Judge Bradley’s Sins Are Partly Our Own

There is a series of folk tales from Great Britain in which a member of the community must, as his way of earning a living, eat a feast from the body of the recently deceased. By doing so, he symbolically eats the sins of the dead person so that he or she may be risen to heaven.

The “sin eater” takes on these sins and carries them as his own until he dies. The accumulated sins of the community go with him to hell, unless he can find someone else to take his role before he dies.

In our community, we have several persons who play this role, albeit not as clearly. Clergy, psychotherapists and judges carry the sins and burdens of judgment, morality and emotional suffering.

It is remarkable that these persons are also the clearest targets of judgment and blame when they fail as individuals or in their roles.

Judge Robert Bradley is such a person. Those who have worked with him have almost universally spoken and written about his fine and fair work as a judge.

Those who have not worked so closely with Judge Bradley or who carry their own “shadow” in hidden places target him as a sinner, an evil man who is a threat to our community. They write that he should be dispensed with because he is weak and because his personal failure has seeped into the courthouse, contaminating it with disease and badness.

The courthouse, however, is a place that is designed to contain and control the badness in society. Having worked in the courthouse for several years myself and having continued to work with people in emotional pain (many of whom seek relief in the courthouse), I know firsthand the steady diet of evil and pain. Every day, those who work there must “eat the sins” of those who seek relief.

We expect our judges to be immune and to transcend the burdens the community brings to them. As a society, we expect them to always be wise, strong and heroic, and to not succumb to personal problems.

It is incumbent upon us all to have compassion for Judge Bradley and other public figures who demonstrate their weakness and humanity in the face of our own fears. We continue to expect them not to fail us. Sometimes, they fail themselves.

When and if Judge Bradley is permitted to return to his work should be secondary to our concern for him, and to our gratitude. Thank you, Judge, for your willingness to eat our sins. Our thanks and our prayers are with you.