WHILE reading ‘Papillon’ and enjoying every page of it. It was written by Henri Charriere, a Frenchman convicted of murder, imprisoned on an island, over eighty years ago, and how he tried to escape again and again, one portion touched me, and here he talks about a Dr Germain Guibert who came as a medical doctor to the island; he says of him ‘the doctor had never shaken hands with a guard, whatever his rank, but he often shook mine…” That doctor made a profound impact on the mind of a man who till then thought he was scum. With that touch, the criminal realized he was being recognized as a man of honour, which made him feel good about himself. How often we fail to do this to someone who has done something wrong. We judge that person harshly, forgetting that even as a God forgives, we don’t.
I remember while being a part of a prison ministry, there was a cry of help from a convicted rapist, and immediately every member of the committee felt we should not help him, “He’s a rapist!” they said, and in my mind, came the words of Christ, who said, “ whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery, with her in his heart!”
And I wondered how many of we rapists were judging another rapist in that meeting! Here’s a poem I’d like you to go through carefully today: I was shocked, confused, bewildered as I entered Heaven’s door, Not by the beauty of it all, by the lights or its decor. But it was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp— the thieves, the liars, the sinners, the alcoholics, the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbour who never said anything nice. Kumar, who I always thought was rotting away in hell, was sitting pretty on cloud nine, looking incredibly well. I nudged the angel, “What’s the deal? I would love to hear Your take. How’d all these sinners get up here? God must’ve made a mistake.
And why’s everyone so quiet, so sombre? Give me a clue.” “Hush, Bob,” said he. “They’re all in shock. No one thought they’d see you! Yes, dear friend, even as we judge others, remember you and I may not be above, being judged..!
