Throwing Stones

     The other day, I was sitting outside on the patio of a deli near my school, enjoying the fresh, warm air, eating my favorite salad, drinking tea and soaking in the glory of being almost done with my Junior year of college. That's when it happened. Two tattooed women came out to the table next to me, lit up their cigarettes and talked quite loudly about getting laid and how much they love their grand kids (in the same conversation). It was honestly the weirdest conversation I've ever been a witness to. What I didn't realize at that moment was that I had instantly started judging them. I was annoyed with them the moment they came through the door and that made me even more judgmental of their conversation, the way they looked, and the smoke that was blowing in my direction.
 
     I'm ashamed to say that I was so annoyed that it made me angry when one woman took out her journal and began to talk about what God was doing in her life. She then began talking about people that I love to read: Richard Foster, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Thomas Keating. What distress I was in!! Cringing as I heard these men discussed by two women who clearly weren't in any position to appreciate them.

     It was only after they left and I had thoroughly discounted them did I realize what had just occurred  I had just been counted among the Pharisees. In Luke 7, Jesus is dining with some Pharisees when a woman entered the house, broke a flask of perfume, and washed His feet. The Pharisees were so offended. All they saw was wasted perfume and a woman who was not worthy of love, respect, or their company. They were judgmental of her actions because they had already decided that she was not worthy to appreciate the value of the perfume that she had so foolishly disposed of.

     In that moment, I did the same thing. I discounted those women as unworthy and clearly not capable of seeing the value of these people they were talking about. In a sense, I had taken it upon myself to deem them not worthy of the Savior's love. Now, I don't know their hearts. I don't know how much or what parts of their conversation was genuine. But who am I to judge that? At what point did I stop loving people and start condemning them? When did this sense of religion take over my life to the point that I stopped valuing people? As Christians, we have thrown too many stones and it's time for us to go back to the basics of what Jesus taught and truly love and value those around us instead of pretending like we are better than them while silently condemning them.