JOHN 8.

The Religious People... wanted to shame the woman "caught" in adultery. (I guess she was all alone doing that.... Another Story!) Anyway - I always liked this story from the Bible, and only recently am I learning to go deeper. I always thought the part that was so cool was the simple idea of whoever hasn't sinned, cool, okay - you can throw the first stone. That is profound. It is like a ministry of mercy.

Understanding now that the wretched religious men used this woman as a weapon against Jesus, to catch him with a conundrum of judgment - I love this now, perhaps as my favorite part:

This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

I think about that image. That action taken by Him. Ignored them in their fake righteousness. Stooping down, going below - humility, stooping down to identify with the woman's humiliation and truly unfair one-way, one-person accusation.

AND THEN - what did He write? There are endless discourses from learned studied folks with their ideas - and it is indeed entertaining to consider. But the fact that Jesus stooped down and put His finger in the dirt fascinates me because it is so... specific. I came to think that Jesus behaved as though He did not hear or honor the accusation against this woman.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

AND THEN - how beautifully He navigated this situation, knowing surely that they were trying to trap Him in the law. So according to the law she is to be executed...how to do it, really, correctly, and fall into the parameters that raise Jesus above this law? I LOVE THIS - okay, somebody has to begin - one of you accusers. So who shall pick up the first stone, who is free from any sin? Beautifully transferring the accusation from the woman alone to the accusers as well. These awful men wanting to accuse her and can't/won't/don't even see or acknowledge their own sinful natures.

AND WHY - did He stoop down again? Perhaps to show the woman again He understands her situation and her shame. Perhaps to help calm down the agitation of the accusation and conversations. Perhaps to now give these accusers time to consider and hear. What did He write! Maybe He listed the sins of the accusers!

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

AND THEN - the listeners, formerly accusers... were CONVICTED by the WORD of Jesus. Wow. Beautiful. They left knowing they could not cast that first stone. The order of departure is so particular and specifically mentioned. I would guess that the eldest were closest to true understanding.

When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

AND WHY -  was the woman standing? Perhaps a minor point, but it caught my attention with all this stooping and purposeful lowering of Jesus.

AND THEN - Jesus did not condemn her but freed her from her sin, from the iniquity of her sin. She felt freedom perhaps for the first time, I wonder. Stop all sin, to, sin no more - really implies changing her entire life and lifestyle. Like I have done. Like all freed sinners examine within their own lives, yes? A daily, if not a moment to moment examination. All true knowledge proceeds out of the fear of the LORD.

AND NOW - I have been given the gift of rebirth and I am not perfect. I am though, very different. Sinning even in what I perceived once as something ever so slight - like cursing - bothers me. Now I only choose to live deliberately as I walk through problems and challenges so that I, and people watching, can see the transformation within me. Get up and Go! Your life has changed, never go back. Not it the Storm. Not in the Temptations. Not in the Enemy's camp.