Hi guys, my name is David and I'm from
Reach Nottingham and it's exciting to be
able to share with you from the
scriptures today. One scripture which has
really been talking to me over this
lockdown period is the story of the
woman caught in adultery.
Turn with me, if you will, to John 8:1-11
"Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives but early the
next morning he was back again at the
temple. A crowd soon gathered and he sat
down and taught them. 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. 'Teacher, they
said to Jesus, 'this woman was caught in
the act of adultery. The Law of Moses
says to stone her. What do you say?' They
were trying to trap him into saying
something that they could use against
him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 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.'
Then he stooped down and wrote in the
dust. 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.
Then Jesus stood up again and said to
the woman, '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.'" It's a wonderful story, but
it starts with quite an unexpected
situation for Jesus as he's confronted
by the Pharisees, who apparently want to
trap him, and it seems they want to trap
him into one of two outcomes. Either he
agrees with them and this woman is
stoned to death and their authority is
confirmed or he disagrees with them, he
looks like a rebel, it looks like he
doesn't have any respect for the law, and
this also plays into the Pharisees hands.
It seems like it's a lose-lose situation
for Jesus. The great thing about Jesus is his
eyes are often seeing something
different than what others would see in
the situation. His eyes are fixed on the Lord and the
Lord's heart, and he sees in this
situation an opportunity to speak to the
Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the
crowd and the woman. To speak grace as
well as conviction, but not condemnation.
First it's the turn of the Pharisees and
the crowd, when he says to them that he who is without sin cast the first stone. And
of course they start to reflect and
realise and are convicted and one by one
their anger ebbs away and they leave.
And then he turns to the woman and says
"What, has no one condemned you?" and she says "No sir" and he says "Well, then I
don't condemn you either." The gracious
compassionate heart of God that extends
forgiveness instead of condemnation
comes into play and this woman has had
her life saved but she's also just
experienced the grace and love of Jesus
firsthand and she must be so grateful to
him. But in that moment of grace and love,
Jesus brings conviction and challenge. He says go and sin no more. We can only
imagine the impact on this woman of this
loving correction from Jesus. Who knows
what became of her life after this but
we can be sure that Jesus had a massive
impact. How can we be like Jesus? How can we come into situations and to see the
person, the vulnerable person in the
situation, to see the heart of the
individual and to see the heart of God
and to know God's will in a situation,
which as in this case was not the will
of man. The outcomes were very different
than anyone expected but much more
powerful than anyone could have
predicted. That's a challenge to me as we
face uncertainty and difficult
situations in Covid. To not get caught up in the prevailing
way of thinking, to not get caught up in
past experience and applying logic to
situations, but instead to inquire of the
Lord, to come to Scripture and to come to
prayer and say "God, how do you see this
situation in front of me? How do you see
the people in this situation? What is
your heart of grace and redemption for
this situation?" I'm not very good at it
but I would like to be better and I hope
that's helpful. Let's pray. Father God, I
thank you that you are available to us
through your scripture, through prayer,
that your heart and mind are known to us
because your sheep hear your voice. And
Lord, I pray that you will help us in all
the uncertainty and all the difficult
situations we find ourselves in. In every
situation we find ourselves in today,
Lord, to inquire of you, to know your
heart and to bring your eyes and your
perspective to a situation, that your
grace, love and your gospel might be
proclaimed in the world. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
