"Then took they up stones..."

John Lewis Selover

To anyone who has grown free from the baser instincts of hate and revenge, those words from the Bible are poignant almost beyond description. The whole verse reads, "Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by" (John 8:59).

I thought of this verse while watching television coverage of the Mayor of Boston trying to shield himself from stones thrown during a confrontation between students of different races at South Boston High School. Mayor Flynn and others had rushed there to help defuse the fast-developing tension at the school.

They should not have taken up stones in the temple two thousand years ago. They should not have thrown stones at each other last week at the high school. Jesus passed through the crowd unharmed. In Boston several schoolchildren and the Mayor and a police officer were hit and hurt. Fear, hate, and ignorance fueled the attempt to stone Jesus. Some of the same elements incited the incident in Boston.

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