Then neither do I condemn you… John 8:11 (NIV)
Down in the Dust – Written In Dust Series – Part 6
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
There is no such thing as collateral damage in The Kingdom of Jesus.
Or at least, there shouldn’t be.
But unfortunately, in our faith communities, families, towns, states, countries and planet, collateral damage is often the way the job gets done.
People (and our beautiful earth) used and abused and pushed aside for the sake of money, power, control, and more. It’s more common than we care to realize. It’s much easier to sit in our comfy homes and binge Netflix than bear witness to the reality many face in our world today; to get down in the dust with them; to put down our stones and stop playing the game. To realize that we are in the dust, too.
Be wary and suspicious of a group/person/culture who prays for life with one breathe, and demands it be taken with the next.
Ask a lot of questions rather than easily siding with those holding stones.
Who are the political pawns of our age?
Who have fingers pointed at them?
Who are we blaming our problems on?
Who do we think are bringing damage and corruption to our world?
And if we just got rid of them, things would be made right again?
What are we holding in our hands?
Stones?
In John 8, when the religious leaders tried to trick Jesus into a mistake to they could ruin him and his reputation, perhaps even get him killed, rather than buying into their game, he got down in the dust with the person those leaders considered expendable in their ultimate plan to right their world.
The world can never be made right with collateral damage. The end never justifies the means. In many ways, the “means” is the end.
Was the woman in John 8 a sinner? Did she commit adultery? I’m not really certain we can be sure why and how she got to where she was that day, except that it was at the hands of ruthless men. What we do know is that Jesus got down in the dust with her and quenched her parched spirit.
Jesus interaction with the accused woman wasn’t transactional: forgiveness for sins. But transformative.
It was grace.
And not just for her, but for all who had ears to hear and eyes to see. What was meant to be a set up to catch him out, Jesus levelled the playing field, flipped it, and made it an opportunity for everyone present to face their own darkness and be transformed.
Let’s make a practice of putting down our stones – rejecting a hierarchal community structure where the collateral damage is often hidden in our prisons and hospitals and classrooms and statistics and refugee centers (or islands) and mental institutions and psychologists waiting rooms and more – and spend more time in the dust, in the muck and mess and beauty of life, quenching thirst from the deep inner springs that dwell within us all.
Go to Part 7 – Where Are your Accusers »
Written by Lizzy Milani
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