“Be a stone catcher, not thrower.” This idea has become my challenge, encouragement, and motivation for pressing into the complexities of this world and responding to the fallen. This is the example that Jesus set.
Eight months ago, I sat in my desk during my family violence class, being visually exposed to the horrors of physical child abuse. As I moved forward learning about both victims and perpetrators, I found myself in a complex tension of hurting for both. I began to grapple with the multi-faceted intersectionality of injustice that plagues the world more intensely than ever before. I felt so overwhelmed. Injustice, violence, and degradation are endemic in this world and Christians are commanded to respond (Proverbs 31:8-9, Isaiah 1:17, Zechariah 7:9).
Stone throwing happens when we actively or passively allow the hurting to hurt. Stone catching takes places by actively intervening to bring justice or mercy to the hurting. Mercy is the compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone who is within one’s power to punish or harm (New Oxford American Dictionary). At the core of Jesus’s response to the fallen - the oppressed, the outcast, and those discriminated against - is an example of mercy. It is this response, I believe, that has the power to break cycles of victimization, suffering, and degradation.
When a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus, he told her accusers “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” In response, the woman’s accusers left her alone with Jesus. As she stood before him, he said to her: “Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you; go.” The passage (John 8:1-11) is simple and beautiful but I am afraid that this is not the usual response to the fallen, even amongst the Christian community.
Self-righteousness, fear, and anger, cause stones to be hurled at the fallen. We can not merely watch this happen, we have to be stone catchers. Jesus spoke about this concept and exemplified stone catching.
In Mark 5:1-20, Jesus took time to engage with a man possessed with unclean spirits. This man was a spectacle. He constantly wandered as he cried out and cut himself with stones, he broke the chains he was chained to, and he terrorized the neighborhood. Jesus did not turn a blind eye away from this man, instead, he got close, engaged him in conversation, saw his needs, and responded.
In Luke 14:12-14, when Jesus is at a prominent Pharisee’s house for dinner, he tells the host that when he has a banquet he should invite the poor and the outcasts. All are invited around His table.
Jesus extended mercy until his dying moments. When the criminal hanging next to him repents, Jesus replies saying: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus did not quiz the man on how to get in or ask his position on social issues, instead, he simply extended grace and mercy.
Jesus lived a life attuned to needs and injustices; he responded out of a people-first approach. We live in a day and age where engagement and response can easily be detached and impersonal. Social media makes it so easy to respond to the fallen from afar. Although using social media platforms is not inherently bad, stone catching requires more. To catch anything, you have to be in the vicinity of where the object is being thrown. Once you are in the vicinity, it is not just about watching the object being thrown, it is about responding. Jesus got close and responded, we too must get close and respond. Stone throwing happens when we let complacency, apprehension, resentment, and pride take over. Stone catching happens when we engage personally, seek to understand, and put love and grace at the forefront. Often times, catching stones means putting people before social norms and our own reputations just like Jesus did.
For many, this message may feel like old news and perhaps, you truly are doing this very well whenever an opportunity presents itself. If that’s the case, you are an anomaly and I want to meet you! But no matter where you are at, my hope and encouragement for you today is to think critically about your natural response to the fallen. How does fear, anger, and self-righteousness affect your responses? Are you getting close? Are you leading with mercy?
I am still learning and quite frankly will always be learning to live after Jesus’s example of stone-catching. Earlier this year, I began volunteering as a court-appointed child advocate for the child welfare system. Part of my responsibilities includes conducting home visits. For a while, these visits brought up a lot of fear and insecurity. What would the parents think of me, a twenty-one-year-old college student, coming into their home to check on their child? I will never fully be able to understand what this family has gone through, what gives me the right to play a part? It was not until a dear friend reminded me, that I am not doing it for myself or for them, but for the glory of the Lord that my perspective on the responsibility shifted. Fear and insecurity lessened as I remembered and became motivated by Jesus’s example.
We are called to catch stones. We must do so out of the awareness that we are all, just like the adulterous woman, in desperate need of mercy, grace, and healing. Mercy belongs to the undeserving; we are all the undeserving. Out of love and grace, God sent his son to die for each of us. It didn’t end there: he rose again to declare that healing, justice, and love have ultimately won; darkness has no place. The message of the resurrection is that this world matters and God will not tolerate the deep hurts and injustices of our present day. It is this message that provides motivation to press in and get close to the complexities of the world and implement the victory of Jesus over all things.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). And let us be stone catchers.
Madelyn is a Social Work major at FSU. She is a fan of naps on the beach, sunrises, good books, "windows down, music up" car rides, and learning more about people's stories. One of her all time favorite things in life is sitting around a table filled with people she loves, sharing a good meal. Recently, God has been teaching her a lot about clinging to the hope of Jesus as she grows in awareness and understanding of social justice issues in the world around her.