Recently I have come to a realisation; when we listen to the news, read the newspaper or other forms of media we hear stories of crimes. Whether it is war crimes, murder, rape, violence, etc we automatically judge the perpetrator and think that they deserve this or that, we have in mind what a fair punishment is. I am guilty, when I see what has happened to the victim I put myself in their shoes and think I have the right to judge as they do not deserve to go through that. Even when you know the whole story, which by the way nobody ever knows the whole story and what that person has gone through, you do not get to judge.
We are not the only people guilty of that, back a long time ago in John a woman was caught in the act of adultery, back in the days when that is an act that could be punished by being stoned to death. It is a more physical example compared to today, but the response that Jesus gave immediately stopped everyone. He said, "Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7b) I can imagine at that moment everyone standing there thinking about their sins, gazing at each other, slowly putting stones on the ground and walking away. Applying that to today instead of thinking how the perpetrator deserves to be punished, commenting on websites about the crime or even writing hate mail. Remember that we are not worthy to judge other sinners, you do not get to pick up that stone.
Yes, what they have done might be horrible and maybe something should be done about it, but the justice system is run by humans, it is never going to be perfect and please everybody. God is the judge, we will never understand how God works and he doesn’t have to explain to us how he is taking care of things, but we must trust that he is fair and just. God is a God of Holy, he cannot stand sin, he is not just going to turn a blind eye to sin. In the story of the woman who committed adultery, after everyone left Jesus said to her "Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:11)
