Which sin is the worst?
What is it about sinning that so polarizes us? It seems that in our churches today we argue over what is a sin and then we argue over which sin is worse?
In our scripture today from John 7:53-8:11 we read the familiar story of the woman who is caught in adultery. In this story, Jesus is being set up by the religious leaders of the community to say something wrong so that they can put him on trial but instead of responding to their harsh and hasty questioning, Jesus stalls by bending down and writing in the dirt.
To me, this is genius. This is what the great coaches do when being interviewed about controversial subjects, they deflect; this is what the press secretary for the white house does when dealing with tough foreign policy questions, he/she dances around the subject.
But Jesus takes it a step further, he stoops down to the dirt, but not down to their level - their level of pettiness and distrust of him and his teachings. He writes in the dirt, then he raises his head to say these simple, yet biting words: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Immediately after saying this, he stoops down again until they all leave and then he addresses the woman.
What does it take for us to stop with the accusations and polarizations. It seems to me (and to most biblical scholars) that a few major themes run throughout the bible and one of them happens to be portrayed here–that every human is a sinner, and our only help is God.
It drives me crazy when people are ostracized for any reason, but when we ostracize people because of what we consider to be sinful in our own lofty sense of right and wrong it goes against everything the Christian religion teaches.
Basically, what I’m doing here is taking a very simple and very powerful teaching of Jesus, and making it more complicated.
I hope to live in a world that doesn’t hate based on any one religion - that means other faiths, sexual orientation, skin color, country of origin, other genders, etc…
These simple words mean a lot to me: “Let anyone among you who is without sin cast the first stone.” Amen!
Tolerance has fallen out of favor. In my mind it is easy to identify a sin but so much harder to walk with the sinner to end the practice. This is incombent on anyone who “casts a stone.” Why is it so common (and even encouraged) in today’s political climate to blame people for their frailties and failings without extending the charitable hand of friendship?
Something I learned when I was in college: Relationships are more important than theology. What that means is that meeting other people, seeing God in them and recognizing them as a part of the same struggle to follow what is right instead of pushing others down to elevate ourselves. If what we do is condemn others in favor of our own “right” thinking we are no more than playground bullies hoping to raise ourselves by beating others down rather than standing up taller.