Then we shall not turn back from You. Give us life and we shall call upon Your name!
Restore us, O Lord, God of hosts! Let Your face shine that we may be saved! (Verses 18-19)
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14
She was taken from her bed by a group of religious men who wanted to see her dead. Her crime? Adultery. Of course, she wasn't alone in this. There was a man involved. But maybe he was part of the local men's group at the synagogue. Never mind him. They wanted to kill the woman. Make a spectacle of her to Jesus, Who had come early that day to teach at the synagogue. Maybe they could trip Him up. How could Jesus possibly disagree with her death sentence?
The quiet of the synagogue was invaded by the angry mob who threw the half-naked woman on the ground in front of Jesus. "Teacher, this woman was caught just now in the very act of adultery!" Shivering with shame and covering her head against the certain onslaught of large stones that will be her death, she lay there in their midst. "The Law of Moses commands us to stone this woman. So, what do You say?"
Of course Jesus knew this was a test. If He answered incorrectly, they'd be more than happy to stone Him, too. He stooped down. Doodled in the sand. What's He writing there. The men tried to get a closer look. Maybe the ten commandments. Maybe nothing but doodle. But the crowd kept asking Jesus the same question. Can't you just hear them? "We asked You a question, Rabbi. Are You going to answer it?"
Jesus stood up and looked into their self-righteous, sneering faces. This wasn't about the Law of Moses. Not about honoring the Father by obeying the commands He gave them. This was about these men feeling superior to the woman lying there on her face. "Let the one of you who is without any sin in your own life pick up the first stone and throw it at her."
Then He waited. Because He knew every single one of them. Jesus stooped down near the woman again. Not looking into the faces of the hypocrites as they walked away, one by one. When they were all gone, Jesus stood again. "Woman, where are your accusers?" At first she only lifted her head from the dirt to look around at the dusty footprints arranged in a circle around her. "Has no one condemned you?" She looked up into His face then, as he helped her to her feet. "No one, sir," she said, mesmerized by His eyes. No judgment there. The only One in the group Who had the right to pronounce her guilty had bent down into her shame to set her free. And as the early morning light spread across His face, Jesus gazed at her, a slight smile playing on the corners of His mouth. Not of mirth. But of compassion. To soften not her sin, but her heart. "I don't condemn you either. You are free to go your way." She felt faint. So close to death. Now so near to Life. "But, dear woman, don't sin with this man...or any man...any more."
It is our story. This one. Caught in the very act. Covered in shame. The shame that makes us keep on doing what we are doing. The great accuser reminds us all the time how flawed and miserable we are. But those of us who have looked into that Face no longer need to fill the emptiness of our lives with lesser stuff. Out of His glory onto our dust, taking our stoning so we could go free, He stooped to make us great (Psalm 18).
For God, Who said: "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4
Restore us, O Lord, God of hosts! Let Your face shine that we may be saved! (Verses 18-19)
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14
She was taken from her bed by a group of religious men who wanted to see her dead. Her crime? Adultery. Of course, she wasn't alone in this. There was a man involved. But maybe he was part of the local men's group at the synagogue. Never mind him. They wanted to kill the woman. Make a spectacle of her to Jesus, Who had come early that day to teach at the synagogue. Maybe they could trip Him up. How could Jesus possibly disagree with her death sentence?
The quiet of the synagogue was invaded by the angry mob who threw the half-naked woman on the ground in front of Jesus. "Teacher, this woman was caught just now in the very act of adultery!" Shivering with shame and covering her head against the certain onslaught of large stones that will be her death, she lay there in their midst. "The Law of Moses commands us to stone this woman. So, what do You say?"
Of course Jesus knew this was a test. If He answered incorrectly, they'd be more than happy to stone Him, too. He stooped down. Doodled in the sand. What's He writing there. The men tried to get a closer look. Maybe the ten commandments. Maybe nothing but doodle. But the crowd kept asking Jesus the same question. Can't you just hear them? "We asked You a question, Rabbi. Are You going to answer it?"
Jesus stood up and looked into their self-righteous, sneering faces. This wasn't about the Law of Moses. Not about honoring the Father by obeying the commands He gave them. This was about these men feeling superior to the woman lying there on her face. "Let the one of you who is without any sin in your own life pick up the first stone and throw it at her."
Then He waited. Because He knew every single one of them. Jesus stooped down near the woman again. Not looking into the faces of the hypocrites as they walked away, one by one. When they were all gone, Jesus stood again. "Woman, where are your accusers?" At first she only lifted her head from the dirt to look around at the dusty footprints arranged in a circle around her. "Has no one condemned you?" She looked up into His face then, as he helped her to her feet. "No one, sir," she said, mesmerized by His eyes. No judgment there. The only One in the group Who had the right to pronounce her guilty had bent down into her shame to set her free. And as the early morning light spread across His face, Jesus gazed at her, a slight smile playing on the corners of His mouth. Not of mirth. But of compassion. To soften not her sin, but her heart. "I don't condemn you either. You are free to go your way." She felt faint. So close to death. Now so near to Life. "But, dear woman, don't sin with this man...or any man...any more."
It is our story. This one. Caught in the very act. Covered in shame. The shame that makes us keep on doing what we are doing. The great accuser reminds us all the time how flawed and miserable we are. But those of us who have looked into that Face no longer need to fill the emptiness of our lives with lesser stuff. Out of His glory onto our dust, taking our stoning so we could go free, He stooped to make us great (Psalm 18).
For God, Who said: "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4
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