"I Love My Life"

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had some of the best conversations of probably my life all due to the fact that they were 100% open, 100% honest and 100% non-judgmental. I think that sheer honesty is something so lacking in the Christian community today, and without it we are robbing each other of the kind of relationships God desires for us to have with each other. There is so much freedom in having a community where you can talk honestly about what our struggles are, without fear of judgment or condemnation, but with the full knowledge that they are my brothers and sisters in Christ who will spur me on in my daily walk with God. They call me out when I do something stupid, hold me accountable in areas that I struggle with, and never reject me for making the same mistake for the 118th time.

Can you think of a time, maybe when you were little, and you did something wrong, thought you got away with it, but then your parents found out? There’s a moment of shock when we see that they know… then the guilt sets in, then the fear of punishment and consequences.

It is against our human nature to expose ourselves or admit that we were wrong. Our natural instinct is to pass the blame onto someone else or divert the attention by calling someone else out on something that is “worse” than our own fault. However, only when we expose our sin can we be truly comfortable with who we really are, and ultimately be set free.


John 8:1-11 (New International Version)

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11”No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”


Background on the Culture:

Jewish law required that a person be caught in the very act of adultery if the strictest penalties were to apply. Witnesses were required to warn the people involved so they had at least one chance to repent and change their ways.

The unlikelihood of two witnesses catching a person in the act of adultery suggests that cases were often set up by husbands who wanted to get rid of their wives. (Matthew 5:27-30 shows Jesus did not approve of any procedure in which the women’s sin is taken more seriously than the man’s. He condemns double standards.)


Comments:

As the woman was being pursued by a mob, having her sins openly announced to her friends and family, was probably feeling ashamed, and worthless. This would be the equivalent of having your picture plastered on a billboard with a list of all your sins underneath your name, for everyone to see. I don’t know if I could handle this kind of public humiliation. She was paraded in front of her neighbors, relatives, friends, enemies, and finally, Jesus. She was most likely not fully dressed, which lead to even further humiliation. In an instant, her entire life’s decisions, failures, downfalls, and worst sin were revealed for her entire world to see and judge.

I wonder if this woman knew who Jesus was. The Pharisees addressed him as “Teacher,” so she would know that he is someone to be respected. At the very least, he was someone to be embarrassed in front of. As she stood there, feeling and hearing the judgmental comments and the condemning stares of everyone upon her, she must have just felt like giving up. There was no need for explanation — everyone could plainly see what she had done. I wonder if she had understood who this Jesus was, if she would still commit the same sins.

This hits home for me because I know who Jesus is, I have a relationship with him, and yet I still sin every single day. Wow.

This would be the modern day equivalent of taking a student on a college campus and parading her in front of the entire student population in her dishevelment and nakedness, and throwing her in front of the Dean of Yale and saying, “What should we do about this woman?”

Women in Biblical times were not treated as equals, and therefore were not allowed to give an explanation for their sins. If they were to be pardoned, their husband would have to do stand up for her and defend her. Jesus became her defender in this situation — and he does this for us even still. The woman before Jesus now did not even attempt to say anything. I cannot even imagine if I would have the capacity and mental ability to say anything if I was standing before my entire community, ashamed, disgraced, and exposed.

When Jesus said nothing in response to the Pharisee’s question, He bent down and began writing in the dust. In this act of bending down, He was humbling himself so that he wouldn’t be better than this accused woman. This was an incredible act of mercy and grace. I’ve always wondered what He was writing. Some suspect it was the sins of the woman’s accusers. He then refused to become the woman’s accuser Himself (the Hebrew word for accuser is Satan) while reminding her that her behavior was a sin. I believe He would have welcomed her into His company at that very moment. How many sinners like her would be welcome in our company? Mark 2:17 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Pharisee’s intention in bringing this woman before Jesus was to trap him. Psychologists claim that we subconsciously hate in others those weaknesses we most despise in ourselves. When we become Christians we don’t stop being sinners and if we’re not careful this subconscious loathing of our own sinfulness can cause us to harden our hearts toward others instead of having the compassion that should result from the forgiveness we’ve received. Some Christians hate people who do things they themselves would secretly like to do (or have done and still carry the guilt for). It’s like we’re saying, “If I can’t get away with this then I’ll make sure you can’t either.” And yet the only difference between the sinner and the saint is the decision to accept the pardon the Lord purchased with His blood.

Jesus’ purpose in acting in the way that he did is shown in John 8:15-16: 15You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. But judgment was not Jesus’ primary purpose. John 3:17 states: ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its Saviour.’ Jesus’ aim was to save people from the evil that beset them, whether in their personal relationships like the woman here, or in illness. These verses present Jesus calling them to a new life, not condemning them for the wrong they had done.

Some of the main qualities that Jesus portrayed in this passage are grace, forgiveness, respect for the woman, righteousness – only God can judge, called the Phariseees out on their own sins, compassion, mercy, love.

We can apply these qualities to ourselves in the way that we act and react to and with people, being “slow to anger but abounding in love”, “slow to speak,” show compassion to those around us, give mercy to those who fail, and forgiveness to those who wrong us.

Her sin made her feel singled-out and made her feel alone.

The whole point of Christian community iis to grow, but also to be held accountable. It should be a safe place where we can open up and hold each other accountable – without the fear of judgment. Christians should never want anyone to feel alone in what they do: We all sin. We all have struggles and insecurities. We all need God the exact same amount. My prayer is that we can show the kind of love that Jesus showed towards sinners, and that we can be accepting and non-judgmental, but also support each other because without community, we have nothing.

I love the last verse of this passage: “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” That is the Gospel. Right there. Jesus did not come to judge and condemn and make us feel horrible that we are imperfect and fail daily. He came to say, I don’t condemn you — I love you, I will defend you, I will fight for you because I love you. I want you to leave your life of sin because I have something so much better planned for your life than that.

“Do not condemn,” He said, “And you won’t be condemned.” (Luke 6:37)