HOW we love a good public execution.
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For generations, we have been fascinated by the downfall of people, ready to be on hand to witness their end. In Amanda Howard’s book Rope: A History of the Hanged, she describes how in old England, thousands of people would show up to watch an execution, that it was their ‘entertainment’.
Even in our own city, the ‘Ribbon Gang’ Bushrangers were hanged publicly, with their bodies kept on display for a day for all to see. Admittedly, this was 1830.
Though we like to think that times have changed, in these last few weeks we have seen a crowd jeering at the potential execution of a political leader.
This makes me think: What is it about our human condition that likes us to pull people down when they fail? We think that some wrong has taken place, but we are not really sure what it is.
Is an adulterous relationship wrong in our post-modern world? Don’t we have the right to “love” whomever we want? And if it’s not wrong, surely there is something amiss here .
Maybe there was an expense scandal, so the crowd grows until we see a public execution.
It reminds me of similar scene in Jesus’ time on earth. In John 8, there is an account of a person who was caught “in the very act” of an affair, punishable by death in these times.
Crowds were milling around, the tension high to see what Jesus might say to this person who had been hauled before him. Maybe they would get to witness a good public stoning!
Interestingly, Jesus said nothing initially, but wrote something on the ground. And then, the famous line: “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.”
The account then describes how, one by one, all the people left, until the accused was alone with Jesus. “Where are they?” he asked. “Did no one condemn you?” Then Jesus said: “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
This act of Jesus is filled with grace. Grace acknowledges a wrong, but chooses to forgive rather than condemn.
I reckon our world could use more of his influence. Rather than leaping to pull someone down, perhaps we could walk a path of acknowledgement and forgiveness, recognising that we are all rather imperfect.
It might also help us to get on a bit better.