Man has always tried to prove he knows more than God. Let’s visit an event happening right in front of Jesus. Crowds are everywhere. The Master is around. People have both seen and heard of His fame! Some, hang out just to be entertained, I mean, after all, TV recently broke, no game to watch anyways, so might as well hang out.
Out of commotion, some religious leaders just happened to grab a woman in the act of adultery. They must’ve been spying on her to know what was going on. They let the man go but dragged her to Jesus. Let’s watch what happens…Will Jesus condemn her like the religious leaders hope?
Weeping, the woman finds herself at Jesus’ feet facing a wall. She awaits His command to be stoned. Eager men stand waiting to launch their rocks at her. Racing through her mind is every sinful act she’s committed. “I’ve gone too far this time” she probably thinks to herself. “If this man is a prophet as people say, I’m dead, my life’s over,” she thinks.
Jesus, though, stoops to write on the ground. Silence falls on everyone holding a stone. “Hey, can you see what he’s writing?” I ask you. “I can’t quite make it out” you answer. Suddenly, each man begins dropping his stone and quietly walks away. Whatever Jesus wrote, no one really knows but there’s a good chance we might have a clue.
We know that Jesus could have known everything about everyone there, and since these people loved displaying their “righteousness” and justifying their ways, why not put them on the spot? It is quite possible, that Jesus made reference to Jeremiah 17:13 where it reads, “LORD. You are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.”
Jesus may have been showing them where they stood before God at that moment by writing their names and sins on the dust (ground).
Wanting judgment can happen to us at any moment. We suddenly want to be on God’s side as far as it’s concerned. We want to call down fire upon others and if Jesus doesn’t do it quickly enough, we’ll gladly do it with the snap of a finger. We want to be His pets. But we forget God can do the same to us and then, suddenly, we want to suck up. “Jesus, buddy, Son of God, El Shaddai, Jehovah Nissi, let’s hold our horses, ya know…It’s me, your homeboy…” Instead of pets we become pests.
If their names and sins were written on the ground, it’s possible they realized they weren’t as buddy-buddy with God as they thought. Suddenly, they realized only God could know such personal things. Yet, their hearts were hardened.
As the song goes, “It’s A Shame (The Spinners, 1970) when you mess around with the man…when you hurt me…”
Where do you stand today? Still messing around with the Man, Jesus-God? Still throwing stones at others? What we do to others, we do to God; good or bad (Matthew 25:31-46). Still hurting Him? Are you looking forward to getting “stoned” today?
Put yourself in that woman’s place, hear the whispers? Feel their rudeness? Fear their ruthlessness? Jesus, who told the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go sin no more” tells you the same thing. He was the only One, the Righteous One who could condemn her but gave her a second chance. Drop your stone, kneel before the ROCK, Jesus. NOW!
God Bless!
Sam
Recommended songs: No Stones to Throw-Sierra
Go and Sin No More-Rebecca St. James