Picture Jesus sitting on a stone, and teaching a gathering of people. People come with their questions. They get answers that they may or may not like. People come blind. They receive their sight. They come lame. They walk away. They come leprous. They leave wholesome.
On one of those days, on a bright, and beautiful afternoon, some woman is dragged out to where Jesus was preaching by furious looking, angry men, and women, people who considered themselves the enforcers of the Laws of Moses. They were all bearing weapons of destruction, stones, to snuff the life out of a woman who had been “caught in the very act of adultery.” When I first read that story in 1987 as I attended a Master Class for Discipleship in the Baptist Church, my first reaction was: Where was the man with whom she did the “act.”
Let’s journey through the Chapter and see for ourselves.
(John 8: 3-11).
And the scribes, and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, no man Lord. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
Since the time of Jesus, and until now, humanity has always had two mirrors—-one for themselves where they see brightly, and another one for others where they sit in judgement. In Nigeria, per capita, we have the most number of churches and religious people in the world. I wish we could say the same thing for depth of morality, and ethics per capita.
We treat our househelps with disdain. When they steal a loaf of bread to satisfy a hunger, we offload on them.
We turn around, and steal money meant to build the next school, hospital or road, and we say God has blessed us.
And so, as they asked Jesus to help them execute judgment on the woman, the Bible records that he looked up at them, looked down, and continued to write in the sand. Let us assume for one moment that he was writing the name of each person in that murderous crowd along with their own boxes of skeletons. Something like this: Mr. John—-he stole a goat belonging to a widow on September 7th. Mr. Ehud—You slept with your best friend’s wife on September 8th. Mr. Abbitai—-You stole money from the Temple on September 9th.
One by one, their names, and their crimes appeared in the sand. And then Jesus lifted up His head and says to them: He that is without sin, let him be the one to cast the first stone. One by one, they filed away.
I conclude this sermon with the story of Sammy Okposo, the superstar gospel singer. He was just as human as the man next door. He made mistakes. The Church of Nigeria imposed a ban on him. The Church threw him under the bus, and hung him in the public square. And—-the man died. He was lynched to death by the same church that he served. The Church these days easily mirrors the church in the time of Jesus. With humanity, nothing much has changed. Your Christian, tongue speaking wife leaves you for the slightest reason. She is devastated that you are not Christian enough. You do not pray enough. Whereas, it is more like—you do not have enough money to meet all her unreasonable needs. She forgets her role as “help meet,” and the man becomes an infidel. They misquote the gospel to justify their own foolishness. You watch the so-called unbelievers—they understand forgiveness. They understand mercy. They understand support. They understand compassion.
This is why Jesus said to a crowd of Pharisees, and Sadducees—- Have they not read the scriptures? What does it mean when it says: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice?
Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13.
As you begin a new week, remember those words on marble. Get rid of the second mirror. You only need one.
Michael Ovienmhada.
Thank Omeeky for this homily this morning.
I just learnt something new here that Jesus stooped and was presumably writing the names of the accusers against the sins they committed.
That makes sense to me as God still spared their lives only for them to want to snuff out the life of another sinner without mercy. That humans seeing himself clean and bright.
Thanks