The Plight of the Long Nose

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

The crowd’s chanting cut her to the bone.

With a trembling hand, she tucked her black hair behind her ear and stared at the ground, shame repelling eye contact with her accusers, whose judgmental stares traveled long along the haughty nose.

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

“Well, do you deny it?” snipped the prosecutor, as he dug dried blood from beneath his sharp claws. “Three witnesses testified against you. What is your plea?”

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

Her bone-dry mouth and withered tongue failed her. Tears fell from her eyes upon her dusty bare feet, muddying the ground.

Her prosecutor grew impatient. “So, whimpering is your only defense? Sounds like a confession to me!” He sneered at the crowd gathered around them, intensifying their verdict.

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

A stone sailed from an unknown distance and struck her head, splaying her body upon the damp ground. Blood trickled down her temple as consciousness balanced upon a thin rope. The blood invigorated the crowd.

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

As hope began to drift, a merciful touch delicately wiped the blood from her cheek and grasped her hand. The executioner, she presumed. But the hand was soft and warm, not what she would expect from a man keen with a blade. Her blurry vision revealed a man in a black robe, the Judge she deduced, and her heart dropped. And yet the tears in his eyes betrayed condemnation. What sort of Judge would cry at a condemned woman wallowing in the mud of her own tears?

Guilty! Guilty! Lock her up!

The robed man gently lifted her to her feet and drew her into an embrace. The crowd grew quiet. The prosecutor grew nervous. Her spirit calmed.

“Your Honor,” began the prosecutor disdainfully. “This woman has been accused by three witnesses. Our law says she must be put to death for her crime.”

The crowd shuffled nervously in the dust.

“Indeed it does,” responded the Judge.

“So, then, you agree that this woman should receive the death penalty?”

The Judge escorted the woman to a stone wall and sat beside her, comforting her with his arm around her shoulders. He remained silent, which caused sweat to drip from the prosecutor’s long nose and temples.

“Your Honor, forgive me, but I ask again, what is your verdict? By our law, this woman should be put to death.”

The Judge examined each member of the crowd carefully then fixed his gaze on the prosecutor. “You are correct, sir, that the law does require her death. But I ask you, is there anyone here who has not violated the law? Is there anyone here who’s actions have not justified the death penalty?”

The prosecutor shifted nervously in his stance. “But your Honor, surely I do not have to remind you that we offer sacrifices to atone for our sins. This woman has made no sacrifice. We have no choice then but to condemn her.”

“Here is my judgment; if anyone here has not broken the law, let him be the one to put this woman to death.” The Judge then knelt before the woman and began to clean her muddy feet with his robe. Gasps rose from the crowd, and the woman sat in silent shock.

As the Judge took the woman’s second foot into his hand, the crowd began to disperse, one-by-one, until only the prosecutor was left.

“Your Honor . . . .”

The Judge looked up at the prosecutor as he cleaned the last spot of dirt from the woman’s foot, and his penetrating gaze robbed the prosecutor of further objections. In anguish, the prosecutor turned and walked away.

The Judge turned to the woman and said, “Is there no one left here to condemn you?”

The woman looked around her nervously. “Only you, it seems, sir.”

The Judge smiled. “Then neither do I condemn you.”

The woman broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. The Judge sat beside her and placed his hand upon her back.

“But I broke the law. Why did you spare me?”

“My grace is sufficient for you. Now go and leave your life of sin.”

The woman rose then knelt before the Judge and kissed his hand.  He smiled at her lovingly and then she walked away.

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John 8:3-11

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

© 2016 THEDADDYBLITZ

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