Grace

"Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." John 8:1-11

Here we have the woman taken in the act of adultery, used as an intended stumbling stone, who is brought before the Lord as He was teaching on the mount of Olives by the Pharisees to see what He would have them do with her, that they might have reason to arrest Him. Quite a few things jumped out at me here, as my pastor has also been going over this passage lately.

#1 - They interrupted the Lord's teaching to bring this woman before Him. That shows the level of pride and arrogance of the Pharisees. Their matter of trickery was more important than the teaching of the Lord to them.

#2 - Where was the man who had been committing adultery with her? The Law condemned adultery in it's entirety, even the man's part, if I am not mistaken. If they truly cared about the Law, then why did they not bring the man before the Lord too?

#3 - If they truly cared about the Law and following it, then why did they even bring her before the Lord to begin with (if not for devious intent)? If they truly cared about following the Law, they would have went ahead and done as Moses commanded anyway. However, they regarded their own devices and own plans MORE than even the Laws of Moses that they so claimed to love!

#4 - Each man was convicted by the words of the Lord, and turned and left. However, as my pastor brought up, they could have got right with the Lord right then and there, but they chose their pride, they chose to walk away from what the Lord had to offer.

# 5 - There was ONE man without sin among the crowd there at the mount of Olives, ONE man who COULD have RIGHTEOUSLY cast the first stone! Yet, it was that ONE man who had every RIGHT to do it, that chose to pardon her, forgive her, and extend to her grace and mercy. Stop and think of the implications of that fact. He said to them "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." He knew that HE was the only one without sin, so by His own standards He could have cast the first stone, but still chose not to. Did she break the commands of the Law? Absolutely. The Lord did not excuse that fact at all. However, His exhortation to her was "Go and sin no more!"

Grace. Pure Grace. Even when it would have been a righteous judgment.... even when it would have been biblically right..... He still chose grace. And He did it without accepting or condoning the sin, either. Thank the Lord for grace.

Food For Thought: If she had not been repentant of her sin, if in her heart she purposed to continue on in her sin even after being pardoned, do you think that would have changed Christ's response? Explain.