Home Tools for your Journey Dec 13

Saturday, December 13

[And then Jesus said to the people in the temple] "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
—John 8:7

To love others as Jesus loves us. That is always the point of the Gospel. So why are we surprised every time we read this story of the adulterous woman? Why is it that we expect Jesus to step forward and save her, yet we don't expect Jesus to remind us that we too share in the responsibility?

Being the people of God is about being saved, but I'm not so sure that means what we often believe it to mean. Being saved is not an admission ticket. It is about being delivered to our place in the family, and the openness of that family to all those who are stuck in the darkness of oppression, malice, and evil.

It's about putting down the stones of selfishness, shallowness and superficiality that we so wantonly hurl at others, and realizing that our judgment, lack of faith, and narrow definition of the good news are excluding other family members from the table.

If we put down the stones that interfere with being a child of God, put down the judgment that limits the grace of God in our own life and in the lives of others...that is truly being saved. For if you limit the love of God in others, you limit the love of God in yourself.

Jesus, you ask me to put down the stones. Help me let go and become your love in all that I am, in all that I do. Amen.