My family has never been good with pets. I could relate several horrifying stories that would serve as dramatic examples of this simple fact. But I'll confine this blog to our experience with one certain bunny [we have had a couple more tragic experiences with both before and after this one]. This bunny was the de facto Easter bunny for our church which for several years after we built our present home held their annual Easter Egg Hunt on our property and that of our next door neighbors who also are members. And it just so happened that one of these hunts occurred shortly after we got this bunny. Of course, he was the absolute hit of the hunt as all the children wanted to hold him and have their picture taken with "the bunny who had hidden all the glorious eggs."
Well just a few weeks after that particular Easter Egg Hunt, we allowed our bunny to hop around the front yard when suddenly a giant hawk swooped down from seemingly nowhere and flew off with our rabbit in his talons. Our girls and I were mortified. Yet another Currieo pet had succumbed to a horrific fate.
But now six or seven years later, it occurs to me that the world is full of hawks and bunnies. There are hawks that swoop down on helpless children in Thailand and steal them away to turn them into child prostitutes; there are hawks that use a caste system to keep millions oppressed and in poverty in India; there are hawks in the priesthood who hide behind their collars while they abuse children. Jesus described the spiritual reality in which we live is pretty simple: "The thief comes to steal and to rob and to kill, but I have come to give you life and life in abundance."
Way too many times the hawks that have swooped down are wearing the robes of religion. It is not that they are tormenting the innocent but they are tormenting the helpless. How could we ever guess that God would be the friend of the broken, the outcast, and the guilty? Because of religion, we have run from God when, in fact, He has been the only One ready to stand in our defense.
There was a moment in the life of Jesus when an unnamed woman was surrounded by the hawks.
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning He went back to the Temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat and taught them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They forced her to stand before the people. They said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught having sexual relations with a man who is not her husband. The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?" They were asking this to trick Jesus so that they could have some charge against him.
But Jesus bent over and starting writing on the ground with His finger. When they continued to ask Jesus their question, He raised up and said, "Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her." Then Jesus bent over again and wrote on the ground.
Those who heard Jesus began to leave one by one, first the older men and then the others. Jesus was left there alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus raised up again and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one judged you guilty?"
She answered, "No one, sir."
Then Jesus said, "I also don't judge you guilty. You may go now, but don't sin anymore."
If those who are the religious elite are closest to God, why is it that they are so rarely closest to love? If God is love, those who know God best should love people most. Jesus said He came not to condemn the world, but to bring the world life. Why is it that so many who represent Him are ever so quick to condemn? All her accusers could see was a woman guilty of adultery. Yet there is all too often so much more behind these stories -- a woman abused by her husband searching for love; a little girl abused by a relative, who would forever confuse love with sex; a prostitute who would sell love for a price but had none to give.
If Jesus' encounter with this unnamed adulterous woman tells us anything, it reveals the unexpected truth that the safest place for a sinful person to go is to God. He and He alone is the only One who will neither condemn us nor leave us in our brokenness. On the Mount of Olives she found herself most alone and discovered the unimaginable -- God wanted her. God was her place to belong, and this reality became the beginning of new things. This may be the most powerful thing about love. Love gives us a fresh start. Love gives us a reason to live.
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