Wednesday, August 28, 2024

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”   (John 8: 7, New Living Translation)

    

In the old King James Version, a frequently used phrase about the course of historical events is “it came to pass.” Except in my case – it didn’t pass. My kidney stone, that is.

A week ago, this past Monday, I ended up in Emergency for the day. After blood work, ultra sound, CAT scan, it was determined that I had a nasty, stubborn, painful 6mm kidney stone. And, oh, by the way, there were also stones in my bladder. The urologist happened to be in the hospital and found me to talk to me. He gave me a choice: go home and hope I might pass them or have surgery. So, at 6:00p.m. I had emergency surgery to remove all the stones. For the next four days, I was involved in an intimate relationship with a catheter. This is why there was no blog last week.

Now kidneys are mentioned very infrequently in scripture, usually in the guise of a blood sacrifice which, in some ways, I can identify with. “The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.” (Isaiah 34:6) Yikes! Moving on…

But there is a lot of really good material concerning “stones.” So, let’s go there.

In Ecclesiastes 3, we are told there is “a time to throw stones away and a time to gather stones.” (Ecclesiastes 3:5) The men (!) in the village had gathered stones to punish the woman for her alleged adultery.  The unfortunate woman was being used by the sanctimonious scribes and Pharisees to set up a theological trap. Was Jesus scrupulously an adherent of Hebrew Law or would he let the woman get off?  You know how Jesus is – all lovey-dovey, full of grace and daring to forgive the most heinous of sins. It was very one-sided, the religious professionals against an unknown woman and Jesus. Where was the man who was also involved in the adulterous affair? Where was there any real justice? Where was the fairness?  It doesn’t matter; the men have stones in their hands and pockets and they know how to use them and want to use them. If Jesus gives the okay, they will pummel this woman close to death.

Jesus had the scribes and Pharisees right where he wanted them, caught between a rock and hard place. He looked them in the eyes and challenged them, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Yes, the Law says that they can stone her, but their hypocrisy on matters of sin, judgment and punishment and their own possible violations of Jewish Law, meant that they had better think twice about what they were about to do.  These pompous religious leaders, knowing Jesus was better than they, dropped their stones and went away.

Jesus was always emphasising that judgmentalism is a poor substitute for compassion, grace, forgiveness and love. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.” (Matthew 5: 7:1) It can’t be much plainer than that. “For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” (7:2) How often are we critical or judgmental of someone and yet we may even have the same characteristics which we are condemning?

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” (Matthew 7: 3 -5, The Message Bible)

It is far too easy to judge, criticize, condemn, blame, shame, apply rigid rules and use indiscriminate Bible verses as stones to throw at someone.  But doesn’t scripture tell us, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.?”  (John  3:17) Let us let him do his job and stay out of the judgement seat. That position belongs to Jesus, not you or me.  The force of God’s Grace and Love in and through Jesus Christ is bigger, stronger, more reliable than any stone we want to throw.

Blessings for your week!

Dale