Are you being shunned by relative, friends, your church, or your community because of a crime or sin that you have committed, a wrong decision that you made, an error of judgment? Perhaps even because of a disease that you are suffering from?
You are not the first to experience this, nor will you be the last. Most people are judgmental by nature.
You have two choices: either you can withdraw from everyone, fall into a depression, and eventually live the life of a hermit, or worse still, commit suicide, or you can admit your guilt, mistake, or condition before the Lord God, ask His forgiveness where appropriate, forgive those who are judging you and proceed to lead a full life to His honour and glory.
God is, and always has been, more merciful than man.
Jesus reproaches the Pharisees:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and anise
and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matter of the law: Justice and mercy
and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." Matt.
23:23
Without mercy, without love, without justice, without faith ... but the leaders and teachers in the church and the community.... Thank the Lord, not all leaders and teachers are the same!
In another instance we find Jesus in the temple and in the presence of an adulteress wife:
"Now early in the mroning He came again into the temple, and all the people came
to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees
brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the
midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very
act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what
do You say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which
to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as
though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up
and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her
first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard
it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the ol-
dest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her,
"Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" she said:
"No one, Lord," And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no
more." John 8:2-11
They brought her right into the church - in public - in full view of the congregation - to the Son of God.
Can you imagine her guilt having been caught in the act of adultery?
Can you imagine her shame having been caught by her very leaders in the church and having been dragged
into the church in full sight of the congregation?
Can you imagine her fear, knowing that the penalty for being caught in the act of adultery was to be stoned to death?
Jesus, however, did not condemn her, but told her:
"Go, and sin no more."
Then we find Jesus healing a leper - his disease was so contagious that he was shunned by his community to such an extent that he was not allowed to live amongst them. He had to live in isolation outside his village. No one was even allowed to touch him or come within a certain distance of him, without him shouting out loud: "Unclean, unclean!"
"Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You
are willing, You can make me clean." Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His
hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." As soon as He had
spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him
and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go
your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses
commanded, as a testimony to them." Mark 1:40-44
Jesus had compassion,
Jesus was willing to talk to him,
Jesus touched the untouchable;
Jesus healed him.
And then sent him on his way, telling him to keep the ordinances of Moses and to be a testimony to the church leaders and his community.
So... you have committed a heinous sin or crime. That was wrong. There is no denying that. You cannot retract from the deed. You have to take responsibility for having done it.
THEN
Turn to God. Confess, repent, and live a life that will be to the honour and glory of God and a testimony to those who shun you, so that ultimately your walk with God will convince them that you have changed, that you regret your past mistakes and are willing to walk in God's ways.
Jesus still is merciful, still has compassion, still is willing to heal, to cleanse...
Thank You, Lord, that You are more merciful than man. Thank you, that You are a God full of love and compassion and forgiveness. Help us to live lives that will glorify You and be a testimony to those around us.
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