5^th Sunday of Lent, C           March 25, 2007

A group of high school students were assigned to do a service project at a community outreach center.  The center was located in a neighborhood several miles away from their school.

When they arrived for orientation, they saw a homeless man asleep on the sidewalk in front of the center, located in an old rundown building.  The students snickered and made cruel jokes about the man, the building, and the neighborhood.

When they went inside the center, there was a note at the front desk: Back in 10 minutes.  Have a seat.

The students took seats in the waiting area.  A few minutes later, the homeless man wandered into the center.  The students smirked as he fixed himself a cup of coffee.  But their whispers turned to stunned silence when he removed his shabby overcoat.  The students recognized immediately that this was not a vagrant.

"Welcome.  I'm Tom Gallagher, the director of the center."

The students realized that Mr. Gallagher had heard everyone of their vicious jokes. They just sank into their chairs, never more embarrassed in their lives.

"Let this be your first lesson in community service," Mr. Gallagher said quietly, "You can't truly reach out to people if your judge them or make fun of them.  A person's appearance has little to do with character.  We are all human beings who will need the help of one another at some point in our lives."

What happens when we unfairly judge other people is the subject of today’s Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery.

We might call the approach of the scribes and Pharisees “Stone Age Justice.”  Cruelly judge the woman then kill her by stoning.

But Jesus offered the woman something very different, forgiveness and a new start.  Would that the world has learned Jesus’ lesson, but “stone age justice” is, tragically, still, very much alive.

Case in point:  In Northern Sudan the harsh Islamic shari’ah law is in effect.  There, during the past month two Sudanese women were convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning during a trial held in Arabic, which is not their native language.  No lawyer and no interpreter were provided them at their trial.  The law allows them to be executed at any time.  One of the women has one of her children with her in prison.

How do I know about this?  From the human rights group Amnesty International.  For the past 30 years I have participated in its Urgent Action Network, sending a monthly letter or telegram or FAX to a foreign government official on behalf of someone in imminent danger of human rights abuse.

This month I appealed to the Mexican government to protect a woman who has received anonymous death threats for protesting the human rights violations of three men who are unjustly imprisoned.

Such appeals often have dramatic positive effects.  Two years ago in Sudan’s western Darfur region, a woman sentenced to death by stoning had her punishment reduced to lashing after a public campaign by human rights activists.

It’s easy to get involved in the work of Amnesty International. It’s very spiritually rewarding to protect innocent people around the world from unjust imprisonment, torture, or death.  All you have to do is Google “Amnesty” on your computer, and you are off and running.