Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace is easy to judge and to joke about. But coming as it did during this high holy season should give us pause before doing so.
Many will replay the Passion story and deride the crowd who shouted "give us Barabbas!" instead of choosing Jesus, the Way to life, and to truth and to peace and to heaven. Yet the choice must be for all of his Way. Believers must therefore seek not merely righteousness, but also mercy and charity and humility. Their offers of prayers and support are due the fallen, especially for brethren who admit error and strive for reconciliation, as has Spitzer. A refusal to do so is a rejection of the Way and a choice for Barabbas.
To be human is to err. We choose Barabbas when we knowingly do an unethical or dishonest act or, conversely, fail to act mercifully when others have chosen Barabbas. When we consider that we all have chosen Barabbas, willingly or not, at one time or another it becomes much easier to show such compassion.
Ultimately, it is in our openness to removing the board from our own eyes that we can help others remove the speck from theirs. In the process, we find our own redemption.
Rejecting Barabbas, we have risen to the highest choice.
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