| Casting stones (John 8:1-11) |
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As I've gotten older, I've learned to be more sensitive to people. As a cadet at the Air Force Academy, one of the statistics that was communicated to us was that cadets lacked empathy -- in general terms, that's the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand their situation. This condition comes from a personal ability to overcome obstacles leading to no sympathy for others who cannot or who struggle.
We all have our breaking point. I've learned this the hard way. I've also learned that all that I have is because God has been gracious not because of my own merit but because he has chosen to be gracious.
In John 8, the Pharisees apparently suffered from the same condition as the cadets. They had brought an adulterous woman before Jesus. You could hear it in their tone. They focused on the sin and the punishment -- not on mercy or restoration.
Jesus' response in this situation points to what we all know deep down. We are not worthy. We place a relativity on sin. We don't think about our breaking point or may have never experienced it. Nevertheless, we all have sin. We have all fallen short. Why not focus on the individual rather than the sin. Why not extend a little mercy ... and grace as it as been extended to us.
We don't know what Jesus wrote on the ground, but I agree with what I've heard others speculate -- that he was writing various sins in the dirt; the sins that were a part of the Pharisees lives that they had thought they had tucked away and hidden.
After they were convicted and left the scene, Jesus' response shows where he was focused:
8:11b "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin. John 8:11 NIV
He was not focused on her sin, but on her lifestyle. She needed Christ. We all need him. Without him, we all fall short. Jesus didn't need to condemn her. John 3 says that we're already condemned. It's those who recognize that, and their need of Jesus who are prepared to believe in him. For those who then believe and commit their lives to him, we are no longer condemned, but redeemed.
Everyone struggles. God's grace may have placed you in a life of success with little in the way of troubled circumstances. Nonetheless, under the microscope, we all fall short. Learn to focus on relationships and a desire to redeem people unto Christ.
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