Clifton Williams was headed to the courthouse in Joliet, Illinois to support his cousin, who was going to be sentenced. At the precise moment that Judge Daniel Rozak was reading the sentence, Clifton let out a loud yawn. Because of that ill-timed yawn, the judge cited Clifton for contempt of court and handed down a sentence of six months of jail time.

Ironically, his cousin, who was scheduled to be sentenced, only got probation. But Clifton, who went to court to support his cousin, would go straight to jail. In the aftermath of this story, discussions ensued on cable news channels about judicial power, about Judge Rozak's history of passing down extreme contempt charges, and even about the nature of yawning. Clifton's father argued that a yawn is an involuntary action. The prosecutor in the courtroom that day said, "It was not a simple yawn—it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings." Was Clifton's yawn a premeditated first-degree offense? Will the truth about the yawn ever emerge? However innocuous or flagrant the yawn, Clifton Williams probably wishes he would have held it in.

In the end, Clifton only served a few days of the six-month sentence. But after the case was over the question still lingered: Was the judge's penalty excessive? Some people reacted with disbelief; others were outraged, but almost everyone (except Judge Rozak) agreed that the punishment did not fit the crime. Of course the judge had the authority to hand down a contempt sentence against Clifton. Judges have broad discretion under the law on the issue of contempt charges. But was the judgment fair? Was it just?

Possible Preaching Angles: God, wrath of; Judgment; Hell—For many people in our culture, the wrath or judgment of God seems about as arbitrary and capricious as Judge Rozak's contempt ruling. In other words, they think that God's punishments do not fit our crime. Use this illustration to identify with people's assumptions but then to point to the true nature of God's justice and God's rulings.