could we be more like Jesus?

John 8 

1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 

2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. 

A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 

3 As he was speaking, 

the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees 

brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. 

They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

The King James translation says Jesus words were this: 

"He that is without sin among you cast the first stone."

These days, we Christians, especially evangelicals, are often accused wanting to "cast a lot of stones" - iow, of being quite judgmental.

I would say in many ways many among us have helped earn us that description.

There IS a lot of judgement coming out of the mouths of evangelicals these days.

There are some awful things being said & done in the name of Jesus.

But, of course, this is not new behavior - it has been done countless times over the centuries.

These are turbulent, unprecedented days.

So many people, groups, & ways of thinking seem to be subjected to so much vitriol from us evangelicals.

I wonder what it would be like if we could be more like Jesus is in this passage.

He exposed quite simply that no one involved in this incident was blameless - ALL of them had done sinful things, probably as bad or worse.

And after they had all slipped away, Jesus didn't rail at the woman caught in adultery. 

He simply said, "neither do I condemn you - go, & sin no more."

I wonder what would happen if we simply presented an attitude that wasn't condemning & degrading?

What might the response of people be if we simply expressed to others the same grace & mercy extended to us when we sin so blatantly?

Maybe we should remember something we've seen mentioned before about Jesus - that "notorious sinners" were always around Him, WANTED to be around Him, felt accepted by Him, & actually listened to what He said & took it to heart.

And all the super religious leaders & uber-righteous men of the day were none too please Jesus hung out with such "scum" (that's what the religious folks called them).

I wonder how all that spiritual outrage expressed by the religious leaders has worked out for them. They're all dead & gone, turned to dust centuries ago. I wonder what they would say to us today, if they could speak to us?

This is just some things I'm wondering about as I read this passage for the umpteenth time...

Sorry - I got to typing & couldn't shut up...

End of sermon - we will now take up the offering... 😁