May 14

Line Your Tiger Trap - With First Stones
John 8:1-11

Do you remember Wile E. Coyote? One of my favorite cartoons with Wile E. and the RoadRunner starts with the old gag of Latin names. The RoadRunner comes on (velocitus incredibulus) followed by the Coyote (famishus vulgaris). Later in the cartoon, Wile E. constructs a genuine Burmese tiger trap -- which of course yields a genuine Burmese tiger (surprisibus! surprisibus!).   A good part of the humor comes from the fact that the coyote constructed the trap himself.  Here, the Pharisees construct a trap for themselves, and quite elaborately.
The trap as they intended it was for Jesus.  It is a very subtle one, for it has three layers:

  • The most obvious one is that Jesus could advocate stoning (and wind up in trouble with the Roman government) or say that the Law of  Moses is wrong.
  • More subtly, Jesus has the reputation of the friend of the sinner - and here is most certainly an appealing sinner, a damsel in distress.  What will this do to his reputation?
  • But even more subtle is this:  this is an invitation to join the system of rabbinical law.  All Jesus has to do is to suggest that the Roman rule which prevents the Law of Moses from being carried out is God's just punishment on Israel - and he's now just another clever rabbi in the system.
Instead, Jesus stays true to the Father's calling:  He is to seek and save the lost.  Jesus did not come into this world to condemn the world, but rather to save it.  Indeed, is it not just possible that his writing on the ground is nothing but a chance for the Pharisees to reconsider this judgment?  For even the Pharisees are among those Jesus came to seek and save.
The failing of the Pharisees here is that of being judgmental.  Jesus shows them the pit they are digging for themselves.  We too can be judgmental;  all of us have "first stones" to throw.  Indeed, many of us have so many that we could line our pit with them.  But - surprisibus, surprisibus - it's likely enough that we'll be the ones in the pit (and with the tiger, too).  Consider well before you judge.  You're likely to be the butt of the joke in this life, and a candidate for hell in the next.