Thought of the Day !!

There is a story in the Gospel of John where a woman is caught in the act of adultery and brought to Jesus by the religious teachers and Pharisees in an attempt to trap him into saying something they could hold against him.  This is a wonderful story.  But today I want to point out the ending.  Jesus has just told the accusers that whichever one of them is without sin can be the first one to cast a stone at her (for stoning was the punishment according to the Law of Moses).  This is what happens after they all leave.

Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?" "No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."

                                                              John 8:10-11 (NLT)

  

It’s easy to stand in judgment of others.  We can act much like the religious teachers and Pharisees and point fingers at others.  But when we realize that if we put ourselves in this story, we stand right there with the woman before Jesus.  Our list of sins may be different.  But we’re right there in the same boat she was in.  We’re guilty.

The only one there who had the right to throw stones was Jesus.  He was the only one (and still is the only one) without sin.  But He doesn’t. He shows compassion.  He gives her (and us) another chance at redemption. 

Notice, he doesn’t condone the sin.  He says to go and sin no more.  He knows that if he just lets her off the hook, she will go back into the same old routine of sin that got her in trouble in the first place.

He wants us to get out of the lives that are taking us away from God and ruining us.  He doesn’t condone the kind of living that hurts us.  But at the same time he also doesn’t strike us down because we’ve messed up.  He is the ultimate example of compassion.

In the love of Christ,
greg