Casting the proverbial stone

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

What happened to Jack Neo over the past weeks had been quite sad for him and his family. In many ways, I feel that this particular passage applies a lot to his situation. A man who stand being condemned by the public found forgiveness from his family.

I find it both amusing and disgusting to read that so many people in the public were so outraged over the event that they sprouted all sorts of condemnations and accusations and comments, such as the wife should not have forgiven him, his press conference was not sincere enough, he is a perverted man who preyed on little girls etc. The most ridiculous one was that his church was responsible... As I reflected back on these, I found so much similarities in these attitudes with the Pharisees found in the above passage, people who are ready to throw the stones at the adultress.

But yet, Jack Neo is just another man who had sinned. His wife has forgiven him for nuts' sake and I believe this is all it's needed for his life to start back on track. It was the same issue as with Tiger Woods too, except he was more unfortunate to find that his wife left him too.

To some extent, Mrs Neo's willingness to forgive Jack Neo reminded me of a testimony in church last Easter, of a couple who had to go through many tough times in order to get their lives back on track. I saw the parallel. And I believe for the Jack Neo saga, the answer is found in John 8:11. Though people still condemned him, he should be given the chance to start all over again, and leave his life of sin (in this case, adultery) and rebuild his life back again.