FOCUS Day Four | John 8:4-11 TPT
DAY FOUR | John 8:4-11 TPT (by Abigail)
“Then in the middle of his teaching, the religious scholars and the Pharisees broke through the crowd and brought a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery and made her stand in the middle of everyone.
Then they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the very act of adultery.
Doesn’t Moses’ law command us to stone to death a woman like this? Tell us, what do you say we should do with her?” They were only testing Jesus because they hoped to trap him with his own words and accuse him of breaking the laws of Moses.
But Jesus didn’t answer them. Instead he simply bent down and wrote in the dust with his finger.
Angry, they kept insisting that he answer their question, so Jesus stood up and looked at them and said, “Let’s have the man who has never had a sinful desire throw the first stone at her.” And then he bent over again and wrote some more words in the dust.
Upon hearing that, her accusers slowly left the crowd one at a time, beginning with the oldest to the youngest, with a convicted conscience. Until finally, Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there in front of him. So he stood back up and said to her, “Dear woman, where are your accusers? Is there no one here to condemn you?”
Looking around, she replied, “I see no one, Lord.”
Jesus said, “Then I certainly don’t condemn you either. Go, and from now on, be free from a life of sin.”
ABIGAIL MCKOY
This is such a moving story for me because this is how Jesus treats us when we sin. Not only that, it’s how we should treat others when they sin against us. For me, that was so convicting and astonishing, that the One who I have sinned against the most, treats me like that. And He would eventually take upon Himself all of that sin for all time and be separated from His Father.
Because of our sin He would die on a cross to let us be with Him and His Father. I was with some missionary friends from Cambodia the other day. And as we where hanging out at the local coffee shop with my friends and these missionaries, we started talking about the Cambodian language, and we learned that the people there don’t say, “I’m sorry”, but show it instead.
Their culture has shame and honer deeply ingrained in everything. The translation of the word sorry is “put punishment on me”. If they would say I’m sorry, it would literally be publicly shaming themself. Instead, they go about making food and doing acts of service for the person they hurt. They show that they are sorry instead of saying it. One of the missionaries compared it to the above Bible story.
Jesus didn’t demand an apology from her or let them punish her for the sin she committed, even though she did deserve it. Instead, He told her to go and sin no more. He let her live out her redemption, and freed her and let her be walking proof of this mercy. Even before He died, He already set people completely free of sin and let them live and be with Him.
This was such a huge thing for me, that Jesus Himself could show mercy and not yell or give punishment to someone who rightfully deserved to die for her sin. But instead let her go free, and then later died for it so she could be close to Him because of love. He kept no record of wrong, and is still keeping that promise of love for us. We all deserve death and separation from Him, but He lets our lives be proof of His grace, mercy and redemption. And lets us show that part of Him to others.
JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST
Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?
MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?
Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?
