Monday, 22 October 2007 00:00 | and posted in Sharing Your Faith
The Pharisees were always out to trick Jesus, to catch Him out, to show him up for the law breaker that they believed He was. When they brought the woman to Jesus who they claimed to have been caught in adultery, they weren't really concerned with her, or her being dealt with, they really wanted to show Jesus up for not keeping the law.* As usual Jesus keeps his head, takes his time, and turns the whole situation round so that they actually realise that they are the law breakers, they all leave, one by one, leaving the stones that would have killed the woman behind them in the dust.
How did Jesus do this? Did he shout? Did he argue? Did he make his beliefs clear, and take a stand? No, he stayed calm, and asked questions, he made them stop and think, through simple, normal, everyday human contact.
In Harper Lee's novel "To kill a mockingbird", a 6 year old girl, by making conversation, stops a gang of white men murdering an imprisoned black man. The white mob is outside the county courthouse in a small town in the deep south of the United States. Scout, age 6, stands in front of her father, Atticus Finch, who is spending the night protecting Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. The mob is angry; Atticus seems powerless to stop them. Scout breaks through the crowd, and simply starts greeting her neighbours and friends......who she sees before her. One by one, the men turn and walk back to their cars, and drive out of town. Why? Scout just chatted to them, asked how they were; she didn't start an argument or try and challenge them. She made simple, normal, everyday human contact. This touched the men's hearts in a way that an argument never could. It reminded them of what they had in common and not what their differences were. It showed them what really mattered in life.
If we are secure in our beliefs, and confident of who God is and what he has done for us, why do we need to argue? Very often we act is if our faith is a set of beliefs, each belief a brick that together make up a wall which we must defend. If we see our faith as something to defend, then we will argue and debate and attempt to prove our position as the correct one. However if we see our faith as an incredible relationship which we are enjoying and experiencing, and which we want to invite our friends to join, then we will do it through conversation, through simple normal everyday contact. People's hearts will be touched, and they may see what really matters in life.
FOOTNOTE:
* You can check out this story in John 8:1-11