Living With It

“Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with [his] finger wrote on the ground, [as though he heard them not].” (Joh 8:5-6 AV)

This is an interesting passage.  I once had a church member use this passage to justify pre-marital intimacy, adultery, and remarriage after divorce.  His reasoning was if Jesus did not condemn the sin of adultery, neither should we.  The mistakes he made were in his understanding of ‘condemn’.  A group of men who were not qualified to bring charges against someone for adultery brought an adulteress to Jesus for a civil judgment.  There were two things wrong with their actions.  First, it must be the victim who brings the charges.  If this woman was married to another, her husband must bring the charges.  If she was not married, but her lover was, it required the spurned wife’s testimony.  Second, Jesus frequently declined acting as a magistrate.  He was the Son of God.  He still is.  But what He ministered in human flesh, He subjected Himself to human authority.  He obeyed Joseph and Mary.  He observed the law as required by the Pharisees.  He paid taxes.  In other words, even if the charges were brought correctly, He did not have the human authority to condemn.  So, when He says He does not condemn her, Jesus is referring to the civil authority to render judgment.  His divine judgment is shown when He tells her to go and sin no more.  Calling the act of adultery a sin is rendering condemnation.

There is another way in which I care to look at this.  With the Spirit’s leading, it occurred to me that Jesus ministered in a villainous culture and, as the son of Man, He could do little about it.  As God, if He so chose, He could have rendered judgment on this woman and would have been fully justified in doing so.  As the son of Man, Jesus had to live among some very horrible sin all the while, doing miracles and loving people hoping some would be converted.  Not that He approved of the sin of this woman.  It is that He had a greater vision of what the Father wanted Him to do.  There was a greater caused than correcting what was right in front of Him.  Again, not to be repetitive, but Jesus’ response was not toleration.  He was not excusing her sin.  Otherwise, He would not have called it a sin.  There will come a time when Jesus sits as King on this earth and things like this will be dealt with severely and quickly.  For now, Jesus must go to a cross and die for the sins of mankind.   He must serve wicked mankind and love on them so they will trust Him as Savior and Messiah.  As God, sin repulses Him.  As a man, He has compassion on the sinner so the sinner will be reconciled back to God.

When I look at the surrounding wickedness, mine included, heaven cannot come quick enough.  It is beyond sad.  It is beyond wicked.  Man, in his rebellion, as redefined God’s creation to fit their perverse desires.  Infanticide and sodomy are the greatest of all sins.  God calls them an abomination.  Yet, here we are.  We are still on this filthy planet for a reason.  It is not an excuse to become hardened against sin and cease to preach on it.  Quite the contrary.  Unless we preach on sin, the sinner will not understand his or her situation.  There must be accountability before there can be redemption.  The soul must be convicted before he or she can be converted.  The thought came to me by the Holy Spirit that if Jesus can live and walk in filthy Rome, then I am required to do the same.  God is not asking us to become hardened or cold.  He is not asking us to ignore the corruption and perverse.  The LORD is not asking us to cease fighting against it.  What we can to is look to the perfect Son of God who dwelt among the most perverse of all people so that He could preach the way of righteousness to those with no hope.  Why preach in a perfectly holy society?  Jesus came to seek the sick.  Jesus came to save the lost.  This means He lived and ministered among the worst, so they might become children of the most High!