Oxygen Masks

A story of justice and judgment from the life of Jesus.

You can hear the same words every time you fly a commercial airline. “In the unlikely event the cabin should suddenly lose pressure … please fit the mask securely around your nose and mouth before assisting others.” Those little yellow cups attached to the clear plastic bags and tubes that magically drop from the ceiling are really life-preservers.

That warning goes out countless times every day to those traveling the skies. A little yellow mask might fall from the cabin roof. If it does, secure your own mask first before trying to help anyone else on with their mask. In short—if your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen and you pass out, you will have helped no one.

A spiritual message for our times?

Believers of every denominational background can be replete with opinions, advise, and “constructive criticism” for others—regularly forthcoming without prompting, feeling they have a divine duty to perform. Often it seems couched in righteous vocabulary like “sharing,” or “fellowshipping.” Yet in reality, perhaps it is trying to help someone else on with their oxygen mask, while suffering spiritual depletion themselves because they haven’t first checked their own spiritual condition.

Obviously, if we see sin “in the camp” we have a biblical obligation to see that it is addressed. This is not a point that should be open for debate. There are clear Scriptural principles and procedures to follow all designed to help bring someone who has fallen “off the path,” back into a proper, godly relationship.

But what happens when we attack the problem when our spiritual oxygen masks are out of alignment?

And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:3-7, NASB).

What Yeshua (Jesus) may have been saying to the mob was, “You’re all suffering spiritual depletion in your brains. Let me help you with your life-preserving, spiritual oxygen mask.”

There was a problem. A woman had allegedly (and it has never been demonstrated to be more than an allegation) been caught in adultery. Capital punishment was the appropriate spiritual response—the Bible says so. Being upright, spiritual men, they invoked the Holy Writ—”the Law Moses commanded.” It certainly seemed like they had their oxygen masks in place.

But let’s look at what the “Law of Moses” commands: “If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10).

The accusers seemed to have forgotten someone in their vigilantic fervor—the man who must have also “been caught in adultery, in the very act.” If the two had been caught in the act, then there had to be more than one guilty person. Why only chose the woman to punish? The Torah of the Lord requires both to be stoned so that justice would be meted.

What would it be called if only one suffered the consequences of the sin? Injustice.

“You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial …” (Deuteronomy 16:19).

“… Do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice …” (Exodus 23:1-3).

Further, capital crimes required a trail before the Sanhedrin—the temple court. Today we would call it legal jurisprudence and it has kept many innocent people from going to jail or worse. These Scribes and Pharisees, like so many of us, had already rendered judgment in the court of their own opinions.

“On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6).

As an able solicitor of the Law, Yeshua acted more as the woman’s defendant than her judge. He did not abandon Torah in favor of grace (as is traditionally taught). Rather, He stood on the Torah’s principles and used them to convict the crowd—and proved the need for grace. His challenge to throw the first stone was not so much to the collective conscience as to their allegations. “Who are the witnesses? Who saw what? Where are the spouses? Prove they are lawfully married. Where is your evidence? Was there only one witness? What is the stability of the witnesses—are they reputable people or was this contrived entrapment?” They had unlawfully brought a woman into His court. The Judge of the all the earth knew that to stone someone to death, without having followed the Torah’s clear directives, was murder. Yeshua did not abolish Torah—He fulfilled it.

The crowd, in their righteous enthusiasm, had already violated a minimum of three of “the Law Moses commanded,” perhaps more, let alone the laws of the Temple and of Imperial Rome. Every one of them was guilty and should have stood trial.

We have long read John 8:3-7 and interpreted Yeshua as pouring out unmerited grace on an undeserving woman. But the evidence of the whole Scripture would point to the fact that no one could prove she was guilty.

Perhaps He was telling them how their own oxygen masks—their own veils of spirituality—were askew and their discernment deprived. As a result, their ability to judge rightly and righteously had been perverted. The adulteresses’ case was thrown out of court—not on grace alone—but on a mistrial. Not because Jesus blanketly forgave her sin. He never says he forgave her sin. “‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ And she said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more'” (John 8:10-11).

Yeshua had successfully helped the crowd and the woman on with their spiritual oxygen masks. A travesty of justice had been averted. A sinner—actually many sinners—were given another chance. Biblical justice and the Torah were upheld with one clear and undisputed result—life!

Perhaps this is at the heart of another admonishment of our Messiah: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24, conveniently said right before the example we have been using).

We are called to judge sin, but we are called to do so with our spiritual, life-giving oxygen masks on, practicing righteous discernment. Only then can we truly help someone else on with their mask and avoid spiritual deprivation and a perversion of biblical justice.

If you have a contention with someone in the household of faith, is your own oxygen mask adjusted properly?

This article originally appeared on the Pneuma Foundation website in November 2004. The Pneuma Foundation is the parent organization of PneumaReview.com.