Forgiven
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The Last Encounter
The Last Encounter
The woman caught in adultery
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,
but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.
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.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
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.
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!”
Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
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.
Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Everything in this chapter flows from the encounter described
This woman had sinned and there was no way to forgive her according to the law
It is a picture of each of us before the cross. Death was inevitable because we were guilty!
In fulfilment of Romans Chapter 6 Jesus acts
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
The Scribes and the Pharisees were absolutely correct in their assessment of the situation but Jesus had a different message!
There issue was “Who is this that has authority to forgive sin?” He will answer them later in the discourse with the words
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
He will answer them with a clear statement
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.
So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
Forgiveness was His mission
For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
As He bent down to write in the sand, tradition has it that he began writing the sins of the people who were holding the stones. One by one they were convicted, dropped their stones and walked away!
The reality of sin is ever before us
We see it in action destroying the very creation that God gave to bring peace and happiness now brings anxiety, hatred, and stress!
The woman standing in front of Him was weighed down with the reality of her sin but placed herself wholly in His arms!
What a change in perception in the response of God to our failures!
His perspective
Man was in need of a Savior and here He demonstrates that Gos is willing to forgive but it will be a a terrible price!
So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I Am he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.
The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
The foundation of forgiveness was established by His actions!
With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
Freedom from judgement and sin
What were the words of Christ to that women?
Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
In a later statement Jesus said
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?
He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,
If this is the case, then we can rest assured that His desire is forgiveness and that we now walk in the freedom of His Words,
Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”