Isaiah 43:16-21 / Philippians 3:8-14 / John 8:1-11
One ordinary item that can be found almost everywhere is the mirror.
Mirrors come in all shapes and sizes.
It can be found in bedrooms and in the restrooms.
It can be found in hairdressing saloons and in boutiques.
So, mirrors can be found in high and mighty places, as well as in ordinary and lowly places.
Regardless of where it may be found, if there is a mirror, we would certainly want to look at it or at least glance at it.
That is because we like to look at ourselves in the mirror.
It may be out of vanity to see how good we look.
Or it may be out of curiosity to see if we look good.
But most of the time, we are concerned with the externals, we are concerned with our appearances.
Mirrors don't show us the emotional and psychological state of ourselves.
In the gospel, scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus, a woman who was caught committing adultery.
They said that according to the Law, that woman is to be condemned to death by stoning.
When the scribes and the Pharisees persisted with their question, Jesus made this stunning statement:
If there is one of you who have not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
There was probably silence after that statement. There is no need for any further discussion or questions.
No stones were thrown, and no one wanted to be around to see if anyone would throw a stone.
All went away until only Jesus and the woman were left alone.
That statement of Jesus was like a mirror that each one had to look at.
What they saw, they had to look away and walk away.
While they may judge other people's sins, they could not and would not want to look at their own sins.
So, that statement from Jesus was like the mirror of truth that reveals, and yet also conceals.
We may recall this phrase “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”
That phrase is from the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven dwarfs, and it was said by the evil queen.
While that mirror told the truth that the evil queen was the fairest of all, the time came when Snow White was born and that mirror had to say that Snow White was now the fairest of all.
So, what reflections and thoughts do we have about that statement from Jesus:
If there is one of you who have not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
That statement could be like the mirror of truth that reveals to us that we all have sinned.
But we may also want to conceal the truth and direct the attention to other people's sins.
So, even when we look into the mirror of truth, we may accept it for what it reveals.
Or we can turn it around and let the truth be concealed.
The problem with this is that we would rather be ruined by praise than to be saved by criticism.
As we reflect and think about that statement of Jesus, may the Lord God turn the stones of our sins into stepping stones that will lead us to God's mercy and forgiveness.