Neither Do I Condemn You!
Due to a conversation I recently had with someone I am reposting this that I wrote in April of 2007.
John 8:1-11 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 group 4 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, “If any one of you is without sin, let him 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,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
This story has profound meaning to every single person of the human race because we are ALL this woman. Who among us has not been caught in adultery? Adultery is simply unfaithfulness and I am convinced that God wants us all to relate to this woman in a very real way. We are HER! No one is left out. No one has been faithful. Who is it among us that feels justified in condemning another soul?
Now if we are HER, then who do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees represent in this story? Again it is US. You see we are not only unfaithful but we are also very good at averting our own guilt by trying to shine the light on someone else that we think is more guilty.
Jesus is the truthmaster in this story and he is not about to buy into this game that humans play of seeing who is most guilty of violating the law. Paul the apostle would later tell us that if you rely on the law that you must keep all the law.
Gal 3:1010 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Just what message is Christ trying to get across in this story? He tells them that “he that is without sin can cast the first stone.” He writes something in the sand that makes every single person walk away from their position of judgment, and then he asks the woman if there was anyone left to condemn her? When she answers “there is no one”, He then tells her that neither does he condemn her.
I don’t remember her asking for forgiveness or even confessing her belief in Him? In this story there are not multiple characters, it is just US.
We are the woman in adultery, we are the teachers of the law, we are the Pharisees, and WE ARE THE FORGIVEN.
Does God want us to continue a life of sin? NO, and he even tells us that, but he also doesn’t want us to continue with the false notion that some of us are the faithful worthy of his love, and some of us are the unfaithful worthy of His condemnation.
WE ARE ALL FORGIVEN. Put down your stones and leave your lives of sin, and bask in the beauty of His unconditional love. It is only when we see ourselves as one human race, created and loved by our Father from the very beginning that we can enjoy real peace. As long as you see your self as superior you can never know this peace at least in the hear and now. God will eventually show us all that we are indeed ONE.
The bottom line for me is not only to hear these words of Jesus “NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU”, but also to let them be my cry to all my fellow travelers on this earth. I have put my stones down and have welcomed His love into my heart. It is beyond description and I want everyone I meet to know how very loved they are by God and by me.
Thank-you Lord Jesus.
That story is one of my absolute favorite portraits of Jesus. Thanks!
Cliff if the church truly taught this what a different world this would be.I thank God for giving you a heart of love and be able to write about that love.Love Dan
Wow Cliff
What can I say!!!
Thank You for sharing , it was truly awsome.
Thank You
Jennifer
We truly are both saints and sinners…at the same time. He really loves us. He knows we are incapable of loving Him as we ought. We fall away, daily…and daily He forgives us and goes after us, bringus back home to Himself.
What a great God we have!
What a great God we have…….INDEED! If anyone watched the openning of the the Olympics last night what you saw was one of mankinds most spectacular events of all time and yet it pale’s in comparrison to what the Father of all of US is capable of doing in the blink of an eye. All the glorious things we see mankind achieving is only a small reflection of the Glory of our Creator.
The true awakening of His love for us is so glorious in its self that even now many Christians still can’t believe it.
Great points Cliff- I think we cannot fail to see ourselves in certain stories like this one – if we do – we can become someone that is ‘conceited’ concerning our faith in God. There is a great thing about humility – it’s keeps us on our feet/grounded/realistic. I think this story teaches that also – but teaches us that – we cannot be the one casting that stone (since we also need to look at ourselves with real honesty).