June 14 - Did You Hear What She Did?

Read John 8:1-11

Context: The following story doesn't appear in some of the earliest manuscripts found, but it has remained in the Bible nonetheless. It is near harvest time, and Jesus has been teaching in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Pharisees are getting agitated at him and they tried to arrest him, but the temple guards were so impressed with his teaching that they let him go.

Text:
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 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." (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

Many of the crises in our lives are the result of our own behavior. Unfortunately, our own condemnation isn't all we have to face...everyone around us jumps in with loud opinions and judgment.

As a Christian in a position to comfort someone going through a crisis like this, it is really easy to join up with the crowd. Even on Sunday morning I know there is gossip and whispering about others who are in crisis of one kind or another...we all seem to wait anxiously for others to fall. But God has again provided us with an example in this type of situation.

Jesus hears the condemnation of others, but he doesn't feed it or even argue with them. He refuses to join in. He went one step further and he stopped them in their tracks. How many hurts could be avoided if we all remembered our own sins before we threw stones?

It is important to note that Jesus did not condone the woman's behavior, either. He spoke the truth about her sin, and he had compassion for her as a person. He didn't remind her of all the other times she's failed and he didn't seem to doubt her ability to change.

How can we shut down gossip of others? It's easy to ignore it and not get involved, but that doesn't stop the injury to the person being discussed. Sometimes the best way to comfort someone is to make the environment surrounding them less hostile.