Thoughts for the Day
Tuesday, 9th March 2021: Don't throw a stone
John 8 Scribes Pharisees Sin Jesus
Reading : Verses from John, Chapter 8
Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him....When they kept questioning him... he said to them, 'Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.'
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. Jesus said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, sir.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.'
(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)
Thoughts
The Scribes and Pharisees are out to get Jesus one way or another. If he lets the woman go he will be seen as breaking the Law of Moses, and if he condemns the woman to death by stoning then he will seem to be cruel. One other thing worth noting is that the law stated that adultery must be witnessed in the act by more than one person and their accounts must totally agree. In reality such cases were not common, and the fact that they took the woman to the temple rather than leave her in prison, is interesting. Presumably this is to shame her, and to make the spectacle much more public with regard to their attack on Jesus.
Today we may not be involved in such a public attack on someone, although our news programmes are full of people making public accusations against others. But most of us can be accused of making critical statements about others who are God's children, if not in meetings then certainly in our thoughts. This Lent can we ruthlessly deal with this sin that concerns our critical faculties, remember that we too are sinners, and ask God for His help?
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
You know our weaknesses,
and our sins,
help us to acknowledge them,
and to put them right.
May we be quick not to
judge others
but to remember our own sins.
Amen.
You might like to look at some quotes concerning criticism:
- "Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” (Dale Carnegie)
- “Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.” (Emmet Fox)
- “When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.” (Anon)
- “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.” (Elvis Presley)
- “Criticism is the disapproval of people, not for having faults, but having faults different from your own.” (Anon)