John 8

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

John 8

The Woman Caught in Adultery is an interesting one.  It always makes me think of a mini-article written by Orson Scott Card (of all people) telling three different versions of the story and an irreverent joke I will not butcher.

When Jesus says, "Let he among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her."

A moment later, a stone flies through the air.  Jesus turns to the woman who threw the stone, and says in frustration, "Mom!"

But two things that happen later in this chapter cast additionally interesting light on this.  Jesus makes a point, in the midst of His teaching after this incident, of demanding which of his accusers can charge Him with any sin.  He is pointing out that He is without sin and therefore could have cast the first stone.

And the chapter ends with everyone picking up stones to throw at Him, because He compared Himself to God as if They are equals.

And you can't help thinking that they learned precisely the wrong lesson from His undercutting of the decree that saved the woman.  I've always thought the declaration was something of a Catch-22 (making the joke sometimes annoying and sometimes all the more funny).

Even if there was someone without sin in that crowd, would the throwing of the stone not be a sin in itself?

And was it less about not fitting the category of "no sin" than about being the one who began the stoning?  Taking personal, individual responsibility for taking the life of the woman suddenly before them - is that what really, truly stayed their hands that day?  But when the crowd as a whole started reaching for rocks to stone this heretic preacher, then the guilt was everyone's and so therefore no one's.

So perhaps that is the real lesson of this story.  If you would not take personal responsibility for someone's death, do not think you are absolved because that guilt is shared.  Because you threw second.  Because yours was not the rock that dealt the mortal blow.  Your guilt is individual.  You threw a stone - first or last makes no difference.

Jesus could have thrown the stone, according to His own given criteria.  But He did not.  He knew better.  Sometimes we have to be reminded to know better.  And I think one of the most powerful things you can do to curb the behaviors you will regret later, the behaviors that cause other people harm, is to remember that any time you throw the stone, you are throwing the first stone.  You are throwing the stone that gives others permission to throw the second stone.

In our world today, there's lots of disavowing the consequences of our actions.  We put a congresswoman in the crosshairs, but we didn't make that maniac pull the trigger.  We threw the first stone, it was only a pebble, but because Jesus didn't set requirements for the second stone, the mortal blow followed our own.

We deny the consequences of our sins.  We deny the consequences of our actions.  We throw the first stone because we think that we, if not perfect, are righteous.  We think this woman may not deserve to die for her crimes, but that a little bruise might remind her not to flout society so blatantly.  We don't take responsibility for all the stones that come flying merrily after ours.

We will stone if everyone else is holding rocks.  We will not stone if our toss will mean everyone starts throwing rocks.  We must remember - every stone we throw is the first stone.  Every stone we throw is a prelude to the mortal stone and an excuse for it - and the mortal stone itself.