Forgive Your Mistakes and Grow

Today’s (3/25/07) Catholic Gospel reading are the familiar lines from John 8: 1 - 11 where the Pharisees bring a women who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and say that the law of Moses commands them to stone her and Jesus says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then the Pharisees leave without condemning her and Jesus says to the women “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” These two quotes from Jesus seem simple enough however I think that they raise a lot of questions that often confuse people rather than clarify…so let’s try to get clear.

Most people think of “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” as a comment that since you’re not perfect, you cannot judge another person. However this is not true. Even though you make mistakes, you can judge the actions of another person and determine whether or not they are part of the Divine plan. You should not however pre-judge (i.e. prejudice) a person (based on the color of their skin for example) before you know their actions.

Since adultery was “against the law”, does Jesus believe a person who breaks the law should not be punished? I don’t think that could be concluded from this incident because adultery is not a mistake that harms society at large and therefore the “sinner” should not be jailed or killed to protect the individuals of a society.

The story’s sin is adultery and most of us can read this and think that the lesson of this story doesn’t apply to us since we are not committing heavy-duty “sins” like adultery, murder, rape, burglary, etc. However it is much more appropriate to redefine what we mean by sin. This word has always carried a much too ominous tone. We should consider our “sins” as the mistakes against the Divine plan that we are making. This will cause an increase in the number of our “sins” however, as Jesus taught in this incident, we are not condemned.

So what are the types of mistakes against the Divine plan most of us are making? See if you recognize yourself in any of the following:

• Our Higher Self is trying to express joy through your lower self so we are making a mistake when we go through the day being depressed, gloomy and filled with self-pity.
• Divinity is trying to be loving and kind so we are “sinning” when we are being rude, bitter or spiteful.
• The Soul is looking to shine Its peace and patience so we are doing the wrong thing when we are being angry, belligerent and impatient.
• Our True Self wants to be productive and competent in all activities so we are making mistakes what we slack-off in work, slothfully sit in front of the TV or computer and neglect our duties to our children.
• Our Spirit want to express wisdom through our personality and we are going against that when we make no attempt to consider the meaning and bigger ideas behind life and simply wallow in the world of our desires and emotions.

If you are committing these mistakes, and we all are, first recognize them, then repeatedly work to stop them. Of course that’s easier said than done but remember that your Higher Self does not condemn you for your mistakes. They are all part of your growth.

All of this talk of your mistakes and spiritual growth may not seem to exciting as most of us look at life from the perspective of “what’s in it for me?”, however the growth that occurs when you learn to express love, joy, peace, wisdom, courage, etc. is the greatest pleasure you can have because it’s what life is all about. This growth is the only thing that survives death!

This idea is summarized in a quote from the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950):

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.