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It is awfully difficult for us to judge another.  “Unless we walk a mile in the other’s moccasins” we cannot know what really happens.  We can’t judge someone’s motivation nor actions.Most often we are incensed about someone’s actions and judgment comes easily. God reads our minds and hearts.  God knows what motivates our actions. Let God do the judging.  It is not our task in life.  Trust in the mercy and love of God.

Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62

Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

J ohn 8:1-11  But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (2) Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. (3) The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst (4) they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. (5) Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" (6) This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (7) And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." (8) And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (9) But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. (10) Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" (11) She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."

Meditation by Joan Lanahan (Creighton)

In Daniel we see how astutely Daniel questions the two church elders to see if they are lying about Susanna. They were. Susanna did not lie, tell a falsehood, nor lie down for the elders. She was innocent. She trusted God would save her from stoning. Her trust was fulfilled.

In John, we hear of another woman caught in adultery and accused by the elders. Rather than Daniel we see the astuteness of Jesus in handling the accusation. He listens to it and seemingly writes in the sand and then tells the men: “let one among you who is without sin cast the first stone”. The men walk away. Jesus says to the woman: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin.”

These two stories tell us that it is awfully difficult for us to judge another. “Unless we walk a mile in the other’s moccasins” we cannot know what really happens. We can’t judge someone’s motivation or actions. If we are an expert, court judge, that is one thing. Most often we are incensed about someone’s actions and judgment comes easily.

The story within the story here is God’s mercy. God reads our minds and hearts. God knows what motivates our actions, sometimes better than we do!  God is always merciful to a sinner. God, who is love, cannot help but be merciful.

Let God do the judging.  It is not our task in life.  Trust in the mercy and love of God. # # #

GOD BLESS US ALL!

O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU. – Bobot Apit

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