PREACHER’S NOTE 17 JULY 2022
The story is familiar, but jars each time I hear it. They find a
woman, in the very act. They drag her to the temple,
where Jesus is teaching. Elders in the church – what are
they doing spying on ladies? Where is the man? They
throw her down at his feet, and challenge him – do what
the Law demands! They’ve seen his gentle ways, they’ve
heard his condemnation of church leadership. A golden
opportunity to show everyone you can’t always be gentle,
you must be punished if you transgress. He is cornered,
can’t but look bad coming out of this. The story
unfolds: I wonder again at his calmness when confronted,
his showing up of the self-righteous, his quiet personal
challenge to the woman to reflect and change.
My first response to the story is comparing my own experience
to that of the woman – completely unmerited kindness
when I’ve messed up. Grace shown, detractors silenced.
The very reason I serve – out of gratitude.
But recently, there’s an added shadow. I’m among the
accusers. I’ve worked hard to be a leader – Lord knows
how many meetings, how many power struggles I’ve endured
to get here. But we’re united in this: We need to
fight to keep the church community on the straight and
narrow, fight to stop the world from taking away everything
we believe in. And that means standing up to
wrong-doing strongly. People who step off the path need
to be punished, immediately and publicly. I stand with
my stone, righteous and angry.
The most powerful, most righteous being whispers gently
in my heart. And I know, put down my stone, and go and
weep once again at the rail. Mercy is the only option
when I reflect on my own journey.
Blessings,
Andrew.