In 2017, I have committed to reading through the Bible in a year. To do that I am doing my best to listen to the Bible every day. One day’s reading included John 8:1-11 which details the story of a woman who was brought before Jesus after having been caught in the act of adultery.
Now, I want us all to stop and think about that for a minute. She was caught in the act! My first thought is wow, how embarrassing that must have been. But not only was she caught, but then she was dragged (not literally, but I imagine that was how it felt) into the temple before Jesus and the religious rulers to have her punishment decided. But here’s where things get interesting; the leaders that brought her in are more concerned with trapping Jesus so they say, “Moses says that she should be stoned, but what do you say?” Jesus seemingly ignores them at first and starts writing on the ground. So, they continue and finally Jesus responds something to the effect of let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone. At this point the crowd that had gathered starts to walk away and is eventually gone. Then comes the best part, I am going to quote it so that you can read it for yourself.
John 8:10-11 King James Version (KJV)
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Wow! What power is in those words! The one person who had every right to condemn her, frees her with the encouragement to sin no more! I don’t know about you, but I have made many mistakes in my life. But as I was reading this I could see God, on earth, in the form of His Son, Jesus saying, “Martina, I don’t condemn you, go, and sin no more.” I don’t know if it is possible to love God more, but in that moment, I did. Because I know everything that I have done and I know what it feels like to be in a place where I don’t feel like I deserve God’s love, much less His mercy, but to hear Him say that he doesn’t condemn me means the world to me.
I hope that this passage of Scripture has ministered to you as it did to me.
Martina