Imagine Yourself As ...
by Adele Chong, Elder
John 8:1-11
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Imagine yourself as a highly respected member of the community, like a Pharisee in Jerusalem in today’s Scripture passage. You know all the rules, and you make sure everyone knows you follow them scrupulously. You enjoy the deference of other worshipers in your Temple. Life is good, you have it made, you have the system figured out, and you know how to be on top.
Then along comes a man who upsets the system. He talks about loving God, loving other people, and forgiving them. He says the rules come down to “do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12) People throng to hear him talk instead of listening to you.
Now you devise a strategy to trip this new man up, demonstrate that he does not follow the rules, and in fact is telling people to ignore the rules. You believe that if you can achieve this, people would turn against him and get rid of him, and you’d be back in your comfortable position. You and your fellow Pharisees contrive a situation that is a Catch-22––where no matter how this man answers, he will be wrong. This should make the people turn against him.
But in front of everyone, he refuses to answer your questions. He puts his finger in the dirt and starts writing. You can’t see what he’s writing, and you continue asking him questions. Then you panic. You realize he knows all your secret sins. You’re not as perfect as you have led everyone to think. Perhaps he’s writing the names of people you’ve cheated or lied to, perhaps he’s writing shameful things about you that no one else knows. Then he stands up and says “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And he goes back to writing in the dirt. Instead of you trapping him, he has trapped you. You can’t risk throwing a stone because he might expose you. Your best option is to slowly and quietly back away and leave, hoping no one notices.
During Lent, as we spend more time getting closer to God, we realize all the more that we are imperfect. No matter how hard we try, we cannot be perfect. But unlike the Pharisees, we have the option to ask for Jesus’ forgiveness, ask the Holy Spirit to empower us 24/7. The Holy Spirit will help us to live out the command to “do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Dear loving Father, bring the Holy Spirit to me again today. I confess I need to ask for your help every day. I want to love you with all my heart, soul, and mind. Thank You, Jesus, for not condemning me for my sins, but for offering me the Holy Spirit to help me follow Your simple, easy-to-understand law. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
