A mob of angry Pharisees ascend the Temple stairs early one morning, interrupting Jesus’s teaching. They shove a woman who’d been caught IN THE VERY ACT 😳 of adultery before the crowd & remind them that the law of Moses says to stone her. Then, they ask Jesus this leading question:
“What do YOU say?”
Seemingly unbothered by the rude interruption, He doesn’t respond. Instead, The Word, being reminded of The Word, bends down & pens something in the dust.
What’d He write?
The men continue to pepper Him, demanding an answer. He finally stands & says one of the most compelling statements of all time:
“All right (He agrees!), but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”
The One who came to fulfill the law, agrees with the Law, & augments it with a question that arrests the men in honest humility.
They knew how many times THEY’D ascended the temple stairs to make a sacrifice for their OWN sins, so they begin slipping away until Jesus was left with the woman.
The men were right that this was wrong, but they were not called to become judge, jury & executioner!
The only One Who’d never sinned & had the RIGHT to cast the first stone, DIDN’T!
Oh, how my eyes leak at the care, patience & compassion of our Savior! He loves us even when we are caught in the act! He doesn't shrink back in disgust or react. He agrees with the accusers & gives them permission to fulfill the law IF they had no sin.
The very hand of God penned The Law & here, The Son of God, penned the impossibility of that Law with one statement. Nobody could cast a stone because they were ALL sinners…& SO ARE WE!
We are living in a time where it’s easy to become judge, jury & executioner, but woe to us when we do!
Jesus asks the woman if anyone was left to condemn her.
She replies, “No, Lord.”
And just like the dust blowing away in the wind, He says, “Neither do I. Go & sin no more.”
Did you catch that she called Him, “Lord”?
In that brief interaction, she experiences an inexplicable, undeserved love that woos her to give ownership rights to Jesus.
He won her heart with love & revealed what was in the Pharisees’ hearts with that same love.
How might WE love with This love?
1 SAMUEL 15:1-16:23
JOHN 8:1-20
PSALM 110:1-7
PROVERBS 15:8-10
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