Neither do I condemn you

I can always tell when I've actually tuned into Christ, because it's then when I'm listening that He speaks... and my notes fill up the given bulletin space and begin taking over the edges and squeezing between paragraphs. It's a jumbled mess, but there are a few themes I can discern from the scribbles.

1. Freedom and adoption, from slavery to sonship
2. Knowing Christ and who He is
3. Denying yourself, saying no to the flesh and yes to Jesus instead
4. How Jesus condemned the people calling them a "wicked and adulterous generation" and accusing them of not knowing the Father, because if they knew the Father, they'd know that Jesus was the Son and accept Him as such.
5. Forgiving our brothers for whatever they may do/say against us, and the parable of the unmerciful servant. The one servant had a huge debt, but his master forgave him. Then servant one turned to servant two and said, "you owe me, pay up". When the master heard of this, his anger was stirred because he forgave servant one for his debt, but servant one wouldn't forgive servant two for a much smaller debt.
6. We want to USE Jesus, and the gospel is "theraputic" in our minds, but Jesus is far more than a means to our own end, our happiness.

Something else I've toyed with in my mind this week is the story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, and how the Pharisees brought her to Jesus to see how he would deal with her.

"'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?' This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' And once more he bent down and wrote in the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'" John 8:1-11

This little explanation from the ESV study Bible may be of interest - to test him. If Jesus told them to carry out the stoning, He would violate the Roman law by which the Romans reserved to themselves the exeution of the death penalty in occupied lands. If Jesus told them to release the woman, He would appear to condone adultery and violate the law of Moses. (ESV, page 1525, footnote on v. 8:6)

So in no way was He in favor of her having sexual relations with a man who wasn't her husband, but He also was not going to become ensnared in the Pharisees' deceitful practices. For if, as the Pharisees said, she was "caught in the act", the man who was committing adultery with her must've been present as well. But did they bring him before Jesus with the woman? Nope. They tested Jesus, bringing up the Law of Moses to see if he'd disregard it, when in fact they were setting themselves in a horrid state of hypocrisy. Leviticus 20:10 - the esteemed "Law of Moses" - says, "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." Hmmm...

I'm gonna snatch this quote from Wayne Blank (http://www.keyway.ca/htm2001/20010620.htm)

"Hypocrisy is derived from the Greek word hypokrisis, which meant playing a part on the stage, or putting on a mask to misrepresent reality. In the ancient Greek theater, actors were known as hypocrites, without any negative connotation. In the real world however, being a hypocrite, pretending to be something while actually being something else, was and is definitely viewed as wrong. In matters of religion, it's downright evil.

"Jesus Christ did not mince words when it came to religious hypocrisy. That, more than anything else, is what got Him killed. His death was a staged assassination by a few religious hypocrites who The Lord was very effectively exposing to the people under their authority."

All this is what I have discovered after I was reminded of the story, but at the first moment it came into my head, what struck me was this: God was the only one there without sin. He was the only one who could've thrown a stone at her, and he didn't, but extended forgiveness and an admonition to her. He could've! He had every right to, she had committed a grievous error. But because of his love, his boundless mercy he forgave her of her past, and encouraged her to go on and never do it again. In the time afterwards, she would have to remind herself of this. She would have to deny her fleshly desires and temptations and instead, she would have to call to mind Jesus and his words regarding her.

Jesus had every reason to say no to me. I'm messed up, sin has blotted me like a leaky quill, but he said yes, yes he wants me, yes he loves me, yes, he has forgiven me. "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out... Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:18 & 24-25