Caught in Adultery

Caught in Adultery

The moving of an angry crowd broke the silence of a crisp mourning in Jerusalem during the Holy Week. Filled with remorse and terrified that she could be stoned for loving a married man. She was drug to the temple of God in disgrace after a night of passion to be tried for adultery. Unknown to her, she was just a pawn that the lawyers were using to trap a young teacher of the law named Jesus who was popular among the people.

The mourning closed her mind to anything but being stoned, while she waited to be tried for her crime. Suddenly, someone she heard we found him! He’s over by the entrance and the men turned towards the rabbi dragging the woman behind them.

Like vultures drawn to the carcass, the group surrounded the teacher placing the woman directly in front of him. Consisting of lawyers and teachers of the law who knew the sentence for her crime was stoning shamelessly asked the teacher what shall we do with this adulterous woman? The Messiah looked into the crowd and carefully sought God's counsel before kneeling and began to write. He wrote as if those in the crowd knew that they had been through a similar experience and was guilty of sin themselves. You can be certain that as this teacher knelt he God was giving him the wisdom to have a positive outcome. Even though the teacher knew that this woman was guilty of sin, if he were in her shoes he would want mercy of the court or at least to be treated in a dignified manner.

Waiting for the teacher to answer, the crowd began to mock the woman by tossing one question after another, not giving him time to answer. The teacher that the crowd wanted to ridicule this teacher so he would lose influence with the people. Calmly the teacher looked directly at them, pointing into the crowd with the authority of God said, "Let him without sin cast the first stone".

The question demanded an answer as Jesus stooped to the temple floor one more time and to write something else. It was not what he had been writing or the words that convicted the crowd of their wrongdoing. Jesus calmly responded in the manner his father wanted him to and God applied his convicting influence on the crowd.

Like ice cream on a hot day the crowd melted away, first the older and mature then the rest of group withdrew until Jesus and the woman were alone. Awe struck all she could do was stare the only one who gave back her self esteem and knowing that he was deeply concerned over her welfare.

Jesus stood and looked directly into her eyes and said. Woman, has anyone condemned you? No, no one she replied. Jesus said, then neither do I. Go and leave your life of sin.

The woman of this story had no name or place in the society of her day. However, engraved on her heart was the mercy of her God with a reason to live free of sin. She had faced certain death by the hands of men and received mercy from the God of love who freely forgave her of her past. She had new meaning and purpose for the rest of her life all because she found an abundant life in Jesus Christ.

Life without recognizing Jesus Christ as Lord is like saying Barak Obama is not president of the United States. How can you be a citizen of the United States if you can't recognize Barak Obama as your president, but for the same reason you can not go to heaven if Jesus Christ is not your Lord. The truth about this story is that you can receive God's mercy through Jesus Christ just as easy as this adulterous woman had. No one should be afraid to recognize his or her sin before Christ, as he will freely forgive his or her sins. Not every one is guilty of adultery, but everyone has been guilty of ignoring the authority of Jesus Christ.

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