“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 1:7)
A guy decided to stick a plastic cup to his lip with Gorilla Super glue. Len Martin, 37, from Louisiana was warned the tip of his lip might have to be surgically chopped off if it doesn't heal properly. His message to people thinking about copying him is: "This is not the challenge you want to try!" (Cup stuck to the face of a man)
There was recently another story about a girl who tried to fix her hair by spraying super glue. The hair got so hard and stuck to her scalp that it didn't move. She went to the emergency and had to have surgery. (Guerilla Gloo Hair-do). The social media and the nightly shows all had a fun time with her, some calling her names and trying to make her look bad. But if we look at our own lives, have not we done similar or even worse things that we are not really proud of? In all ages and even today, there are people who try strange things. I don't know why we call it common sense, but it is not very common. Not everyone has it.
Bishop Porter was traveling on a ship. same cabin- another passenger didn’t look right with his appearance. The Bishop went to the front office and asked them to keep his valuables to keep in safe because he didn’t feel comfortable with the way his cabin mate looked. The office clerk told him, before you came your fellow passenger came here before you, and did the same with his valuables to keep it here. We are quick to judge others before we judge ourselves.
Jewish men (the Pharisees) at the time begin there today with a prayer thanking god for not creating him not a woman or a slave. In this encounter of Jesus, we see a woman caught in sin has been taken to Jesus by the teachers of the law and asks Jesus to pronounce death sentence on her. There are two encounters the woman was facing. clearly identifies two different voices that speak to our situation in life— the pharisees and Christ.
"It is a terrible thing for a sinner to fall into the hands of his fellow sinners.” (F. B. Meyer).
There is a saying: “Every saint has a past; every sinner has a future.” If you are a saint, you do indeed have a past and you would be a better saint if you remembered your past and considered the pit you were in before Jesus found you. If you are a sinner, then by God’s grace you can have a wonderful future if you will come to Christ and trust him as your Lord and Savior.
Jesus said "take out the beam in your eye before you take a speck out your brother's eye." (Luke 6:41)
Adultery was not the real issue in all of this. And it was not the woman that they were really after. Who the scribes and Pharisees wanted to get was Jesus. They wanted to present to Jesus a situation that was impossible to get out of.
It was clear that the Law given to Moses said that she should die. So if Jesus set aside the Law, the leaders would get Him in trouble with the people. But, if He went along with their plan and assented to the stoning of the woman, then they would get him in trouble with Rome, because the Romans forbid the death penalty unless they have special reasons. Jesus’ reaction is totally unexpected. He does not answer them. He does not offer a solution. Instead, He begins to write in the sand. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones…
The crowd wanted to talk about the woman; Jesus wanted to talk about them. Jesus was on the side of the weak. Then came the famous statements of Jesus: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
The great writer Destoiski "if you say that Jesus is on the wrong side of an issue I would rather stand on that side with Jesus"
The finger that wrote the Ten Commandments - twice - gives everyone a second chance. The same finger wrote the Law on tablets of stone for Moses to bring to the people of Israel. Jesus was there with the father.
The finger of God would come again in the time of Daniel with “the writing on the wall.” Dan 5:25 It is then that the finger of God came with judgment to the evil Belshazzar, writing, “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” meaning, “You are weighed in balance and found wanting.” The king’s hips joints were loosened, and his knees knocked against each other. (Dan 5:6). There was no second writing. The King was killed the same night.
The qualifications of the accusers are brought into question. Jesus says, “Anyone here that has not sinned, they can go first!” And there is this gigantic pause. There is no debate! There is not even any discussion. Jesus stoops down and start writing again. He is writing a second time just like He wrote the commandments on the tablet a second time. The stones they were holding in their hands, dropped to the ground. For, convicted by their own consciences, the accusers, one by one, leave the scene. When Jesus writes a second time, the self righteous would not stand before him. But it is grace for the repentant sinner..a second chance
Instead of passing judgment on the woman as these leaders had intended, Jesus passed judgment on the judges. …and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Jesus was neither condemning her nor condoning her sins; He was being compassionate. He is actually fulfilling Moses’ law Lev 19:18 says you have to love and forgive. Matt 22:36-40, Jesus says the greatest of the commandments is to love your brother. The One who was qualified to point the finger refuses to do so. Now that the jury is gone, the woman awaits her verdict. And the One who can condemn, does not. The One who has power to pass judgment, amazingly acquits. The words come that one desperately wants to hear… “Neither do I condemn you.” But do notice this, that Jesus’ forgiveness did not give her permission to remain and continue in her adultery.
Jesus gives us the opportunity to do it right. The woman looks better than the men. No doubt these men were troubled by what Christ said. When Jesus says, “Go and sin no more,” He is saying, “Stop making sin the habit of your life.” You see, we need to understand this correctly…Jesus never merely excuses sin. He never makes a place for it. He never rationalizes it. He forgives and forbids it in the same breath. Jesus continues to pass on a message to us, but it is not written in the sand. It is written on the cross. It is not just written with His hand, but with his blood; not just on stone, but on the walls of our hearts. (Jer 31:33, Rrom 2:15).
Jesus continues to leave a message for us: “Not Guilty.” So many of us live with negative labels. Sometimes they are not our own fault. But so many times they are of our own doing. And as a result, we think that our story is one of failure and shame. But you know, it doesn’t have to be. Because our story can be a story of grace. For it is grace that fixes broken lives. It is grace that heals broken hearts and restores estranged sinners. No matter how severe her sin was, and no matter how severe your sin might be, God’s grace and God’s forgiveness is always greater.
Jesus points us to what we are intended to be. We don’t have to live in our past. We don’t have to live with the label. We don’t have to live a life that is powerless in the face of temptation and sin. We are chosen for something more. a greater purpose. Jer. 31:34 "I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more." Micah 7:19 cast in the depth of the sea - and put a no fishing sign'
One by one these religious hypocrites disappear until no one was left but Jesus and the woman alone.
When all is said and done, it will just be you and Jesus. As the religious leaders walked away from the scandalous scene, all that was left was Jesus and the sinner. So it will be for every one of us sinners at the end of time.
It is all about second chances – God Gives all of us second chances. We are all sinners. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:8)
If you are carrying a stone in your pocket so you can throw at someone, think again. Jesus is writing something on the sand. Look at yourself and repent before you cast stone on your brother or sister. when you point one finger, three fingers point back to you. God’s judgment will follow you. If you are a sinner asking for forgiveness, His grace will save you.
There is a fountain filled with blood.
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
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