Have You Ever Been Caught in the Act?

Hand in the cookie jar? Cookie crumbs all over your face? Have you ever been frozen in your tracks when the lights came on? Rendered motionless like a deer in the headlights? Frozen with your heart pounding through your chest? Gotten a ticket for speeding?

Our minds can go all over the place with that question. I remember, as a little girl, that I found a package of gum on the floor at the store and slipped it in my pocket. My Mom caught me “in the act” and promptly made me say “I am sorry” and hand it to the cashier. That simple “caught in the act” has stayed with me to this day and it has kept me honest – even to the point that if a cashier gives me too much change back, I’ll quickly return it. I even took back two metal cups to Chili’s that held the sauces in my “to go” box. Being “caught in the act” can certainly keep us on top of our honesty and integrity.

In my grandson’s debate tournament last year, they were debating what keeps a criminal from recommitting the same crime again. Some would say that “stiff punishment” is what would do it. Others debated that rehabilitation programs would be the answer to getting their lives together and on a road to honesty. Others would say being “caught in the act” was enough punishment for them to not recommit the crime.

This post was inspired when I read the scriptures about the woman who was “caught in the act” of adultery (John 8:1-11). The super religious Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught “in the act”.They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, ”Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery.” I love this story because I love the greatest LOVER she had ever encountered, Jesus, who simply started drawing in the sand. Some scholars say (and I tend to prefer this thought) that Jesus started writing in the sand the sins of each of those who brought her to them, and they all slipped away. Jesus asked her “Where are your accusers?” And she replied “There are none!” Oh, how I love Jesus! He had, and has, so much extravagant love to give.

There really are times when it is a good thing for us to be “caught in the act”. Why? Because otherwise we can deny until our hearts become perfectly hardened, as hard as a rock. When we continue to ‘get away with it’, it becomes easier to be more untruthful, become slicker and slicker, and even more lives get entangled in our mess. When we are confronted face to face with our mess, and take our mess to the lover of our souls, we find grace. That woman found the loving grace of Christ.

While being “caught in the act” tends to have negative connotations, I want to turn it on its head and change our mindset to being “caught in the act” of goodness, mercy, and kindness. Jesus set the example for us. The woman was “caught in the act” of adultery. Jesus was “caught in the act” of forgiveness and healing. Jesus was “caught in the act” of raising the dead when he saw a widow grieving at her only son’s funeral. Jesus was “caught in the act” of multiplying loaves and fishes to feed over 5,000 men, plus women and children. Jesus was “caught in the act” of welcoming the little children to come to him.

I’ve changed my way of thinking. Though I don’t want to look for the applause of those who see if I’m “caught in the act” of anything, I want my “caught in the act” to be consoling someone who needs a friend, giving kindness and mercy when someone didn’t really deserve it; giving to that one who is struggling and putting my arms around that one that needs encouragement. If you were “caught in the act” today, what would you hope you were doing?