Day 18 - March 18 2022
Read John 8:1-30
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,”(H) Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
Dispute Over Who Jesus Is
21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
VERSE 7: "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."
This is not the answer they are expecting. Jesus says whoever is perfect, whoever has no sin, let him be the first one to throw a stone. Hmm, that is enough to make anyone scratch their head and slow down. We all will admit that we are not perfect, but we will too often be quick to add we are not as bad as whoever. But that really doesn’t get to the heart of what Jesus is saying, he says let the perfect one, the one with no sin, cast the first stone. No one is bold enough to step up. Because the truth is, we are all sinners. And we all, for the most part, recognize that fact. The real trouble comes when we begin to rationalize that, to try to justify ourselves. And we are masters at this, we can come up with every reason in the book as to why we are not so bad, or that we are not as bad as someone else.
But that is not what Jesus says to these men or to us today. Jesus wants us to realize that we are all sinners. We all sin in different ways, we all choose which of God’s commands to heed and which ones to ignore. But the end result is still the same; guilty, sinner, condemned. James 2:10 tells us,” For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all.” We all stumble, probably at more than just one point, therefore we are guilty of breaking it all. And that means there is no big sin or little sin, there are just sins, and we are all guilty.
But the good news is, Jesus came to earth to offer us forgiveness! We don’t have to stay a guilty, condemned sinner. Once we come to Jesus, commit ourselves to him, and submit to His plans for our lives, those sins are washed away. But think about it, would a forgiven sinner throw the first stone? Would he want to? Or would he want to share the good news about grace and forgiveness? Something to think about, there