5th Sunday of Lent 2022
Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11
What do you think? Is today’s society tolerant or intolerant? I could add another question—which condition would be preferable?—but I will leave that to one side.
My own view is that it is very much a mixed bag. In many ways, Britain is a far more tolerant country, both for better and for worse, than it was a generation ago; yet it is also, in subtle and sometimes hidden ways, deeply intolerant.
I think that there is a deeper tolerance between the generations. Those of you who grew up in the 50s and 60s may recall the bitter loathing—the only word I can use—with which adults tended to view the musical taste of the rising generation. I suspect that this was rooted in a fear of the rebelliousness or even anarchy which sometimes appeared to accompany rock or pop music, but it could be quite visceral. There were comedians who based their acts in expressions of contempt for the whole culture of popular music, and I recall tabloid headlines when it was revealed that one rising young group didn’t play its own instruments, but made use of session musicians. This was seen as a dreadful scandal, a proof that everything about 60s youth was corrupt and dishonest.
Now, the teenagers of the 60s are the oldies of today; their music is mainstream, and their view of their successors is tempered by their own experience of being demonised. There is an element of crossover between classical and popular music, with orchestras providing background for rock groups, an indication of a lessening of inter-generational intolerance.
Racial intolerance is less obvious than it was fifty years ago, at least in part because of changes in the law—the inflammatory rhetoric of an Enoch Powell, or the “no blacks or Irish” posters in boarding house windows, would now fall foul of the law—but there is no doubt that racism still exists. I wonder whether Ms. Zighari-Radcliffe would have encountered the same torrent of vitriol for daring to criticise successive Home Secretaries, at least two of whom have publicly accepted the validity of her complaints, had her skin been a few shades lighter.
In sexual matters, there is a tolerance which could not have been imagined in the allegedly swinging 60s, yet it is accompanied by a total intolerance of anything which deviates from the prevailing fashion. I haven’t followed closely the issue of JK Rowling’s comments, but I find the venom with which she has been attacked deeply disturbing, and the enthusiasm with which “celebrities” leap onto the bandwagon to snipe at her, downright cowardly.
So was Jesus tolerant or intolerant? Today’s Gospel shows a response to the woman taken in adultery which goes far deeper than either tolerance or intolerance: it is rooted in compassion.
His opponents saw an opportunity to bind Him in a Catch 22 situation. If He approved the stoning of the woman, they could accuse Him of brutality: if He opposed it, He would be rejecting the teaching of Moses. Effectively they are asking “Are you tolerant or intolerant?” Either answer would condemn Him.
Jesus’ response amounts to sheer genius, as He both upholds the moral law, and deals compassionately with the individual, while at the same time revealing to His interlocutors the extent of their own hypocrisy. His silent absorption in His writing—what WAS He writing?—avoids a rush into conflict, something from which we might learn.
Then, He turns the accusers’ questions back on themselves, inviting—indeed, forcing—them to examine their own hearts and their own motivation, something which we ourselves should do before rushing to express ourselves in terms of tolerance or intolerance.
Finally, with His opponents routed, Jesus focuses His attention wholly on the woman, seeing her as a human being, not as a case to be judged. “Has no one condemned you? Neither do I.” These are words which should stagger us by their compassion, but we must not ignore Our Lord’s final command: “Do not sin any more”.
Neither tolerance nor intolerance is really the issue. There is a moral law to be upheld, but transgressors are to be led to repentance, not by pointed fingers and hurled brickbats, but by love, compassion, and a recognition of our own fallibility.
