Jesus, Judgment and Palin’s Pregnancy

Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin has been dragged into the news this week. It was bound to happen, even if her mother had not just been named by John McCain as his pick for running mate. As the daughter of Alaska’s governor, the pregnancy was sure to come under the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

However news of the First Daughter of Alaska is small news in the lower forty-eight states. If it weren’t for her Mom being McCain’s VP pick, even opinion writers and political junkies in Alaska would have moved along more quickly to other topics. After all, teen pregnancy is not as uncommon as we would like for it to be. Who is left to feign shock? The issue of unwed or teen pregnancy at has already touched every extended family in America in an earlier generation if not this one.

Young Bristol is not just Alaska news now. She could end up one heart beat away from being First Daughter of these United States and so the inquiry and analysis has been all the more daunting. Prolifically pontificating pundits have wasted a lot of ink and airtime to tell us why this is a political issue or why we need to keep our noses out of what is a family matter.

I have no political axe to grind one way or the other. I can understand why some may pause and wonder if this news affects their political decision making. But, I don’t care to join that speculation. Instead, I would like to wonder aloud with you about what Jesus might do in a similar circumstance. Notice I’m not asking here, “How would Jesus vote?” I am asking, “What Jesus would do?”

We do have two very similar cases in the Gospels. The first was Jesus’ own birth. Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant. Teen pregnancy and pregnancy out of wedlock were not unheard of in first century Palestine anymore than today. This issue came up from time to time and they knew how to handle it. If possible, the couple was married as soon as possible. The friends and family tried to keep the gossip down and move on with life.

In Mary’s case, the problem was that Joseph knew he was not the father. Joseph was a standup guy. He sought to quietly break off the engagement. He wished to do Mary no harm. This was much kinder than Joseph had to be. Jewish law would have allowed him to denounce Mary and to throw the first stone as she was put to death for disgracing her betrothal to him with adultery.

God intervened, sending Joseph a dream to show him that he could trust Mary. Joseph entered into marriage, enduring the people who laughed behind his back about the rushed ceremony.

Jesus would later face a similar situation, when much more than losing face was at stake. A woman caught in the act of adultery was thrown at his feet. They didn’t bother to bring the man for judgment, but the crowd wanted vengeance. They were ready to stone the woman to death for her sin.

The only question was whether Jesus would dirty his hands or not. If he did lead the mob to stoning, he would be guilty under Roman law which did not permit Jews to use the death penalty, which reserved for the Romans. If he didn’t call for the stoning, he would be seen as being too soft on sin for the crowds who hung on his words.

Jesus found a middle path. He refused to condemn her. However, he did make it clear that he wanted the woman’s life to change. You know the scene. First he asked anyone without sin to throw the first stone. John chapter eight notes that beginning with the oldest and presumably wisest members of the mob, down to the youngest, they dropped their stones and walked away. Jesus told the woman, “Go and sin no more.”

Why throw stones in the direction of Bristol Palin. After all, what family among us is without sin? This is not a political judgment, but a spiritual one. We are not the God-ordained law sent to clean up a morally corrupt society. We are people of faith called to live into that faith as best we can. We are to lay aside judgment as God’s concern.

This is not to say that you should place a convicted child molester in charge of the church nursery or name a known thief as treasurer. To do so would place the person in unnecessary temptation to sin again. Those are matters of discernment and can be done without judging someone for past sins. Judgment and condemnation are what we do when we think we have all the facts and know better than the ones who sinned. We see ourselves as above the sin the other person committed.

Robert Davenport-Ray shared with me something from a sermon by Grant LeRoux he remembers from years ago, “When you look upon a brother who has sinned, there are three things you do not know: 1) You do not know how hard he tried to resist temptation. 2) You do not know the strength of the forces assembled against him. 3) You do not know what you would do in the same circumstances.”

What you do know is that you are a sinner in need of redemption. Teen pregnancy may not be something you or your household faces, or will face. But none of us has hands so clean as to use them in executing judgment on another. If Jesus wouldn’t condemn someone caught in sin then neither should you.

And if you think you are not a sinner, be careful, as Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” It is God’s business to judge. Making judgment into your business is sin.

The problem with picking up stones to throw at someone else is that those stones always turn out to be boomerangs. No matter which way you throw when you toss out judgment on someone else, it has a way of coming back on you.

Besides, no matter what happens with her Mom, Bristol Palin doesn’t need the contempt of Christians added to everything she is facing. She needs heartfelt prayers as she deals with the consequences of her actions. She needs from Christians what Jesus would offer her—love rather than condemnation.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)