Wednesday 17 September 2014

A Stones Throw Away

STONE HER! STONE HER! SHE IS A SINNER, STONE HER TO DEATH!

After all, it IS the law. She broke it, she deserves to be punished.
Yet before her is a man who is quietly stooped down writing words in the dirt. He lifts his head at the angry crowd and says something that will change this woman's life forever.

"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." John 8:7
One by one her accusers dropped their stones to the ground and walked away.
The man continues to write in the dirt until the very last accuser is gone. He raises himself up and looks at this woman and says "woman where are these accusers of yours, has no one condemned you?"
She looks at him with disbelief and says "no one Lord"
And with grace on his tongue and forgiveness on his lips, the man replies, "neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."


The man, was Jesus. The woman was caught in the act of adultery, which as you know, was punishable by death in those days. What gets me the most about this story is not the fact that Jesus let this woman off scott free, but I wonder what he was writing in the dirt before this woman's accusers? One could think he was writing the names of their sins in the dirt. I imagine if it were to have happened in this day and age and the accusers protested when Jesus told them "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." One by one he would have called them over so each of them could see their sins staring at them in the face.

Bob, saw the word PORN. As his wife left for work that day, he turned on his computer and succumbed to the temptation.

Frank saw the word ALCOHOLIC as he drinks himself into a stupor night after night while his wife handles the screaming kids and takes care of dinner and after she puts the kids to bed he drunkenly belittles her with his words and abuses her with his fist.

Judy saw the word GOSSIP as she talks about those around her that don't meet up to her social standards, she knows everything about everybody, always has an opinion, and no one can tell her different.


Most times people accuse others to hide something in their own life that they don't want to people to know about
.
Bob, he won't communicate with his wife about how their marriage lacks "spice" and it just takes so much work to get that back, so he finds his excitement in a 10 minute video.

Frank, he drinks and abuses his wife because he can't face how much he hates himself, he hates his job, he hates that he can't provide for his family like he wants to.

Judy, she gossips about everyone because she feels her life is meaningless, she has no job, she has even put on quite a bit of weight over the years which has led to low self esteem, so to draw attention away from herself she magnifies the flaws in everyone around her.

You see, the only difference between this lady who was CAUGHT in the act of adultery and you and I, is we HIDE our sin from the outside world behind closed doors. We go to church and act the part, then turn around and quickly judge those who's sins have been "found out" We try and draw attention away from our sins and justify our actions by thinking, "well at least I've never done THAT." Eventually though, your sins will find you out and I think it's best to acknowledge them now while we can still have God's grace and forgiveness than to wait until we get to heaven and God turns us away.

I wonder when God gave us permission to start stoning people to death. I wonder why we can't just drop our stones and just walk away. I wonder why it is so hard to just love. If you're a Christian, then you can.
Before I go, I will leave you with this one thought.

If your phone calls were secretly recorded and your life was videotaped unbeknownst to you, then played back for the whole world to bear witness to, how many (biblical) laws would you be breaking? How many accusers would you have at your doorstep wanting to stone you to death? What words would Jesus have written in the dirt about you? I'm guessing more than you care to acknowledge. The times are different, but the message is very much the same. Just forgive, give it to God, drop your stones and walk away in God's grace.

After all Love goes a lot farther than a stone ever will.