Let he who is without sin...

It's been a year of high profile scandals involving prominent athletes - Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, the Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball. What is obvious is the unbridled condemnation cast at those who are guilty in the public's eye. When a standard we actually hold - our sense of fair play in sports or, in Vick's case, cruelty to animals - is violated, it is judgment without mercy for the wrongdoer. It is not simply that this person has done wrong and should have to suffer the consequences, but there is derision and scorn heaped upon him. I even heard one sportstalk radio host, clearly well out of his element, say that he didn't want anyone praying for Michael Vick.

Of course, such reactions are not only the case publicly, but privately as well, given the words we profusely speak when we feel someone has wronged us.

What's particularly fascinating, especially with respect to the baseball steroids investigation, is the realization that all it takes is one misstep, one act of apparent deception or impropriety, to tarnish an otherwise stellar career both on and off the field. No matter what else you may or may not have done, if you cheat even once, you are, in fact, a cheater. You have been exposed for what you really are. Here is a column re Andy Pettitte, who had an excellent reputation both as an athlete and as a person. According to the Mitchell report, Pettitte used Human Growth Hormone for one brief period when he was injured, which he admitted after the report's issuance. Pettitte's defense is basically: "Come on folks, this is only two days out of an entire career, an entire lifetime of hard work and good behavior." Yet, in so far as the column's writer is concerned, as the conclusion reads, even recognizing all that Pettitte has done is still "no match for his cheating heart."

In a sense, basically, the writer - Klapisch - is right. However, at this point, I can't help but think about how offensive we find the notion that "one sin" would place us under condemnation and judgment before God. Yet, as already stated, it should be apparent to us when a person actually does or says something we truly consider to be a wrong, condemnation and judgment are very quick to follow. We don't have any problem whatsoever "playing God" ourselves in such a case. There are numerous assumptions attendant to our "playing God" in this way. First, we establish ourselves as the standard - our sense of right and wrong is determinative. We have demands about the way people should think and behave and they must be met; otherwise the consequences will be dire. Secondly, as Klapisch does with Pettitte, we presume omniscience concerning the other person's motives. We further presume a right to judge the person and a knowledge of what exactly that judgment should be.

We no longer identify ourselves with this person, but place him in the category of "sinner" or "evil," even if we don't use such words. We stand over the person as his judge, based on a presumption of moral superiority. No longer do we have a common humanity, but he is somehow "sub-human," with our sense of virtue maybe even placing us in a sort of elite human category. In so doing, we entirely disregard the fact that we too have done wrong, just not under the glare of the media spotlight; but still certainly before the gaze of the one who sees and knows all things - the one who actually is omniscient. We are not mindful of the reality that we are not the source of the true and the good with a right to determine right and wrong, good and evil. And to place ourselves in such a position also places us out of touch with reality. Though I do think it worth noting at this point that all of us are even readily guilty of violating the standards to which we hold others. Ultimately, the only one with a right to judge is the one who is "without sin."

I want to be clear here that with respect to judgment I'm not merely talking about judging or determining that a certain action is wrong or undesirable; nor am I even talking about meting out appropriate sanctions on the temporal or societal level. What I am talking about is what I've described above - the condemnation and rejection of the person as a human being expressed in words and actions that implicitly, if not explicitly, say: "show him no mercy." I want to emphasize that the idea is not to condone or excuse wrongdoing; and it is certainly not to advance a sentimental notion of our basically being "good people." This issue relates to direct engagement with the truth about ourselves both individually and collectively.

There was one who was in fact "without sin." Yet, instead of judging us and condemning us, he fully identified himself with us to the point where he accepted for himself all of the consequences of our sin , taking them upon himself, while also "dressing" our sinfulness with the perfection of his character. Instead of rejecting us, he fully shares in our humanity and is not even ashamed to call us his brothers, Heb 2:11-14, uniting us to himself personally by his Spirit. "Those liars, those cheaters, those animal abusers, they're with me and I'm with them."

Here's what's remarkable. Though God is the source of the true and the good, the one with the capacity and the right to judge, he lavishes his mercy and grace upon those who know they need it and turn to receive it. Meanwhile all other standards, though they are far inferior, are also somehow more demanding due to their arbitrary and capricious character. Furthermore, no matter how lax or "tolerant" such a standard may seem to be in a superficial way, when violated it is "judgment without mercy." Think of the demands concerning attire and fashion in middle school or high school - arbitrary, capricious and "judgment without mercy." This is how we personally and societally operate.

Yet, when Jesus speaks to us in even the harshest and most stern language, warning us about our eternal status, it is entirely different. As the one who is truth, the words Jesus speaks are true, not arbitrary, and they are not meant to destroy, but to put us in touch with reality. His even speaking to us is an act of love and great concern. The reason we can accept what Jesus tells us and not hide or deny, but agree with him in confessing the truth about ourselves, is because Jesus is himself the “solution” to our problem. The one who speaks to us about our true status and most essential need is the one who rescues us even from ourselves in his death and resurrection.

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment." James 2:12-13