...'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.'
In this scripture the Pharisees bring before Jesus a woman caught committing adultery. According to the Law she should have been stoned, and after they challenge him in the hope of finding something to accuse him of, he brings out the big guns and offers the blameless the first throw. Of course there is no worthy contender and the accusers disperse.
I really like this story in John 8. I feel Jesus gives us a great life lesson here that we should all take to heart. It is logical, understandable, and obvious even; yet it can prove so difficult to master in real life.
It makes me so sad when I hear friends of mine who don't know the Lord say they have had terrible experiences with judgemental Christians. Quite often it is how they have been treated by these sorts of people that actually turn them off wanting to know anything about Jesus. This is not a good situation!
Being judgemental and condemning of others is NOT part of our calling and we should all be working to eradicate it from our personalities.
It's a social disease that can affect the very bones of the church. How can we dare to claim to have been undeservingly saved by grace and then in the next instant bring judgement and condemnation on others? We should be demonstrating the love that Jesus has for us – his personality should be flowing through OUR actions.
Love, kindness, forgiveness, and peace are things that should override being maliciously judgemental and condemning. It is not possible to be truly loving and condemning at the same time anyway. They are complete opposites!
Don't get me wrong though, being loving does not mean to be accepting of ungodliness. It is how we respond to it. We can judge or we can love. Look at it this way: I know I'm not perfect and I would much rather Jesus see my sin and love me rather than condemn me for it! You may be different in how you would like Jesus to react to you, but I doubt it...
A call to action
This is a call to action – a call to take our place in eliminating the sort of behaviour that does not demonstrate the personality of Jesus. We are his ambassadors on this planet and we have to take that role seriously.
Nobody is perfect and we are all humans that are going to make mistakes and fall short – no matter how hard we try to love everyone. However, that is not an excuse to not try our hardest.
So, whenever we find ourselves in a situation where we can love or bring judgement and condemnation, we should ask ourselves if we are worthy to cast that first stone.
The answer is always going to be no.
Samuel James is a Media Communication graduate based in Wollongong.
Samuel James' previous articles may be viewed athttp://www.pressserviceinternational.org/samuel-james.html