Have you ever felt in a trap? Perhaps you’ve been caught ‘with your hand in
the till’. I know that in this
situation, my natural reaction is to talk defensively – and I can talk for
England when I get going!
Here we see Jesus directing the crowd to do completely the
opposite. In fact this is the only time that Jesus is recorded as writing. Under so much pressure (verse 7 – ‘they kept
on questioning him’) Jesus is silent and wrote in the ground with his
finger. But why did Jesus, who is fully
man but also fully God, knowing the answer to this trap, bend down in silence
and start writing on the ground? I am sure that it was not to gain time to
think of his answer!
Was it for the woman, standing in fear of her life, in the
temple courts, where all the people had gathered around him (verse 2)?
Humiliated, feeling dirty, condemned and utterly ashamed of herself?
If Jesus had engaged in a quick response, cleverly arguing
his point, maybe she would have not had time to consider her sin, its
consequences and her need for forgiveness.
Finally, after all her accusers had departed, Jesus, the
only one who had the right to condemn her, forgives her. How ecstatic must she have felt and how much
more would she have been likely to follow Jesus’ instruction to ‘leave your
life of sin’ for that time of self-examination?
Is there a danger in our Christian lives, that we come to
God in prayer – worshiping, thanking, asking... and oh, a little sorry? We
don’t live under law and should not have a guilt-orientated faith but we need
to understand the incredible power of the forgiveness that God has provided to
his children.
Response
Sometimes we need to
take time out and examine ourselves, as the woman was made to do, maybe to
watch Jesus write in the sand and seriously consider the meaning and sacrifice
that is behind our forgiveness.
Guy
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.