Article September 26, 1925 Issue

Loving Our Neighbor

BURT K. FILER

That the compassionate reassurance and the loving admonition of Jesus to the erring woman in the temple on a day so long ago have done much to comfort and redeem mankind, no one will question. Perhaps there is no incident in human history more illuminating or more instructive, when we do not permit an emotional sense of it to overshadow its practical application to everyday life. We may sometimes forget that the Master's, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more," would not be the perfect exemplification of healing love that it is, did it carry the slighest tinge of condemnation, or the recognition of the reality of evil.

As we read this story in the eighth chapter of John, we learn that Jesus' attitude toward the charge presented by the scribes and Pharisees was distinctly nonreceptive, "as though he heard them not." His position throughout, however, was just and merciful both to the accusers and to the accused.

This characteristic event in the life of Jesus, with its lasting influence through the centuries, not only seems to prove conclusively that condemnation is the antipode of the healing Christ, "who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases," but emphasizes a most essential quality of healing thought—"as though he heard them not." As Jesus did not permit the accusation to enter his consciousness, he was in the best position to destroy it in another's.

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