Daily Devotion, September 27, 2023

 

Devotion:

Read John 8:1-11.

From the previous chapter, the conflict is mounting from the leaders in the temple who don’t believe that Jesus is truly the Son of God. It’s important to pause and place ourselves somewhere within this story for us to see, hear and feel the fears and tension within this temple setting:

-Jesus is teaching during the early morning and there are people gathered all around him.

- The Pharisees, the leaders of the temple, don’t believe Jesus is who he says he is and they are trying to trap him in order to accuse him.

-The Pharisees have placed a woman (whom they say was caught in adultery) in the middle of this crowd of people. If she is condemned for adultery, according to Moses’ Law, she could be stoned to death. No doubt, she is afraid for her life! Perhaps she can see the expressions on their faces and the stones in their hands.

-The Pharisees want a quick answer from Jesus, but he bends down to write on the ground. They continue to want an answer from Jesus. The wisdom, power and authority of Jesus’ answer, “if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”, surprises them! And he writes on the ground again.

-At this point, I’ll bet you could have heard a pin drop. It’s interesting that the older ones went away first. And one by one, they all went away until Jesus was the only one left with the woman. I wonder if they took their stones with them.

- I wonder if the woman’s fears began to diminish. Can we even begin to imagine the relief this woman felt when she heard Jesus’ words? “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” It has been said that Jesus gave her freedom in two ways, freedom for her life and freedom from her life of sin.

Personal Worship Option:

Wherever we find ourselves in this story, our eyes and ears have to be opened in new ways about who Jesus is! Jesus is truly the Son of the living God. God sent Jesus with full authority to forgive sins and to offer the freedom of new life over and against the condemnations which a life of sin offers. And that’s GOOD NEWS!!!