Stonecatchers
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God?” —MICAH 6:8 (NRSVA)
For lawyer Bryan Stevenson, doing justice has meant spending a lifetime not only being a witness to injustice, but working to reverse it. He continues to fight a system that treats those who are rich and guilty better than those who are poor and innocent. He is compelled by the story in John 8, when Jesus stands in front of a woman about to be stoned. “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her,” he says (John 8:7, NET). One at a time, the convicted men drop their rocks and walk away. Bryan says this instance reminds him not to be a stonethrower, but a stonecatcher.
Advent ushers in the promise of justice. But perhaps it is not justice as the world sees, but justice as Jesus defines it. Justice that is inherently linked to mercy. To paraphrase theologian G.K. Chesterton, the innocent call for justice and the guilty call for mercy. The only way we can know what justice looks like in any circumstance is to look to Jesus, the ultimate stonecatcher. The one who calls us to forgiveness, who embodies mercy on the cross, who challenges us to turn the world upside-down (or maybe right-side up) this Christmas, to see people not as the worst thing they’ve ever done, but through a lens of love and grace.
REFLECT
1. How do you understand the relationship between justice and mercy?
2. Jesus came to be the judge who knows how to thread the needle between justice and mercy. What is the justice you seek? What is the mercy you long for?
RESPOND
Jesus told the religious leaders of his day that morality was bigger than their rules could contain, and yet it could be summed up in two simple principles: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31) Think about the most unjust situation in your world right now. How might these principles help to address it?
A Blessing for Savoring Advent
O God, we’re here at the tipping point when Advent has poured out all her wisdom, every blessing and every gift of anticipation’s store.
They are ours already.
Tucked into our pockets, waiting to be drawn out and treasured in the time of this new mystery before us, your holy birth and our celebration.
Bless us this Christmas though we are not ready.
Slow us down, so that we will be able to remember your truth, your compassion, your restoration, your justice.
And that good things come in small packages.
Portable, and human-sized, for your burden is light.
GOING DEEPER
Learn more about how Bryan Stevenson discovered this idea of being a stonecatcher from a mother sharing mercy to other mothers. Watch this beautiful story (4 minutes).
Take this conversation further. Use this podcast discussion guide with friends or a small group to explore more of what it means to be a stonecatcher.