One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in John when a woman “caught in the act of adultery” is brought before Jesus and he’s asked what to do about her.
The churchy folks have found someone the law is clear what to do with (aka, stone her) and they want Jesus to say something that contradicts the law and reveal himself to be a false prophet.
Jesus, being very observant or a little avoidant (or both), bends down and starts writing in the dirt.1
They keep pestering him for an answer and finally he stands up and says the words forgotten by many church folks by Sunday lunch,
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Slowly the churchy folks drop their stones and walk away.
After everyone has gone, Jesus tells her that he doesn’t condemn her either and to stop sinning.
Here’s the thing: we don’t know what happened when she walked away. We don’t know if she made different life choices or she stayed stuck in an old pattern. I’m sure we all like to think that her life was altered by that encounter but we just don’t know.
It’s interesting to me that Jesus admonished her privately, AFTER the churchy folks left. What I take from that detail is that as far as the churchy folks were concerned- what the woman chose to do after that encounter was none of their business.
Jesus taught an amazing lesson in empathy that day- you don’t have to share an experience to understand that human beings need and deserve dignity. PERIOD.
I think this is my biggest beef with the “culture wars” in the name of Jesus- they completely lack empathy for the person or group of people being discussed. The way some churchy folks talk about people whose lives they do not understand or whose choices they disapprove of seem to forget what Jesus taught the people in John 8: unless someone’s actions are directly hurting us, it’s none of our business how they live. You are not the judge, jury, or executioner of anyone no matter how clear you think your law (Scripture etc) is on their personhood or choices.
Jesus responded very publicly to the churchy folks who were about to kill this woman to let them all know- this is not okay. And maybe, he wrote in the dirt to remind all of us that we are made from the same dust as those we accuse and the sooner we remember that, the better off we’ll all be.
Jesus (not T.Swift) was the original hider of Easter eggs. This is why we have Easter egg hunts on Resurrection Day.