Is this misplaced "delight"?

Back in July I wrote a *post about the couple caught on camera at the Coldplay concert. I took the side of not publicly mocking them for their scandalous behavior, quoting a blogger who said, "saints treated sinners like wounded members of their own body. They were grieved, not scandalized."

I still support my position, recalling how Jesus reacted to the Woman Caught in Adultery: 

"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  John 8:7 

"Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.” John 8:10-11 

Notice Jesus did not laugh at her. Her didn't humiliate or shame her like the scribes and the pharisees who put her right in the middle of the crowd.
 
This came up for me again after hearing the popular Christian activist say, "We should delight in the fun [of the moment they were caught on camera.]" 

The same Christian activist, in his podcast, went on and on about shame and how he thought it was great that they got caught so as to bring their sin to public judgment. He also referenced our "all-seeing holy judge who calls us to righteousness" and that "God is always watching us. That God is always judging us."

The God I believe in isn't breathlessly waiting to catch me in my sin so that he can shame me. The God I believe in wants to catch me doing good. Yes, he holds me accountable for my sins, and he knows what I'm doing, but he's not waiting to pounce. That's not a loving God. 

If your spouse, or your adult child, were caught in public in an immoral situation such as the couple on camera, I hope that you would not "delight in the fun" but grieve in their woundedness. 

Why would we ever celebrate someone's shame and sin? 

That's not what Jesus did when he caught the woman in adultery. 

Of course adultery is shameful, but these harsh words of the podcaster,
". . . the memes are hilarious . . . they deserve [to have] their reputation wrecked. They should repent. These people are the lowest of the low," are a far cry from a true Christian response.

I'm thankful that our God is a God of mercy and love because we aren't perfect. The harshness reflected in the activist's words directed at the individuals (not just their sin) was in itself shameful.

Who hopes for the ruin of others due to their sin?

Our sins are not private, because they do affect others (even when done in secret.) I know the activist was trying to make this point. However, his glee in their getting caught was disgusting.

Be careful that someone does not "tickle your ears" so that you jump on a bandwagon that, in actuality, reveals your own dark judgments against people who think, live and act differently than you.

Helping others recognize sin is one thing. Condemning them is another. 

Let's leave the judging to God.

Janet Cassidy

Email me at:  jmctm2@gmail.com

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*https://janetcassidy.blogspot.com/2025/07/will-you-be-stone-thrower-coldplay-and.html#comment-form