Jesus and the Jumbotron

WWJD? Well, He outright told us.

Everyone has seen the big jumbo tron exposure of the millionaire CEO and his brazen affair by this point. What followed was a slew of memes and even re-enactments at baseball games and social media was abuzz with laughter.  Admittedly I laughed at something and was suddenly horrified at myself. As someone who has been on the other side of an affair that was exposed and pretty public, the shame and hurt was excruciating. My kids were small and there wasn’t social media quite yet, but the CEO’s kids are in high school and surely have access to everything I’ve been seeing. 

When I gave a call for mercy on threads, I framed it like this: 

And it went viral in a sense, but not because people agreed with me. Because they said mostly, “they deserved it!” and “Oh ya, compassion for a millionaire? Lol.” or “Let us have this. It’s been the most unifying thing as a nation.”

There is something off about unifying around someone’s suffering and dare I say, it smells a lot like an emotional alligator Alcatraz: public calls for destruction as the colosseum watches and chants, “Throw them to the lions!”. It’s fodder for entertainment. In the same way, unifying around someone’s punishment when we, ourselves, have been unfaithful in person or private to God or our spouses seems a little like a story we find in the bible (Just like we have forgot that we were foreigners living in exile):

A man and a woman are caught in the act of adultery. Only the woman is dragged publicly out (so problematic—where is the man?) and the community gathers around her with stones in hand. To be Jewish wasn’t simply a religious way of life, it was culturally and ethnically an identity. That means, the whole community would have come out to participate in this activity, not just religious people. 

And so the people say, “They deserve this! Jesus, join us in condemning this act.”Which the act was wrong, by the way. No one was innocent. So Jesus says, “Ya go ahead. Because they are millionaires and what they did was so obviously blazen.” OPE: He says, “Ya’ll go ahead but on one stipulation: If you’ve never sinned, you can throw the first stone.” Stoning people was a difficult, communal, bloody task. When Paul witnessed and approved the stoning of Steven, he was like, “let me hold ya’ll’s cloaks!” bc things are about to get gross¹. And I think that’s what I don’t like about this: the ability to dehumanize people because the mob gets together and has a communal enemy. In this case, it’s really easy to not see a millionaire as a human who deserves compassion as much as it is for people to see a Venezuelan immigrant and forgo mercy or compassion. 

What is it about Americans on both sides who are so ruthless with one another? This reminds me of the concept of toxic empathy-- which we’ve had lots of hot takes on this. Jesus was the most empathetic to the outsiders, especially. But you know, Jesus hung out with the rich too because He is for mercy for everyone. And that is radical and unpopular if you consider millionaires or immigrants or the opposing political talking heads your enemy. Look at James Talerico going on the Joe Rogan podcast and the people yelling, “I can’t believe you would have a conversation with a guy like that!”

All that to say, If you’re going to be caught on a jumbotron of life, may you err on mercy as you watch others put on the chopping block. Jesus says to remember that the slapping stick you use on others will come back to slap you. The same amount of mercy you use on others will be given to you. So if you’ve got a big bazooka in your hand, I would consider trading it for a feather. Plus, vengeance belongs to the Lord, and the CEO and his affair partner will face natural consequences that are already happening now. It’s horrific to be the one who was called out and the family that lives with those consequences (ask me how I know!). Not many people had mercy on my husband, but some did. And that mercy brought him to repentance, not berating him up and down with embarrassment and shame. And by their mercy to my husband, they were merciful to me and my children.

I know that’s a lot. So I’ll stop. I’m sure you can tell that I’m avoiding writing a paper for school HA. 

LYLAS,

Jami

1. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ Acts 22:20