Greetings and happy Sunday. Margie and I had a great time at Southcliff Baptist this morning studying the 1st chapter of Revelation in small group (thanks Fred for always bringing a great & thought-provoking lesson!) and then onto a new series from Pastor Marr called ‘Bedtime Stories.’ He covers a different childhood Bible story in depth each week and throws in adult perspectives and applications. Today it was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fire. It was so fun & challenging! If you’d like to see today’s message as well as past messages go to Southcliff.com then click on media at the top right.
After church I retired to my usual Sunday afternoon spot, sitting in my Tommy Bahama beach chair in the sun in the backyard, to enjoy my 5MC for the day. I’m moving through John and today started chapter 8, the woman caught in adultery. There’s such a great lesson in this story, let’s dig right in.
Jesus had spent the night at the Mount of Olives (as no one had invited Him to stay at their house) and returned to the temple in Jerusalem the next morning and began teaching. As He was teaching, a group of scribes (lawyers) and Pharisees (religious leaders) brought a woman into the temple & tossed her at Jesus’ feet. “Here is a woman caught red-handed in adultery, the law saws we should stone her to death, what do you say we should do with her Jesus?”
They were right, the Jewish law of the day said that if any man or woman was caught in the act of adultery they were both to be put to death. But where was the man? They only brought the woman. The fact that they didn't bring the guy shows that they were not concerned with enforcing the law, they were concerned with only one thing. They wanted to trip up and trap Jesus into saying something condemning so that they could hopefully accuse Him and put Him to death.
Jesus’ response is amazing. He does not pay attention to the woman or her accusers, He simply kneels and begins to write in the sand. Now this is the only record in the scriptures we have of Jesus writing anything and it was soon erased from history by the wind or the feet of the crowd. More has been written about Him than any other person in history yet here in this story He lets His only known writing be a message that will stand the test of time. What did he write?
Of course, God’s Word doesn’t tell us, but here’s a fascinating suggestion from McGee’s commentary that uses the prophet Jeremiah's God-breathed words. “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the Earth, for they have forsaken the the Lord, the fountain of Living Water.” Jer 17:13. Using this verse it is likely that He simply knelt and started writing their names first along with their past sins. Maybe the name of a Pharisee and then the name of a woman that was a past affair that had been long ago buried in time. Maybe a scribe had left a pregnant girl in Bethlehem years ago and went to great lengths to make sure nobody ever found out. Maybe there was a murderer in their midsts, or a thief or a liar. As they read his writing in the sand it must have been very personal and unbelievably impactful because as they read it they all suddenly remembered they had other pressing appointments and simply turned and left, one by one. They all left until it was just Jesus and the woman remaining.
The one requirement needed to truly judge, is to be pure and sinless. Only Jesus meets this requirement and as He stood before the woman, the last person there, He tells her to “go, and from now on, sin no more”
What a powerful picture here of what can happen when we stand in judgment of each other, not admitting to and addressing the sin in our own lives first. Life can be peaceful & joyous when we only keep our eyes on Jesus and not on others.
Blessings for your Sunday, I hope you take time today to relax and recover. It’s getting really hot out here, I’m gonna go spray myself with the water hose.
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