Let’s start the story I just read two months from the day this woman was almost stoned to death. It all began in the market. The woman had a great need to be loved, to be held, and she was constantly looking for someone else. Over the course of her five-year marriage, she had been with many men.  She had been raised to know that adultery was wrong. There was no doubt of that in her mind. Her husband was a religious man, and many times in their home he spoke about the sanctity of marriage. He loved her, and he would have never once thought of being unfaithful to his wife.

She had met a new man in the market in Jerusalem.  He wasn’t especially attractive, though he had kind eyes and a gentle smile, and he could make her laugh.  He sold his own pottery.  She stopped one day to admire his work. The bowls, plates and cups he made were exquisite, though far out of her price range. They started talking one day.  He gave her a bowl a few weeks later.  And then, they started meeting in her home when her husband was out of town and the children were asleep. Here she was with another man in her bed.   Her affairs had become so routine and so much a part of her life that she barely thought of what she was doing.  That’s why she was so shocked when, early one morning just before dawn a group of Pharisees and the scribes broke into her bedroom with her husband peeking over their shoulders.  She was pulled out of the arms of the potter and marched through the streets of the city toward the Temple. 

The woman, who was completely filled with shame, wanted to die, and she believed that she probably would.  Though not a student of God’s Law, she knew enough to know that those who were caught in the act of adultery could be executed.  As the Pharisees pulled her through the streets, she couldn’t raise her eyes for the heavy shame she felt.  At all once, she was pushed through a crowd and shoved before a Rabbi.  In a clear voice, one Pharisee announced to Jesus and the whole crowd, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.  Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?”  Everyone turned their eyes to Jesus, who bent to the ground and began writing something in the dirt.

Let’s push the pause button right here. We’ll stop everyone right where they are. There’s the woman standing ashamed.  There are the religious leaders who are starting to pick up the stones. And, there sits Jesus.  What will He say? What will He do?  Jesus could have sided with the religious leaders since this woman had been caught in the act.  Had Jesus encouraged her execution, He could have been accused of claiming an authority equal with the Romans who occupied Israel at the time.  The Jews couldn’t execute anyone, only the Romans were allowed to do so. Or, Jesus could have said, “Let her go; she’s done nothing worthy of death.  She made a mistake.  Everyone is human.”  If Jesus said this, His critics could accuse Him of being soft and easy on a terrible sin.

What does Jesus say? Nothing. What does He do? He starts writing in the dust.

WRITING IN THE DIRT

What did He write? No one knows, though practically every commentator on this passage offers some suggestion.  Some speculate that Jesus wrote a simple question, “Where’s the man?”  It takes two to commit adultery, after all. Others suggest that Jesus writes out the sins of the Pharisees. Still others believe that Jesus wrote out a verse from the Old Testament that warns about bearing false witness against someone else. Gail O’Day says that Jesus’ action was merely a way for Jesus to refuse joining in their cruel game. No one knows.  When they pressed Jesus for an answer, He stands, and says, “Let the one among you who has never sinned throw the first stone.”  And then He bent down and wrote in the dirt again.  The temperature dropped, and the whole crowd shivered.  There was more than one sinner there that morning. 

One by one, the religious leaders drop their stones, and slip into the crowd and disappear until everyone is gone. Finally, it’s Jesus, the woman, and a crowd.  “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She speaks for the only time in the story.  “No one, sir” And Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you.”  That’s where most people put the period.  But, Jesus said something else.  “From this time on, do not continue in sin.”

Earlier in the Gospel of John we find these famous words: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not die, but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” 

Jesus dealt with the sin of this woman by neither condoning her actions nor condemning her. Instead, He forgave her and set her free from a death she earned, as well as the burden of having to continue doing this sin. Jesus overcomes your sin and mine through forgiveness.  Forgiveness means cutting us free from the power of sin so that we don’t have to keep doing it over and over again.

A FORGIVEN SIN

John Piper once said, “The only sin that you can defeat in your life is a forgiven sin. The only sin that you can get victory over is a forgiven sin.”  God frees us through forgiveness.  Most of us miss that. If forgiveness is all about being released and set free, then it follows that forgiveness is much more than missing the punishment.  Forgiveness severs the power of that sin so that we don’t have to do it again. 

You may not know that the Bible never once commands us to forgive ourselves.  Now God’s Word assures us that God forgives our sins. And we are commanded to forgive the sins of other people just as God has first forgiven us. In fact, we must forgive others if we ask God to forgive us. I think you can argue that our ability to forgive is tied to being forgiven by God. If I can’t forgive, it may well be that I don’t feel forgiven or believe that I have been forgiven. Put another way, my ability to forgive is proof of my own forgiveness.  If I seek God’s forgiveness for the wrongs I’ve done; and, I willingly to forgive those who have wronged me will I not then feel forgiven, whether I offer that to myself or not?

              In his helpful book, Dare to Forgive Edward Hallowell wrote, “Our need to be forgiven feeds our capacity to forgive, and our capacity to forgive derives from our need to be forgiven. When we talk about forgiveness we usually focus on one side or the other: granting forgiveness or seeking it. But, as I see it, each of those sides is a door into the same house, the house of forgiveness. When you grant forgiveness, you go through one door; when you seek it, you go through another. Both doors lead to forgiveness.”[1]

              Let’s return to Jerusalem that early morning 2,000 years ago. Now, instead of the woman caught in adultery, there you stand, guilty of some wrong too. You’ve asked forgiveness but you don’t feel forgiven. There’s no one left standing who wants to throw stones at you. It’s just you and Jesus. Jesus says to you, “I don’t condemn you. Now go free. Don’t do it any longer.” If He has forgiven you and won’t condemn you, why do you insist on continuing to condemn yourself? Who gets to have the last word in your life? Jesus, who loves and forgives you; or you, who may have difficulty loving and forgiving yourself? Maybe it’s time you just drop the stones you’ve been holding to hurt yourself. If Jesus isn’t holding any stones, why are you?

PAROLED

            In July 1986, a twenty-two year old man named Bo Cox killed a man and received a life sentence for murder. At the time of the murder, Bo was drinking heavily and using drugs abusively.

            On that summer’s night, 23-years ago, Bo got into a fight with a guy at a bar. Bo was quickly surrounded by the man’s friends, including a guy named Bart. Bo escaped the bar and started driving away. As he drove he thought he’d like to return and finish the fight. On his way back to the bar, he stopped by a friend’s house and picked up a baseball bat.

            The fight moved to a field outside of town. Bo got out of his truck with his bat. Bart came rushing at him and Bo hit him in the head with the bat. Bart died later that night. Bo turned himself in and was sent to prison for life.

            For the first four years in prison, Bo continued to use drugs. Then he decided to stop one day, August 6, 1990. Bo was happy to be free of drugs, but he realized that recovery was more than simply not using drugs. Bo was about to meet God in prison.

             At the end of a group-therapy meeting on Christmas Eve, the inmates joined hands and sang “Silent Night, Holy Night” together. Suddenly, Bo felt a jolt. He said later, “I don’t know what happened except right then and there I knew God was real. Tears started streaming down my face—so I was real glad the lights were out and no could see me crying. I know it sounds ridiculous, all these convicts in a circle holding hands, me crying over feeling that suddenly I knew how real God is. But that’s what exactly happened. I felt God saying, ‘I’m here and I’m real and everything’s going to be OK.’

              Bo started writing about his life and what God was doing in it. He wrote a devotional for the magazine “Day by Day”. In that article Bo wrote, “The parole board might ask, ‘Tell us why you think you deserve parole.’

               “I’ve been tossing my answer around in my head for some time. I don’t have a definitive response. I do know that I don’t deserve parole. Or, I do deserve it; I’m not the one to utter those words. Frankly, I don’t have a leg to stand on.

I am unable to defend myself and what I did, as well as being completely helpless to undo my actions.

               People tell me all the time that God forgives me, but they say that until I learn to forgive myself, there’s little chance I’ll realize God’s gift. I don’t agree. God and I can both forgive me—even Bart’s family might someday forgive me—and that won’t bring Bart back. I stepped across a holy and sacred line, into God’s business [when I took Bart’s life]. Life. I could understand if God hated me. Yet God doesn’t. Crazy, huh?[2]

                I guess so.

                Amen.

“Your Questions Please” Study Guide: July 12, 2009

Question: How do I forgive myself as God forgives me?

Key Biblical Passages:

1.       God forgives us

Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8: 10, 11)

2.     How God forgives us

“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. The Lord is merciful and gracious; he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103: 3, 8, 11, 12)

3.     We are to forgive others

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6: 14)

Thoughts on Forgiveness:

• In the New Testament, one Greek word for forgiveness means, to release, to hurl away, or to free oneself. When we pray for forgiveness (Matthew 6:14) we ask, “God, cancel our debts (sins) as we have, at this moment, cancelled our neighbor’s debts (sins).”
• Forgiveness means “the public removal of a past offense from further consideration.” (from the Westminster Theological Wordbook)

Resources:

• Books
  1. Dare to Forgive by Edward M Hallowell  

Dr. Hallowell is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School and the director of the Hallowell-Ratey Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health. After years from studying the process and benefits of forgiveness, he has written a readable, practical book on the practice of forgiveness, including how to forgive yourself.

2. The Art of Forgiving by Lewis Smedes