By Pastor Greg
An American attorney had just
finished a guest lecture at a law school in Italy when an Italian lawyer
approached him and asked, "Is it true that a person can fall down on a
sidewalk in your country and then sue the landowners for lots of money?" Told that it was true, the lawyer turned to
his partner and started speaking rapidly in Italian. When they stopped, the American attorney asked
if they wanted to go to America to practice law. "No, no," one replied. "We want
to go to America and fall down on sidewalks."
Honestly, I don’t know if I should laugh at this or cry. It reminds me of all that is wrong with our
country. It also has a tendency to make
me angry; angry at people who work the system, and angry at people who try to get rich by defrauding others. I read things like this and immediately determine
that someone has crossed the line. They
have no morality and no ethics. They are
guilty of sin. However, I struggle with
these angry, judgmental feelings, and maybe you share this as well.
When I watch our society
continually display unethical behavior, and when people demonstrate
selfishness, greed, and immorality, my first gut reaction is to judge them as
sinners. I place them on the opposite
side of the line; the side where they will one day face God’s judgment (and I ask God
to hurry up with that). In my heart and in my mind I have determined they are evil,
despicable, sinners. Sometimes I even
catch myself thinking, “Thank God I am not like them.” It’s about then that the Holy Spirit jumps out from behind the
piano and wrestles my heart into submission.
Has He ever done this to you? Has the Word of God or the Spirit of God ever
rebuked your judgmental attitude? Has
the Lord ever forced you to look at the person rather than their sin? I know Jesus did this. He did this with a group of religious leaders
one day. They had caught a woman in the
act of adultery and brought her to Jesus.
She had crossed the line, and the
people wondered how Jesus would respond to such an evil, despicable, sinner.
In John 8:1-11 we read, “Jesus returned to the
Mount of Olives, 2 but
early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered,
and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the
teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put
her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus,
“this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of
Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could
use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They
kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let
the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he
stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one,
beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd
with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the
woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No,
Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither
do I. Go and sin no more.”
[1]
There are two rebukes in this story,
and two acts of compassion as well.
Jesus rebuked the religious leaders and the Pharisees for their
judgmental attitude against this woman (let
the one who has never sinned). They
saw a sinner and immediately used her as an example of all that is wrong in
this world. Jesus also rebuked (or scolded) the woman. He indicated that she had been sinning (Go
and sin no more). What she had done
crossed the line of God’s standard of morality.
He was quite clear on this. Both
the woman and the Pharisees are scolded by Jesus. He doesn’t
tell them their actions were okay. He
points out the sin in what they were doing.
The woman (incidentally, why wasn’t the man brought before Jesus as
well) was sinning against God’s standard of morality (a way of loving God). The Pharisees were sinning against God’s
standard of ethics (a way of loving others).
Both groups had crossed the line.
Both deserved judgment. However,
there is a valuable lesson for you and me in Christ’s response to both parties
here.
Jesus looks at the religious leaders
who had crossed the line and offers them compassion. He treats them ethically. Seriously, watch
His response. Rather than publicly list
their sins, Jesus has them search their heart.
He reminds them that they too had crossed the line at one point in their
life. They were given an opportunity to look at themselves through God’s
standard of ethics. The Lord also offers
compassion to this woman. She had
crossed the line of morality. She had
sinned. She knew it, and the crowd knew it.
But instead of merely judging her, Christ reaches across the line and
gently offers her grace. Today, there
will be no judgment. Today there will be
a lesson on morality.
We should not be surprised by the
Lord’s response to this woman, after all, He continues to do the same thing
today. Rather than passing judgment to
those living across the line, He extends grace.
Paul says Jesus did this for those who were still sinners. “But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”[2]
(Romans 5:8). Truthfully, the Lord’s
response here astounds me. And I can’t
help but think I need to learn this lesson as well.
Tell me, where in the Bible did Jesus
ever tell us to bring Him those living in sin so that He might smite them? I’m
serious here. Jesus did not leave us
with the Great Condemnation. He gave us
the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you”[3]
(Matthew 28:19-20). And what this forces me to realize is that the
Lord expects me to have a little compassion for those on the other side of the
line. If Jesus did this, then I must do
the same.
I have learned in my 20 years of
ministry that most of the people in this world know they are sinners. They know their life is not pleasing to
God. What they don’t know is how to find forgiveness. If we want these people to come to Jesus and
find salvation, then we MUST be willing to reach across the line and help them
find the Lord’s love and grace. So rather
than standing in our churches complaining about the wickedness of this world,
we need to reach out and teach the world about Christ and His sacrifice of
love. Jesus demonstrates for us the kind
of heart we should have. When a person
does not know the Lord, they will surely live in sinful ways. However, rather than judging the individual’s sin, we should be offering them
the grace and forgiveness that Jesus gives.
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