A Guilty Cheat

Good morning everyone. I'm Ian and our first Bible reading is Psalm 130, which was originally sung by pilgrims going to the temple in Jerusalem.

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord. My whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord. More than watchmen wait for the morning.

More than watchmen wait for the morning.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with him is full redemption.

He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Hello, church. My name is Lisa, and I'll be bringing us our second reading today, which is from the book of John, chapter 7, verse 53, through to chapter 8, verse 11.

John 7:53

After the reading, I will invite you to join me in prayer before David brings us his sermon.

So, John, chapter 7, verse 53.

John 7:53

Then each went to his own home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round 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 woman.

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,

If any one of you is without sin, let him 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.

Let us pray.

Father God, as we draw around your word today,

my prayer is that each of us would learn more of who Jesus is

and the love he showers on every individual,

regardless of how broken they are.

I pray that you would use David for your heavenly purposes as he preaches today

and that the message he brings us would be centred on the truth of the gospel

and that it would resonate with all who are listening,

regardless of where they are in their journey.

Be near to us all, I pray.

Amen.

I wonder, do any of you have friends who are pranksters?

The famous novelist Mark Twain seems to have been one.

He once decided to play a trick on a dozen of his friends.

He arranged for each of them to receive a telegram that bore this simple message.

Flee at once.

All is discovered.

Twain reports that upon receiving this telegram,

all 12 of them left town immediately.

Now, it's a funny story, but it also raises some serious questions.

What were they so afraid of?

What did they have to hide?

You may not be like Mark Twain, the prankster,

but I suspect that there might be something of those 12 friends in each of us.

Imagine for a second that you, one morning, wake up,

you check the post and you find there's a letter.

You open up the letter and you see that there is a message written on nice fancy notepaper.

The message reads,

All is discovered.

Flee.

What comes into your mind that that could possibly be referring to in your life,

in your business?

I suspect that all of us, if we're honest,

have some skeletons or at least a bone or two lurking in the back of our closets.

Things that we've locked away.

Things that we've tried to forget about.

Things that we've hoped no one will ever discover and find out about us.

Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that there is someone who sees all things.

Who knows about all the things that have happened behind closed doors and in the secret places.

Someone who is not deceived by any of our cover-ups.

He is God.

But he's also the only one who can help us.

The goodness I've got to share with you this morning is that if you ever wonder,

could an almighty and holy God love me after what I've said,

after what I've thought,

after what I've done or not done,

then the answer can be found in John's gospel.

If you ever want to know what God is like,

what God thinks,

then all you have to do is look at the person of Jesus,

who is the face and the heart of God,

fleshed out for all the world to see.

Today we're going to be looking at a passage in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

It's the famous story of Jesus' encounter with a woman caught in adultery.

To help us get inside this story

and to witness the wonderful way that Jesus relates to a sinner

who has been just caught in the act,

I'm going to preach this message to you as a narrative sermon.

That means that we're going to imagine that we're listening to someone who was there that day,

someone in the crowd,

and we're going to take that person's first person perspective

and hear what they heard

and see what they saw.

The next voice that you hear in a moment

will be the voice of someone,

one of the men who was in the crowd that day.

That day is still crystal clear in my memory.

I was there in the temple courtyard with Jesus.

Not as a Jesus follower.

In those days,

I was a Jesus hater.

He was infuriating.

Going around calling himself the Son of God.

Maybe if he had stuck to the title Messiah,

then we could have lived with that.

But he dared to make himself equal with God,

calling God his Father.

That was blasphemy to my Jewish ears.

After all, every day we recite the Shema from Deuteronomy.

Shema'i Israel.

Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord our God,

the Lord is one.

Even my kids knew that

from the very first day of Sabbath school in the synagogue.

Who did Jesus think he was?

There was something else deeply unsettling about Jesus.

Whenever you spent time around him,

you came away feeling dirty, unclean.

He always showed you up like a white glove

that's just being rubbed over the top of your wardrobe.

It's not that Jesus pranced around

pretending to be holier than thou.

Leave that to the Pharisees.

They had that covered.

It was instead that Jesus just

radiated holiness effortlessly.

I disciplined myself for a lifetime of

Torah obeying,

Sabbath keeping,

tithe giving,

kosher eating.

But it all felt so empty,

so inadequate compared with Jesus.

What did he have

that we didn't have?

After two and a half years of that,

many of us were fed up.

We'd had enough.

We were determined to put an end to Jesus,

to silence him

one way or another.

We had to find some way to catch him out

and destroy him.

And that's when we found out about her.

I didn't know her name.

She was nothing to me.

She was disposable,

a means to an end.

Our wives had heard the gossip

on the grapevine

of a local woman engaged

in an adulterous affair.

And so as we schemed and plotted,

she became the bait

for our trap to ensnare Jesus.

Then the fateful day came

when we knew that this woman

could be found

in an illicit rendezvous

with her lover.

As soon as our lookouts

give the signal,

signal we got to work,

breaking in through the door.

We took them by surprise.

Without a moment to think

or hide or run,

we grabbed her.

We dragged her through the streets,

kicking up dust in the air,

screaming at the top of her lungs

for someone to help her.

As we dragged her through

the marketplace,

she was humiliated

in the eyes of her friends,

her neighbors,

her family.

People started to shout

slurs at her.

Her state of undress

revealed just what kind of woman

she really was.

Arriving in the temple courtyard,

we marched straight up to Jesus

and we threw her headfirst

down at his feet.

Then we formed

an impenetrable ring

around the two of them.

There was going to be no way

for them to escape.

Not either of them.

The trap was set.

We were ready.

A few of us had even brought along

our own stones

for the occasion.

Jesus looked around at us

as if he was demanding

we explain the reason

for all the commotion.

And so one of the scribes

spoke up,

Teacher,

this woman has been caught

in the act of adultery.

At this there was a hiss

from the crowd

caused her to hide her face

in shame and terror.

And then our spokesperson

pressed his attack

against Jesus.

Now in the law,

Moses commanded us

to stone such women.

But what do you say,

Jesus?

Silence descended.

The dust in the air

began to settle

and every eye

was on Jesus.

What would he do next?

In that tense moment

I rubbed my hands with glee.

We had got him.

We had caught him

between a rock

and a hard place.

He acts like he's

the world's greatest

humanitarian.

Healing the sick,

showing compassion

to the poor,

drinking and eating

with tax collectors

and sinners.

Yet he also claims

he's the son of God.

The word of God

in human form.

And our test

was going to play

those two things

off against each other.

If in compassion

Jesus sided with this woman

over and against

the word and law of God,

well so much for his claim

to be the son of God.

However,

if instead he endorsed

the law of God

and called for her

to be killed,

well then he was

defying Rome

and Rome's prohibition

against us

executing anyone.

Either way,

discredited in Jewish eyes

or dangerous in Roman eyes,

surely Jesus was finished.

But as we waited

with bated breath

for him to reply,

Jesus did something

rather unexpected.

He bent down

and began to write

in the sand.

The crowd started

to murmur.

People started pushing

and jostling to see

and I'm not the tallest

of people.

I was at the back

of the crowd.

I couldn't quite see

what he was writing.

In the years since,

I've often wondered

what was he writing?

Was it perhaps

the law,

the Ten Commandments

that he was writing

out with his finger,

literally preparing

the ground

for what came next?

Or perhaps did he write

out the words

of Leviticus chapter 20

Leviticus 20:20

verse 20?

If a man commits adultery

with another man's wife,

both the adulterer

and the adulteress

are to be put to death.

You see,

the law recognizes

that it takes two

to tango.

We were acting unjustly

by condemning this woman

while we had let

the man off the hook.

Or maybe,

just maybe,

Jesus was just doodling.

Wouldn't put it past him.

Either way,

what mattered

was not what Jesus wrote,

but rather,

where he was

as he wrote.

You see,

Jesus was kneeling

down on the ground.

He was down

on the same level

as that woman.

He was in close proximity

to her

as she cowered in fear.

It was as if he was

reassuring her

with his presence,

you're not alone.

I'm here with you.

You don't have

to be afraid.

Jesus had made himself

her personal shield

and defender.

While we looked down

on this woman

with moral condescension

and condemnation,

Jesus instead

physically condescended

to her

to show her

mercy

and grace.

And then Jesus

suddenly turned

the tables on us.

Decisively,

he stood up for her

as her advocate,

this nameless voice,

this powerless woman,

fearlessly looking us

in the eyes.

He issued the challenge.

Let him who is

without sin among you

be the first

to throw a stone

against her.

A shiver went down

my spine.

It seemed to shudder

through the whole crowd.

Those words pierced us

through with conviction.

Sure,

we all try to be

good people,

but none of us

could pretend

to be perfect.

But even more unnerving

was the look

in his eyes.

It was like he was

reading us

like a scroll,

shining a light

into the darkest

recesses of our minds

and our hearts.

And I remember

how he looked at me

in that moment.

In that moment,

I felt so naked

and ashamed.

I was exposed.

It was as if Jesus

could see through

my righteous exterior

and he could search

the darkest recesses

of my mind.

All of my past

sins and shames,

they were all exposed

to in his sight.

The scriptures tell us

in Psalm 44

that only God

knows the secret

things of the heart.

And yet here was Jesus

and he seemed

to be able to know

the things

that only God

could know.

All the times

I've looked at a woman,

not lovingly,

but lustfully,

wanting to use her

for my own gratification.

All the times

in my imagination

when I've mentally

undressed a woman

as she passed by

in the street.

All the times

when I've compared

and preferred

other women

to my wife.

Somehow,

Jesus could see it all.

And in Jesus' sight,

I was exposed.

Suddenly,

it came back

into my mind

what I had read

in the news papyrus

some years before,

a quote from Jesus

in his sermon

on the mount.

At the time I dismissed it,

it just sounded like

some more crazy,

extreme Jesus talk.

But now I had

new insight

into his words.

You've heard it said,

you shall not

commit adultery.

But I say to you

that everyone

who looks at a woman

with lustful intent

has already committed

adultery with her

in his heart.

It began to dawn on me

in that moment

that in God's sight

I was no better than her,

that I was as much

a sexual sinner

as she was.

You have a saying

in your country,

don't you,

that people who live

in glass houses

shouldn't throw stones?

Well, here I was

with a stone in my hand

ready to throw it at her.

But suddenly,

the strength to throw it

had ebbed away

out of my arm.

It was weighed down

with guilt.

That stone had

my name on it,

not hers.

Having said

all that needed

to be said,

Jesus then

bent down again

and resumed

drawing in the sand.

All around

with disgruntled murmurs,

the crowd began

to disperse.

First,

some of the old boys

slinked off,

perhaps because

the longer you've lived,

the more regrets

you have to look back on

and remember.

I didn't want to be

the first to admit defeat,

but neither did I want

to be the last

standing around

looking like an idiot.

And so I retreated too,

finding a nearby pillar

in the courtyard I hid,

embarrassed,

ashamed,

convicted.

But I was still close enough

to hear what happened next.

After we'd all left,

Jesus looked up.

He and the woman

were now left alone.

Like a good rabbi

sees in a teachable moment,

he asked her a question.

Woman,

where are they?

Has no one condemned you?

At first,

all she could do

was sob.

And when she

found the breath

to speak,

she just sounded like

someone waking up

from a horrible nightmare.

She couldn't believe

it herself.

She replied,

no one, Lord.

But perhaps there was

a lingering question

in her mind.

What was Jesus

going to do

with her?

If anyone

was sinless,

if anyone

was justified

to condemn her,

surely it was him.

But without a pause,

Jesus delivered

his verdict

in a voice

that sounded like

the judge

of the living

and the dead.

He said,

neither do I condemn you.

Now go

and sin no more.

Her face lit up.

Her death sentence

was pardoned.

A fresh start

in life

had been granted.

Like King Solomon

of old,

Jesus had rendered

his judgment

with the perfect balance

of grace

and truth.

He didn't minimize

her sin

and yet he urged

her to live

in grateful repentance.

But although

Jesus let her go,

that didn't mean

that he let her sin go.

I didn't realize

that at the time.

But with the benefit

of hindsight,

now I see that

what Jesus did

that day,

the reason why

Jesus was able

to say,

neither do I condemn you

and let her go,

was because Jesus

was willing to stay

behind and be condemned

in her place

and satisfy the demands

of the law

that she had broken.

You see,

that day in the temple

courtyards was just

a little preview

of the events

that would follow

just months down the road

at the next Passover.

When Jesus risked

his life bending down

and drawing alongside

that condemned woman,

it was a rehearsal

of all that he had come

to do for all of us.

Now I see that

in coming down

into this world

as a human,

God was coming down

onto our level.

He was drawing

alongside us

as the friend,

not the judge of sinners.

Now I see that

Jesus condemned

to death on the cross.

He was dying

in our place,

suffering the penalty

that we deserve

so that we might live.

Now I see that

Jesus died

and rose again

not only to save

this adulterous woman,

but to save

a hypocrite like me.

And if there's hope

for her,

then there's hope

for me.

There's hope

for all of us.

Now many years later

as an old man

I need to tell my story

one last time.

It's too good

to be forgotten

in the sands of time.

That day in the temple

with Jesus

changed my life forever.

And now as I come

to the end

of life's journey,

I know that he

who waits for me

beyond death's door

waits to greet me

with those same sweet words

that I heard that day.

I do not condemn you.

My regrets

cannot imprison me

to the grave.

My sins cannot

sink me down to hell.

For I have a saviour

in Jesus

who has saved me

from all my sins.

And I pray that my story

will help you too.

Although your life

in this world

will be marked

by ups and downs,

joys and regrets,

successes and shames,

I pray that you will

take hold of Jesus' promise too.

For God so loved the world

that he gave us

his one and only son,

that whoever believes

in him should not perish

but have eternal life.

For God did not

come into the world

to condemn the world,

but so that the world

might be saved through him.

That's my story.

Shalom and amen.