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"Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.
What an amazing chapter this is.
It's packed full of worthwhile lessons:
First, if there's one behavior that Jesus couldn't abide, it was sinners
playing down their own sins while playing up someone else's. In this
instance, the sin of one party (the adulteress) was being used
by a second party (the even more sinful religious right hypocrites),
to bring harm on a guilt-free third party (Jesus himself).
Then, there's a point so obvious that Jesus may not have felt
it even necessary to emphasize. But, as the father of seven
daughters, I wish Jesus had asked these sanctimonious male
accusers explicitly, "Was this woman alone at the time of
this adultery?"
And finally, there's the magnificent way in which Jesus turns
the table on the hypocrites doing the accusing, and puts the
judges themselves on trial :
"Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."
In order to condemn those whose consciences
do not condemn them for living life as gay, lesbian or
transgendered people, some Christian clergy and enthusiasts feel compelled
to quote and enforce little known passages of the Bible,
whose meaning is far from clear.
Likewise, when Conservative Christians cannot find any clear
passages that reveal the divinity's will on such
matters, they resort to "reading between the lines" of the Bible
in order to condemn those whose consciences
do not condemn them for practicing birth control or
abortion,
And while these latter day experts in the law are
pouring over their bibles to see what they can condemn
in others, they can't seem to read all the
passages right there on the lines, in which Jesus
himself explicity condemns them, and spells out
their many sins!
There are over 80 passages in which Jesus himself finds fault with those who were thought to be God's representatives in his day, i.e. the priests, the "experts in the law", the "scribes", the Pharisees and the Sadducees. How amazing it is to see the contortions that so many Conservative Christian clergy, bible scholars and enthusiasts will go through to avoid having these scriptures (all referenced below) pointed at them! They seem to believe the scriptures were designed to be weapons which only they can use, and only for attacking others!
"You would think these religious leaders and these Pharisees were Moses, the way they keep making up so many laws! . . . It may be all right to do what they say, but above anything else, don't follow their example. For they don't do what they tell you to do. They load you with impossible demands that they themselves don't even try to keep." (This wouldn't have to do with things like birth-control, masturbation, abortion, clerical celibacy, perpetuating male dominance over women, would it? ). . .
"Everything they do is done for show. . . They act holy by wearing on their arms little prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and by lengthening the memorial fringes of their robes. And how they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the reserved pews in the synagogue! How they enjoy the deference paid them on the streets and to be called 'Teacher' and 'Master'! Don't ever let anyone call you that. For only God is your Teacher and all of you are on the same level, as brothers. And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father,' for only God in heaven should be addressed like that. And don't be called 'Master,' for only one is your master, even the Messiah. . . Woe to you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders. Hypocrites! For you won't let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven and won't go in yourselves."
Luke thought these words important enough to repeat them in his version of the Gospels {11: 37-54 }, knowing that they were already in the earlier Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
So how can today's "princes of the church" treat these words of Jesus as nothing but a quaint "dead letter", now that they their houses of worship "churches", instead of "synagogues", and "reserved pews in the synagogue" have been superseded by ornate thrones in basilicas and cathedrals?
How can anyone read Jesus' demands that his disciples shun titles of honor, and never suspect that if Jesus considered "Father" and "Teacher" objectionable, he must really be upset with "Monsignor" (which is French for "My Lord"), "Your Excellency", "Your Eminence", "Your Holiness", "The Holy Father", "Supreme Pontiff", and perhaps most presumptuous of all, "Vicar of (i.e. stand-in for) Christ", the equivalent of "Vice-Messiah" !
The entire Roman Catholic structure is based on the idea that Christ planned to establish a tightly organized structure run by a hierarchy of priests headed by a single Pope, beginning with one of his first disciples, Peter, who spent the last years of his life in Rome. This is based on the flimsiest of evidence, the most formidable piece of which by far is this one passage, recorded by only one of the four evangelists:
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah."
Now, in Luke's, Mark's and John's gospels, there is no mention of Jesus giving any special honor or recognition to Peter at this occasion. But Mark and Matthew both reported what came next. Every time that the Roman Catholic hierarchy claims the Matthew's account proves that Christ wanted to make Peter, and all of his successors the foundation of his Church, ask them what Jesus intended in the verses immediately following the above:
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
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For those interested in what Jesus taught, as opposed to
what has been handed down from one person, to another,
to another, to another, and on and on and on, for two
thousand years, why not go back to the source himself?
In his quest to determine what Jesus himself considered
of greatest eternal consequence, the following is what
this Christian preacher learned by reading and re-reading
all four Gospels,
with the sole purpose of taking note of what kind of behavior,
on the part of which people bothered Jesus the most.
To my surprise, I found that Jesus hardly ever worried
about either the Devil, or about personal sexual sin. Jesus
preached mostly to and/or about religious leaders about public sins, i,.e. sins that affect others, especially when many others are affected.
Group I : Jesus reprimanded TEMPLE MERCHANTS only 3 times :
Group II : Jesus reprimanded False Prophets, only 6 times :
Group III : Jesus reprimanded the DEVIL only 6 times :
Group IV : Jesus reprimanded DISBELIEVERS 11 times :
Group V : Jesus reprimanded The CHOSEN FEW (his APOSTLES), 12 times :
Group VI : Jesus reprimanded THE FAITHFUL a total of 28 times :
Group VII : Jesus reprimanded RELIGIOUS LEADERS the MOST, i.e. some 77 times :
Matt.12:38 ; Matt. 16:4 ; || Mark 8:11 || Luke 11:29 ; Conclusion :There is nothing - in the Gospels at least - that comes close to the following litany of complaints that Jesus had against the clergy of his day : Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. |
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If you have ever wondered why - in contrast to Jesus Christ - the churches that use his name, and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, have been so obsessed with just about everything having to do with sex over the centuries , see my CatholicArrogance.org/ Churchvsex.html. |
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