53 – 8:11
Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he 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.”
If you did not see the diocese’s “Jubilee” conversation between Bryan Stevenson, the head and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and the Most Reverend Michael Curry, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, last Friday evening, you missed an astounding display of some sound, sophisticated, and inspired theology. You can still view the conversation via the website of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast. I commend it highly.
As many of you know, Stevenson has made a career of defending convicted murderers on death row, the very “worst” of the human community. He makes the audacious statement that all of us are better than our worst choices, that to recognize and honor the humanity of even the most hardened criminal is to participate in the love of God, that for which we were born. His life and work are testimony to the redemptive power of empathy. It is the work of empathy to see the good in every human being, every human being made in the image of God. On Baptismal days in the church we promise to do just that: “Will you respect the dignity of every human being?” “I will, with God’s help.” There are no exceptions to this promise.
In the passage from John above, Jesus is affirming the innate goodness of every human being. The authorities present to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, knowing that the prescribed punishment is execution by stoning. Jesus, instead of affirming retribution, offers forgiveness, recognizing that none of us is beyond the wiles of sin. But more than forgiveness, Jesus offers dignity, an acknowledgement of this humiliated woman’s humanity. No one exists outside the love of God.
This story is alive at the heart of Stevenson’s theology. He says that we are not to be “stone throwers;” we are to be “stone catchers.” We are to shield our brothers and sisters from the stones of vengeance and injustice hurled at the “least” of us by the powers that be. Perhaps our warehoused criminals serve as scapegoats for the guilt of the powerful. Perhaps there are better methods by which to heal the violence among us… addressing poverty, racism, healthcare, housing, immigration reform, controlling gun possession. The list is long. And we must look more deeply into people than our stereotypical presumptions. That requires, as Stevenson puts it, our “proximity.” Proximity engenders empathy.
This passage presents a radical new vision by which we confront sin in our world. We’ve tried calloused hate and vengeance, perhaps it is time to try love.
A Prayer for Prisons (BCP p. 826)
Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal: Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and mercy. Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentance and amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for the future. When any are held unjustly bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice system. Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison, O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy’s sake. Amen.
