John 8: 1- 12
There are so many
lessons in this story. The verse that
spoke to me today
“He who is without
sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” These were scribes and Pharisees that he was
speaking to, the ones who are strict followers of the Law of God and were
following him around picking out everything he did wrong. It was a pretty risky move on Jesus’
part. But whatever he wrote in the sand
put a damper on the stoning, and they all left one by one, the oldest to the
youngest. Of course he could have thrown
the first stone; but he didn’t. He
didn’t even condemn her for the wrong she had done. He simply said, “Go and sin no more.”
I stand guilty as
I read these verses. There are times
when I am dragging people and circumstances to the Lord in prayer and wanting
to be justified for being wronged. There
are times when I sit self righteously in the seat of judgment, waiting for God
to avenge me. But when I sit and reflect
on the wrong doing I discover that there isn’t much that I look at through my
judgmental eyes that I am not guilty of myself or that I have received the
mercy that was given to this woman by Jesus.
“Let she who is without sin throw the first stone” is a good mantra for
me to keep in mind when my self righteousness makes itself visible.
It makes me wonder
what it is that I should do when I see something wrong. Is it possible to make an assessment of the
situation or circumstances without a side order of judgment? Jesus did say “Go and sin no more”. That would tell me that somehow that which is
not in line with what is right is to be pointed out. God used Nathan to point out David’s sin with
Bathsheba. It caused David to realize he
was wrong in what he did and confess his wrongdoing to God and receive the
forgiveness that God desires to give to all who stray from the path.
I believe it is
God’s place to deal with the lives of people.
Only He knows the heart of the individual and only He can transform that
heart. So what is my part in helping
others to see that God is a loving God who does want to be obeyed and obeying
God is the best thing any and all of us can do so that people will be healthy
and whole? Maybe that’s it; making the
love and beauty of God’s grace and mercy known to others, through my behavior
towards them, and with the words that I speak to them. I can look back in my life when that worked
for me; so surely it will work for others.
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