Jesus on Death Row by Mark Osler

I just read Mark Osler's Jesus on Death Row:  The Trial of Jesus and American Capital Punishment.  It's worth your time for two reasons.  One, anything that reminds us of what our Savior did for our salvation will only serve to draw us nearer to our most merciful God.  Two, seeing Jesus as a death row inmate forces us to ask whether or not we are loving the least of these in our midst.  It is on this latter point that this book provides much fodder for debate.  As Osler writes, "The more we focus on that story of Jesus, the more the idea of capital punishment becomes troubling." (p4)

Osler says that the, "example of Christ is but one of a number of reasons that the death penalty is not compatible with the Christian faith."  He then reminds us of what Jesus did when he was asked about the death penalty in regards to the woman caught in adultery.

In John 8, Jesus was asked to opine on a lawful execution that was about to occur.  There was no suggestion that the defendant was innocent, or that the crime was minor by the standards of the day.  Jesus did not shrug his shoulders, summarily conclude that the death penalty was necessary or approved in the Old Testament, and walk away.

Rather, he challenged the gathered crowd:  A person without sin should cast the first stone of the stoning.  Famously no one did.  They did not have the moral authority to execute another person even when human law called for it.  Could his teaching be anymore clearer?  Jesus came upon the death penalty, about to be conducted and stopped it.  Imagine if he had come upon an abortion about to be committed and condemned it--I don't doubt that many would take that as an unambiguous moral statement.  (pp4-5)

Whether we support the death penalty or not, I believe we have to wrestle with concepts presented in this book if we are going to seek justice AND mercy in our world.  On the one had we have to take into account the rights of victims while living in a nation that now has a track record of sentencing innocent people to death row.

You can interact with Professor Osler at his blog Osler's Razor.

Comments

[Rebecca J. Schaefer]

My plumb line for sanctity of Life issues has been:
Since I did not create the life, it's not mine (or yours) to take. In other words I cannot morally decide a person's "length of days".
Since it matters when the exact incarnational moment (mo'ed) is that a human being is faced with the personal decision regarding WHO they believe Jesus is, which impacts their eternal destination, another human does not have the right to take moments away from that opportunity.
It all boils down to letting God be the Author of life for each person, and finish His story through to completion...

[Dudley Sharp]

John 8 and the death penalty:
The Woman Caught in Adultery
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact infor below

1) Even anti-death penalty activists Sister Helen Prejean, often inaccurate, get this right: "It is abundantly clear that the Bible depicts murder as a capital crime for which death is considered the appropriate punishment, and one is hard pressed to find a biblical proof text in either the Hebrew Testament or the New Testament which unequivocally refutes this. Even Jesus' admonition "Let him without sin cast the first stone", when He was asked the appropriate punishment for an adulteress (John 8:7) - the Mosaic Law prescribed death - should be read in its proper context. This passage is an entrapment story, which sought to show Jesus' wisdom in besting His adversaries. It is not an ethical pronouncement about capital punishment . Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking.

2) Also see - Misuse and misunderstanding of John 8:7 is quite common. See Forgery in the Gospel of John
www.religioustolerance.org/john_8(dot)htm

3) What about the woman caught in adultery? From “Why I Support Capital Punishment”, by Andrew Tallman, sections 7-11 biblical review, sections 1-6 secular review http://andrewtallmanshowarticles.blogspot.com/search?q=Capital+punishment

In John 8:1-11, the Pharisees bring Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery to see if He will authorize her execution. After He famously says, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” they all depart, and Jesus sends the woman on her way, saying, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way; from now on sin no more.” Of all passages in the Bible, this one most clearly shows that Jesus opposed capital punishment.

First, we should note that this passage is textually dubious. The best manuscripts don’t include it, and both its placement and style controvert its authenticity.

Even so, the Christian community has long considered this an iconic story of Jesus’s mercy. So, to merely throw it out would be inappropriate. Besides, it may well be a legitimate story, just not one included in the John autoscript. Hence, an interpretation would be more helpful than a dismissal.

The trouble is that most people wildly misunderstand this story. The Pharisees’ only reason for bringing this woman to Jesus was to put Him in a dilemma. On the one hand, He couldn’t call for her execution since Roman law prohibited anyone other than a Roman court from doing this. The Pharisees proved they knew this when they later brought Jesus to Pilate rather than killing Him themselves. On the other hand, He couldn’t oppose her execution because this would have proven He was a false prophet for contradicting God’s Law. The passage even explains this in verse 6, “they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him.”

So, the Pharisees wanted to make Jesus a heretic for opposing capital punishment, but He evaded their trap. The tremendous irony is that now, two thousand years later, people who claim to love Jesus teach that He was precisely the heretic His enemies wanted to paint Him as. If Jesus was in fact repudiating capital punishment in this story, then He was neither the Divine Son of God nor even a true prophet. As I’m apparently more reluctant than others to embrace this conclusion, I can’t interpret

Jesus as rejecting the Old Testament here. Had He been, His enemies would have left jubilant rather than ashamed. There are many theories on the meaning of this story, but the one thing we must not do is use it to say Jesus overturned God’s Word as His enemies intended.

4) Do a GOOGLE search for entrapment “John 8:7" and read the results.

snip - more if you wish