Fear of others distracts us from our call
3 The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group, 4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” 8 Bending down again, he wrote on the ground. 9 Those who heard him went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Finally, only Jesus and the woman were left in the middle of the crowd.
~ John 8:3-9, CEB
In community, open-mindedness is a necessity, particularly when it comes to our short-comings. Having an open mind doesn’t mean you change it whenever someone speaks up. It means you actually respect people enough to take what they’re saying seriously. It means asking the question, “What if this person is right?” when they share an opinion different from yours. This is an act of love and, if we’re in community with someone, it is an absolute necessity.
Refusing to do this is a form of violence. It causes harm. Refusing to consider or respect another person’s views is to admit that this person is not as important as you are. Again, this doesn’t mean you have to adopt another person’s views as your own. It doesn’t mean that your views are less important than everyone else’s. It means that you actually stop to consider another person’s thoughts because you value life and recognize that each person is made in the image of God. Therefore, each person is worth hearing and respecting.
The Pharisees, here, were not interested in this kind of relationship. They did not see this woman as a person worth valuing and listening to. Instead, they saw a person they could use. In a way, they saw someone they were afraid of. Their fear told them that letting this woman continue her life as it is was going to bring everything down.
So often we have these kinds of fears of others. They are ultimately distractions from our call: to live in deep, meaningful, loving relationships with one another where we can share freely even the things about ourselves that we’re ashamed of. In order to do so, we must remove fear from the conversation.
