Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Accusation and Forgiveness: Jesus' Radical Third Way {Reflections}
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Hey, what is up everybody? Welcome to our Reflections podcast. I'm in studio with Mike Lauer. What's up, mike? It is March Madness. I didn't even allow you to answer. I'm sorry, man, what's up? What's up, mike? It's March Madness, march Madness. Hey, you to answer. I'm sorry, man, what's up? What's up, mike? It's March Madness, march Madness. Hey, last night I was reading through the book of John.
Speaker 1:I read through the book of John with these two young guys I think I've mentioned that before and came to the story of the adulterous woman in John, chapter 8. I want to just read it quickly with you guys and just, it's an incredible story. In fact, most scholars believe this story is not found in the original manuscripts. So if you look in your Bible, you'll see that there's probably some kind of a note or like an addendum or like. They'll break this part of John 8 out and say, hey, this probably wasn't in the original manuscripts, which does raise the question like, why is it in here? And many people think, well, it's because, even though it wasn't in those original manuscripts which is arguable that it still very much falls in line with the character of Jesus and it's an incredibly meaningful and poignant story. That very much. I think in many ways sort of sums up his ministry, what he's doing and how he might treat a woman like this, and so it's a beautiful story. So here's the story Jesus says.
Speaker 1:You know, in John 8, beginning in verse 2, at dawn Jesus appears again in the temple courts. There's people everywhere, if you can imagine where all the people gathered around him. So there's a whole crowd of folks gathered around Jesus at this time and he sits down to teach them. And now the teachers of the law and the Pharisees bring out a woman caught in adultery. So imagine they're in the temple. Courts is a bustling area, people all over. And then the teachers and the Pharisees, these religious leaders, they bring a woman who's been caught in the act of adultery. Like question number one for me is yeah, okay, but I mean it's like the old saying goes it takes two to tango, right? So where's the dude? They don't drag the guy out, they only drag the guy out, they only drag the woman out. And you can also imagine I don't know what she's looking like, what she's wearing, I mean, I don't know. It doesn't say, but she's been caught in the act. They probably grab her, drag her out there. The dude isn't there, who knows why.
Speaker 1:In the ancient world you know, this is kind of how women were treated Men were obviously revered in many ways just for being men. Women were secondary, even tertiary, kinds of figures in stories and in culture, which is why it's so important to note how Jesus treats women, or like children or folks with disabilities. I mean, watch how he treats these people who are marginalized in every way in the ancient world. So there's no guy around and like, what were these Pharisees do? How did they catch her? And this way in the ancient world? So there's no guy around, and what were these Pharisees do? How did they catch her and this guy in the act? What were they doing? Were they just waiting for somebody to have an affair, to commit adultery? What were they doing? How'd they catch him in the act? It's such a weird story in that way, but anyway, they dragged her in front of Jesus and they say this. They say, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. Now, the law of Moses commands us to stone such women. Now, what do you say? Now, again, the law of Moses was an ancient law that these Pharisees and the teachers would know, have known it very well, and probably the Pharisees in this time probably wouldn't have supported this kind of punishment, like capital punishment for a woman caught in adultery. But they want to know what Jesus is going to say. And then the text says they were using this question as a trap for him and as a basis for accusing him. They want to know what he'll say and what he'll do. I love Jesus for this and many other moments like it.
Speaker 1:Many times Jesus is like given two options, it's like this or that, and neither option is great. It reminds me of very recent political campaigns in this country, like you can choose between this or that and we're all like are you kidding? These are the two best options. You gotta be kidding me. This is perhaps, maybe our history in large, but Jesus is given two options and neither of them are good. He can either stone her and obey the law of Moses but then he'd be stoning a woman, and very publicly or he can let her go, thereby denouncing the law of Moses and letting this woman, who's an adulteress, go free. So either option is a trap. They want to trap him. Either option's bad. It reminds me of an earlier time when they come to Jesus and they ask him hey, jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar? This is in Matthew's gospel and I love this. It's two options, but they both are bad.
Speaker 1:Like, if Jesus says, yes, pay taxes to Caesar, he's acknowledging the authority and probably the deity of Caesar. Like, yes, pay taxes to Caesar because Caesar is Lord. That's what Caesar declares himself to be. Caesar is Lord. And so, yeah, pay taxes to the Caesar. He's the Lord, he's the king, he's the emperor, give him what is his due. Then he's really announcing that, yeah, our loyalty, our authority is under Caesar. If he says no, he's a criminal, he's a rebel, and rebels in the empire are killed. Rebels were crucified in the empire. They can't have these kinds of revolutions in the empire, so they would kill him.
Speaker 1:So, jesus, in this beautifully brilliant way, he doesn't answer yes or no. He says, hey, whose face is on the coin there? And they look at the coin and they're like, oh, it's Caesar's face that's on the coin. And he goes okay, well, then give to Caesar what is Caesar's. In other words, like that coin. Yeah, go ahead and give that coin to Caesar, I don't care. Because then he says and this is the hammer, he says, but give to God what is God's. It's like yeah, give that coin to Caesar. I don't care who cares about coins, you know, give to God what is God's. Now, if you're a Jew and you hear this, what belongs to God? A Jew would say everything, everything belongs to God. So give that coin to Caesar. I don't care, because you know what Caesar himself belongs to God. It's a brilliant move.
Speaker 1:This is called the third way, so Jesus is often presented with two ways. He goes for a third way and it's beautiful and he like, does, like a judo. Move on these guys. So they dragged the woman out in front of him. Hey, should we stone her according to Mosaic law, or should we let her go free? And this is what Jesus says.
Speaker 1:Jesus bends down in the dirt and begins to write in the ground with his finger. It's like what are you doing? I love it. He doesn't answer them. He just bends down the dirt and begins to write with his finger. I'll say more about that in a minute. But when they kept on questioning him, he straightens up and tells them hey, listen, let any one of you who is without sin throw the first stone at her. And again he stoops down and he writes in the ground. So, yeah, okay, fine, we can stone her. But whoever is without sin, whoever's hands are clean, whichever one of you don't have dark secrets or places in your heart, you go ahead and throw the first stone and then he writes in the ground. Now some people think maybe he was writing these men's sins, like he's writing out hey, tommy, I see you over there, here's your sin. You, you know you beat your animal too hard yesterday. Or hey, billy, you know you stole from the whatever. Like, maybe that's what he's doing. He's bending over, writing on the ground and he's writing out their sins.
Speaker 1:Another commentator suggests that there's this passage in Jeremiah. It's fascinating, jeremiah 17, 13. And maybe Jesus is referencing this. They would have known this passage, probably because they're teachers of the law. But this passage in Jeremiah says this those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. And so maybe he's writing their names in the ground because those whose names are written in the ground have turned away from the Lord, the spring of living water. Maybe Jesus is referencing this passage from Jeremiah, chapter 17. I love it, whatever he's doing, though they get it and they're like okay.
Speaker 1:So then at this it says, those who heard this begin to walk away, one at a time, the older ones first. I wonder why the older ones? You know, it's like maybe the older ones, who perhaps have seen many things and are decades in or decades further than the younger ones, maybe they have this epiphany Like, oh you know, sometimes us younger folks and by us I guess I'm not that young anymore myself, but sometimes younger folks like they have all the zeal and energy they want to conquer the world and they're like, yeah, great, awesome, you want to fan that and water that, but they don't know how they're going to do it. You know what I mean? They have sort of you know, temperance and these kinds of things. And so perhaps these older ones, they're a little bit wiser and they're like okay, we get it, jesus, we're going to drop our stones and leave.
Speaker 1:So the older ones first, until nobody was left but Jesus, with the woman still standing there. Okay, imagine her. She's come very close like the razor's edge, like so close to dying, to being stoned to death for committing adultery with some dude who's not even there. He isn't held accountable, just her. And there she is and they've all left her. Imagine the guilt, the shame, maybe her clothes or I don't know what kind of state she's in, but she's so close to dying and now Jesus has saved her life. I don't even know if she knows who he is.
Speaker 1:And then he stands up and he says to her by the way, you can trust Jesus with women. This is so beautiful. He's here with this woman who's caught in adultery and you can trust him. He says hey, woman, where are they? Has anyone condemned you? And I'm sure she looks around and she says yeah, no one, sir, they're all gone. And then he says then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declares Now go and leave your life of sin. It's beautiful. He sets her free physically. Then he says hey, why don't you come out of that life of sin? And maybe I'll go find that guy too and talk to him later, the guy that you were with. But he calls her out of this life of destruction. And perhaps she was in this adulterous relationship because she had no say so, she had no power. Perhaps it was an oppressive, violent thing that this guy was demanding of her. So maybe she had no say in the thing in the first place. That happened a lot in the ancient world and so he's setting her free in every way and lets her go.
Speaker 1:I love this story. It's beautiful, and so I don't know how to land the plane here, other than to say Jesus is such a good leader and a good shepherd and a good father and he's trustworthy in every way. And he says to the Pharisees hey, look, none of you have your hands clean, like none of us are good at this. You know, all of us are broken. We're all just like the woman caught in adultery. We all have our own things.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus says like let me be the one who's the judge, let me be the good shepherd, let me be the gate for the sheep, let me be the one who takes care of all these things, the healer and the giver of life, because you guys are not very good at it. Yeah, so today, may you know the living water that comes from Jesus and may you give yourself over to his care, because he is trustworthy and good. I love you guys, peace. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8.30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clcelkriverorg Peace.
