We have the right
A man knelt naked and frightened, huddled to himself in the centre of a circle of his accusers.
“What shall we do with this man?”, one accuser shouted to the others.
Shouts were returned from all about the great room, angry shouts, full of possibilities and hate.
One said stone him, and another shouted hang him. Burn him insisted one, flog him growled others.
Only one was unaware of the man’s crime, and asked what it was he had done.
The accused slowly and sadly looked up and said, “They have accused me and only seek to punish me. I told them they were wrong, and now they wish to silence me. Isn’t it my right to tell them so?”.
Unsure what to make of the accused words, the uninformed man asked the others.
Indignant for even being asked, the first accuser hissed, “He has spoken against us, surely we have the right to punish such a crime?”.
“What did he say against you?” asked the uninformed man.
Another accuser defended quickly, “He told us we don’t have the right to speak our truth”.
“And what is your truth?” asked the innocent man of them.
Then each accuser began to shout their cause.
“We are one, and he does not believe, we must punish him, that is our right”.
Another said, “No no, it is that we speak the truth and he is a liar, our right to punish him is obvious”.
Yet another joined in and said, “That’s not it, you have it all wrong, it is that we are the just and he is a criminal, that’s why we have the right to punish him”.
After that, the division and hate spread throughout the room, not against the naked man, but rather against each other. Shouts heightened to screams, and screams to violence, and violence to the tearing of clothes, till not even a scrap of material could be gathered, and all now stood naked before the uninformed man.
The unaware man stood from his seat and gestured to the accused in the middle of the floor. "Stand up" he said, "and practice now to forgive each other, for you are all naked. Your words will not warm you, and your blame will not cloak you. But forgiveness is a comfort all can share, and is the true right of everyone. "
God’s blessings,
Rev. Campbell.