Walls

I build walls with the best of them.  Like many walls, my walls are meant to exclude people.  These people may be too old or too young, too liberal or too conservative, too rich or too poor.  They may look a bit odd, act a bit weird, or talk a bit funny.  They may not share my values, they may commit sins or crimes beyond my imagination, and they certainly don’t care about me or mine.  Basically, they’re just not me.  My walls keep them on the other side.

As a society, we like to build walls, too.  We live in gated communities, join private clubs, create zoning laws to restrict who might live near us, and pass restrictive immigration laws that to exclude, ironically enough, the tired and the poor.  If we could somehow manage it, we would build a wall around the entire country to that end.

The scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel were master wall builders.  They wanted to build the ultimate wall – the wall between life and death – to permanently exclude the woman caught in adultery.  Yet Jesus fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy by doing a new thing.  Jesus declares all the walls we try to build – all of our attempts to isolate ourselves from one another – are useless and irrelevant.  The woman, the scribes, and the Pharisees are all on the same side.  They are all fallible human beings.  They are all created by God in His image.  They are objects of God’s mercy and love.

Jesus shows me the mercy and love I must show to all other humans who are, like me, joined by a common bond of sin.  Bound by sin, yet we are also joined by a common bond of divine love.  As was true for the Pharisees, this discomforts me at first.  In my pride, did I suppose that Jesus loved me more than those on the other sides of my well-built walls?  Of course I did, how else could I justify my walls? 

But if I can put aside my pride and get past this discomfort, this becomes a truly joyous insight.  If Jesus came to save all sinners, and if every one of us is a sinner, then Jesus certainly came to save me!  If Jesus loves everyone with equal and unending fervor, and if Jesus’ unconditional love keeps him from condemning the unfortunate women, then He loves me with that same eternal and unconditional love!  

Jesus, help me break down the walls that keep me from loving others as you love me.