Last Sunday we continued our journey through the book of John, learning more about who Jesus was and how he engaged the world around him. This week we focused on the story in chapter 8 of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.
It’s a well known story, which you can check out in verses 1-11, about how Jesus was able to take a trap that had been set for him by the Pharisees and turn it into a demonstration of love, grace and mercy. There’s so much jam packed into these 11 verses that ultimately go to a very fundamental question for us, how do we confront sin and still demonstrate love and acceptance.
It’s a well known story, which you can check out in verses 1-11, about how Jesus was able to take a trap that had been set for him by the Pharisees and turn it into a demonstration of love, grace and mercy. There’s so much jam packed into these 11 verses that ultimately go to a very fundamental question for us, how do we confront sin and still demonstrate love and acceptance.
We started by putting ourselves in the shoes of the woman in the story, how she felt and how that must have evolved as events unfolded. Obviously knowing the law, she would have known that this was how her life was going to end. We wondered about how she would have felt as she heard the stones dropping on the ground while at the same time expecting that at any moment, the first one might be hurled at her. And we wondered at the relief and thankfulness that must have flowed through her as she realised as Jesus spoke to her that she had been forgiven and given a second chance.
We then turned our attention to putting ourselves in the shoes of the onlookers. It didn’t take long for us to realise how easy it is to sit in judgment of those around us and how our own feelings, biases and fears can affect this. A point we didn’t cover on the day, but is worthy of further discussion, is confronting our own sin! This is what the onlookers in the story were ultimately having to do as they considered throwing that first stone.
We then turned our attention to putting ourselves in the shoes of the onlookers. It didn’t take long for us to realise how easy it is to sit in judgment of those around us and how our own feelings, biases and fears can affect this. A point we didn’t cover on the day, but is worthy of further discussion, is confronting our own sin! This is what the onlookers in the story were ultimately having to do as they considered throwing that first stone.
As we talked of stories from our past that we had observed or played the onlooker role, we noticed that most focused on sexual sins. It was an interesting observation that this seems to be the area that the church most grapples with, or at least feels most justified in playing the onlooker role.
This led us to the central question of the morning. How do we display love and acceptance without condoning and being “soft” on sin? And how do we confront sin without bringing condemnation? The response was “Hmmm, that’s a hard one”. And it is. There are no hard and fast rules for how we confront sin and bring life. There’s no set formula, and every situation is different requiring wisdom and care. What we did conclude was that it is best done, wherever possible, through relationship.
This led us to the central question of the morning. How do we display love and acceptance without condoning and being “soft” on sin? And how do we confront sin without bringing condemnation? The response was “Hmmm, that’s a hard one”. And it is. There are no hard and fast rules for how we confront sin and bring life. There’s no set formula, and every situation is different requiring wisdom and care. What we did conclude was that it is best done, wherever possible, through relationship.
We finished with a light hearted look at the Lord’s prayer as we might say it sometimes if we were being really honest, and Matt 6:14-15 which states that if we forgive others, God will forgive us - a great principle to keep in mind if we feel we might be starting to think like the onlookers.
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