In a cold city neighborhood, masked government agents sought to drag a woman from her car, but a man from Nazareth stood before them. Some called him a teacher. Others called him a terrorist.
A government spokesperson demanded, “Jesus, this woman has hindered a federal operation. When our agents converged, she did not comply. She has been designated a dangerous threat. In the name of law and order, she must be punished. She deserves to die.”
The Nazarene simply bent down and wrote in the icy snow with his finger. The woman’s accusers pressed him, calling for a verdict.
Jesus stood and said to them, “Let the one among you, who truly believes that labels create guilt and that guns make things right, be the first to crucify me.”
Again, the teacher, called a terrorist, stooped and traced his fingers in the ice.
The spokesperson looked to the agents. The agents looked to one another. Their certainty thinned. Cameras kept rolling. Radios crackled. No one moved. No one spoke.
Then, one by one, the agents lowered their weapons and walked away.
The woman remained in her car – shaking, breathing, still alive.
Jesus turned to her and asked, “Has no one condemned you?”
She answered, “No one.”
Jesus assured her, “Neither do I condemn you. You are free. Keep caring for others. You are a light in this world.”
But in darkened corridors of power, the leaders plotted. They did not question their ways. They did not learn. Instead, they turned their attention to the man who stirred the hearts of people, who undermined their order, and who threatened their security. And at their first opportunity, they crucified the teacher.
The woman lived. And though the icy snow would melt, the truth written there endured in her words and in her care for others.
#ReneeGood #GospelReflection
