Moments with the Master: Adulterous Woman

To Stone or Not to Stone

John 8:2-11

Opening Words: There are approximately 800,000 words in the English language. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know them all. Approximately 300,000 of those words are technical in nature. The average person only knows about 10,000 words and uses only half that number daily. However, it is not the number of words you know that matters. What matters is the number of discussions you have with the people in your life. How many people do you talk to on an average day?

Throughout the season of Lent we have been looking at various discussions Jesus had with various individuals. I have called this collection of discussions Moments with the Master. This morning we look at the story of an unnamed adulterous woman. Her story is one of forgiveness. May God give you ears to hear her story from the eighth chapter of John, verses two through eleven. Let me call this message, “To Stone or Not to Stone.”

John 8:2-11 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They 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. 7When 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." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At 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. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

I love the story from Spain of the father and son who had a great fight. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find his son, the father put an ad in Madrid newspaper. The ad simply read:

  

Dear Paco,

Meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven.

I love you.

Your Father.

On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up in front of the newspaper office, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. Eight hundred Pacos can’t be wrong. How many people do you know who are longing for forgiveness?

Forgiveness is something that is not just taught in Sunday School because it is good for your soul. Doctors tell us it should be practiced in life because it is good for your physical health. According to the latest medical and psychological research, those who practice forgiveness:

Benefit from better functioning immune systems

Benefit from lower blood pressure

Benefit from better mental health

Benefit from better physical health

Benefit from lower amounts of anger and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression

Benefit from more satisfying and long-lasting relationships

Life is really quite simple. It distills down to a series of choices. It is your choice to forgive the people in your life. The truth is if you want to live a longer and healthier life then learn how to forgive the people who have offended your honor. If you want to be miserable everyday then don’t practice forgiveness. Don’t forgive your parents for loving your brother more. Don’t forgive your brother for what happened during the 1969 Super Bowl party. Don’t forgive your children for not living up to your expectations. Don’t forgive the ex-spouse for all those past deeds. Don’t forgive your neighbor for parking the boat in the front yard. It is really quite simple. If you want to be miserable then don’t practice forgiveness. However, if you want to be happy and healthier then practice forgiveness.

At the very heart of this morning’s scripture lesson is the theme of forgiveness. It is the one theme in this story that can’t be ignored. According to the text Jesus is in the temple courts. It was a place of prayer but it was also a place of gathering. According to verse six , it is also a place of testing. Jesus is confronted by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. The test comes in the form of a woman. They tell Jesus she had been caught red handed in the act of adultery. (Have you ever wonder what happened to the man? It takes two to commit adultery.) They want to know what Jesus will do. It is one of those questions that has no right answer. The Old Testament law said adultery was punishable by stoning the guilty party to death. The Roman law said only Rome had the power to take someones life. The Master is faced with no right answer. Does he offend the Jewish faith or the Roman authority? What is a Savior to do? What he does is prove to his enemies his wisdom. He turns their test in an opportunity to teach the crowd a divine truth about forgiveness.

This morning what I want to do is ask you three questions. Each one of these questions revolves around the topic of forgiveness. Each one of these questions speaks to a different segment of our population. Each one of these questions is illustrated for us in the moment this unnamed adulterous women had with the Master. My goal is simple. I want you to be able to practice forgiveness in your life so you can live your life to the fullest. Inside of your heart is the potential God placed there years ago. In many cases it goes untapped because our own pride keeps it locked up. So if you are ready to begin practicing forgiveness say, “Amen!”

Are you able to accept God’s forgiveness?

This is my first question for you this morning. Are you able to accept God’s forgiveness? If your answer is “no” then you believe you are beyond help, not even Jesus‘ blood will wash you white as snow. Let us look at the story together. Let there be no doubt about it, the woman was guilty. (As a matter of fact the unseen man is guilty as well.) Deuteronomy 22:22-24 says if a couple commits adultery then they should be taken to the city gates to be stoned. If you were a person of the law you would have taken the woman’s life. Here is the Good News for today. We are not people of the law, we are people of grace. Jesus forgave the guilty woman and challenges her to live a better life. Her story is not an isolated case. God forgives us from our past sins and challenges us to live better lives in the future. There is no limit to God’s forgiveness.

History tells us the great reformer Martin Luther had a dream. He found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther’s sins, and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, “Is that all?” “No,” came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more. “You’ve forgotten something,” Luther exclaimed triumphantly. “Quickly write on each of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ God’s son cleanses us from all sins.’“

Martin Luther was right! There is no sin that we commit that God will not forgive.

Do you remember that old hymn? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” It is too good to be true but it is true. You can be forgiven but are you able to accept God’s forgiveness? If you want to accept God’s forgiveness say, “Amen!”

Are you able to forgive others?

This is my second question for you this morning. Are you able to forgive others? There are many people in our society who proudly boast they will never forgive someone. Maybe you play that forgive and forget game. Through the eyes of God that is not forgiving. The question is really quite simple. Are you able to forgive? In the Bible story the adulterous woman stood before the crowd. No one is questioning her innocence. She was guilty and something had to be done. However, nothing was done because of verse seven. Jesus said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Not a single stone was cast because everyone knew that they had sinned at some level in the past. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” Why do we have trouble forgiving others? Because we forget we are sinners. Because of pride, we see ourselves as nearly perfect and are blind to our own imperfections.

Rod Wilmoth tells the story of a woman who lived in an apartment in a large city. On Saturday she decided to go shopping and put on her finest clothes. On the kitchen counter was a small bag of garbage. She picked it up and intended to drop it in the trash as she walked by the dumpster. The problem is she forgot. It got lost in her other packages she was holding. She jumped on the bus to travel to the shopping district holding the small bag of garbage. As she sat on the bus she began to smell her bag of garbage. She thought the smell came from the bus, itself, and she decided to write a letter to complain about the smelly condition of the bus. She opened the window of the bus as they passed a low income area and was shocked at the smell that came from those apartments. She thought, “Some people just don’t know how to live.” When she arrived at her stop she continued to hold her bag of garbage as she started to shop. The smell was in every store. She thought, “People are pigs. The whole world is going to the dogs.” It was only when she got home and opened all her packages that she discovered she was the source of the smell.

Maybe that is why our world is so reluctant to forgive other people? We have become blind to our own sins and preoccupied the everyone else’s sins. As your pastor let me say this as kindly as I can, you stink! What did Romans 3:23 say? “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” The word “all” in that verse means everyone. It means that you have sinned. It means I have sinned. It means everyone that had ever lived has sinned and everyone that is yet to be born will sin. We are saved by grace and by grace alone. And as soon as we all begin to understand that we are all sinners, we will be in perfect position to forgive others.

I hope your story is not the same as the Spanish patriot, Narvaez. As he was dying his father looked at him and said, “Son, have you forgiven all your enemies? He replied, “Father, I have no enemies, I have shot them all.” You will never forgive your enemies’ imperfections until you are first able to identify your own. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Are you able to forgive yourself?

This is my third and final question for the morning. Are you able to forgive yourself? If your answer is “no” then you aren’t getting the most out of today. How much time do you spend regretting the past? The story ends with Jesus and the woman alone. The crowd is gone. They have all been confronted by their sinful nature. In verse ten Jesus asks the woman, “Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one ,sir.” The Master ends the story by saying, “Then neither do I condemn you, go on and leave your life of sin.” It is a story that ends with a challenge. Jesus expects her to live a better life, learning from her past mistakes. He expects the same thing from you and from me. How many people do you know who are not able to forgive themselves? Their lives have stalled because they just can't forgive or forget that horrible experience.

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man in history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Within 2 months, John Landy eclipsed the record by 1.4 seconds. On August 7, 1954, the two met together for a historic race. As they moved into the last lap, Landy held the lead. It looked as if he would win, but as he neared the finish line he was haunted by the question, “Where is Bannister?” As he turned to look, Bannister took the lead. Landy later told a Time magazine reporter, “If I hadn’t looked back, I would have won!” Looking back cost him the race. Looking back continuously will cost you the race of life. How much time do you spend looking back?

The greatest gift you will ever receive is Jesus! It all begins and ends with Jesus. I believe the second greatest gift you will every receive is time. We are only in this world for a short time. Don’t waste a single day! Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

In The Christian Leader, Don Ratzlaff retells a story Vernon Grounds came across in Ernest Gordon’s “Miracle on the River Kwai.” The Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to labor on a jungle railroad, had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened. A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot. It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody corpse and took it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check point. The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others!… The incident had a profound effect.… The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors … (and instead of attacking their captors) insisted: ‘No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.’”

Those solders were not wrong. Now is the time of forgiveness. Look around our world. Does anyone here believe we have a better world because so many people won’t forgive? Now is the time of forgiveness. We need to begin by accepting God’s forgiveness. We need to continue by forgiving others. Finally, we need to learn how to forgive ourselves. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”