I’m back. A long awaited family vacation, at least in part, is what took me away. I also took some time to go to Tennessee to see my mom and dad. Then a week of doing family things, eating out, playing games, taking short trips and then an overnight to Pokagon State Park. Just simple stuff, fun stuff, not too stressed stuff. Even though there were stressers aplenty. After getting back from a few days with my mom and struggling with her continued decline but trusting that she is getting the care she needs in a difficult situation; I then learn that my dad was rushed to the hospital there in Paris with some sort of heart incident. He is still there and we are waiting for information as to the exact nature of his condition.
While that was going on, we also got news that my uncle, my mom’s younger brother, suffered a massive heart attack and died Wednesday night. Uncle Bill was my mom’s only sibling, and a retired United Methodist pastor. Like mom he had diabetes pretty severely, and lately had had a number of amputations as a result. Yet, it seemed like nothing would slow him down, until now I guess. No slowing down, just a full stop. My brothers are there or on their way to represent the family for us.
Whew, almost makes you wonder if getting away is worth it. Well, yes, of course. I had a chance to be with family, with La Donna and the kids, with mom and dad, and my older brother who drove down to Tennessee on his Harley while I was there too. Even though I suggested he wait and go another time, so we can spread out our visits. He didn’t take my suggestion, but went anyway. And I was glad he was there. Being with people is better than we realize it, every time. Even in difficult times. Even when there is trouble and disagreement and brokenness, being with is better than we know.
At least Jesus seemed to think so. Take a look at this event in Jesus’ life that got stuck here in the Gospel of John. Scholars have pointed out how this passage interrupts the flow of the narrative in chapters seven and eight, and how some manuscripts of the Gospel don’t include this story, and how it seems like a later addition. Yet, it seems so quintessentially Jesus, I can’t believe it shouldn’t be there. I can’t believe it was made up by John or the community he formed who wrote down all the stories he used to tell them. Anyway, it may be out of place, but it must be a real moment in Jesus’ life and ministry. It must be.
John 8:2-12 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. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 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. 7 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." 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 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. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again." 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
We are still in our Questions series in the month of August. We started with Bible Questions the first week, and then last week while I was away, Chuck Scott and Ellen Rhoades helped us reflect on Church Questions. Now, for two weeks we’ll be looking at some difficult questions under the category of Christian Living Questions. These are the sticky ones that make us think about how our faith gets lived out. These questions are not just about what to think, but about what to do. How then should we live? These questions include those ethical stumpers that seem to have no easy answer, no clear always right and always wrong kind of responses. Next week we’ll turn to the big picture kinds of things, those social issue kinds of topics that seem to divide even close friends. So, stay tuned for that.
This week I want to talk methodology. Yawn. No, seriously. I can’t anticipate every question, every issue, every incident and give a step by step response on how we should act each time. So, instead it makes sense to look at some general principles. It makes sense to find a model by which we can shape our actions, our responses. Right? And what better model than that of Jesus?
So, we have this story, suspect as it might be, it still seems to give us some handles on how to follow Christ. Even when things get sticky. What can we learn about how Jesus approaches complicated ethical issues from this story?
First of all Jesus rarely approaches issues as issues. He is much more concerned about people and about relationships. He is much more concerned about how we live together in community than he is about making issue oriented statements. The Pharisees came to him wanting a ruling on adultery, No, that’s not right. They wanted to challenge his popularity, his authority. They wanted to take him down a peg or two in the eyes and hearts of those who came to follow him. They were using the woman as an object to get at Jesus. She didn’t matter so much to them. She was only a means, not an end.
Jesus refused to play their game. Instead of letting the woman be the object standing in the middle, he drew attention to himself. He bent down, he drew on the ground. No doubt this was frustrating to the accusers, they kept hurling questions at him. But he kept drawing. Drawing their attention to him, away from her. When they wouldn’t relent, he says “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
They wandered off, unsatisfied, but also unable to respond. He didn’t resolve the issue to their satisfaction. He changed the focus from issues to people. So, one by one, they left not wanting to deal with people, with themselves and their own sin or with the woman they dragged there and her sin.
So, Jesus then turns to the woman and says “Where are they, has no one condemned you?” And she says “No one, sir.” Because in Jesus she didn’t find condemnation. But acceptance and freedom, forgiveness and a challenge to live differently. First of all Jesus doesn’t deal with issues, he deals with people. Secondly, he stands with people and does not condemn.
Be careful here, however. Not condemning is not the same as not caring. Or not wanting change in behavior. Jesus asks her to sin no more. Meaning that there are things that keep us from communion with God. There are behaviors, there are decisions, there are choices that keep us from living in relationship with God and with others in a way that is healing and whole. There is still such a thing as sin, Jesus says.
But we attack sin and sinful behaviors not with condemnation, not with accusations, but by standing with. By standing with. This is what the world is asking us. Not whether we have standards or values. They want to know will we stand with those who have fallen? Will we approach those who are accused, not with further condemnation but with love and with hope and with the possibility of redemption? Will we make them jump through hoops in order to be forgiven, or will we forgive in order that they might be transformed?
The methodology for walking in this world is to do what Jesus did. He bent down, all the way down, to where we are, and he didn’t make us feel smaller for it. Rather we felt lifted up, we felt bigger because of his bending down. Did the woman change her life after meeting Jesus? We don’t really know, John doesn’t tell us. Instead he asks did we change after meeting Jesus? That’s the question before us. Are we different because of Him, or not? What does the world see when it looks at us? Accusers? Or sinners who know what forgiveness means? He bent down. How can we do less?
Shalom,
Derek
No comments:
Post a Comment