No Condemnation

John 7:53-8:11

Better than Righteousness – Right-ness

This election was incredibly divisive… but know we have a new President elect. And Trump gave his reconciliatory victory speech. Hilary gave her concession speech and called for unity.

But both camps have spent months vilifying and mocking and condemning the other side. An election ruled by fear of the other person… it is going to be incredibly difficult to achieve unity.

Because being right feels so good. Better yet, condemning others feels good.

You get the joy of being right. You get the superior feeling of being better than those who are wrong and did wrong. And you get the justice of seeing them punished for being wrong.

The Christian Way – the Way of the Beard

The way of condemnation is not available to the Christian. It shouldn’t be the way we are thought of, it shouldn’t be the way we behave.

It finds its perfect reflection in no-shave-November.

Now, I think we can all agree that the beard thing isn’t rockin’ on the Dusty. It is kind of patchy, just generally not great. However, in November, the first reach is not for the razor of condemnation… it is the grace of time. Time to grow. Time to fill in. We tolerate it and give it a chance to become something better.

We reach for grace first. Then, later, with great wisdom and caution, if it is our place to, we may have to take action.

Likewise with President-elect Trump. We pray for him, God bless him and give grace to him… and we reach for grace before all things. For we are sinners in need of grace too.

And that brings us to our passage of Scripture. But, before we dive all the way in, we have this question: is this Scripture?

Beloved Story – Funny Scripture

Textual development

Doesn’t show up until the fifth century

Shows up in four other places

Uses different vocabulary than the rest of John

Consistent with Scripture, possibly another source that got collected with the gospel of John. Or a narrative account.

But the lesson, the point of this story is true on the basis of everything else in the New Testament, not only on the basis of this story. That is, it is entirely consistent with who Jesus says he is as able to forgive sins, Lord over the law of Moses, and setting forward a new standard of love.

Woman Caught in Adultery

First, let’s just read this powerful story.

John 7:53-8:11

53 Then they all went home,

8: 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

A Woman Caught

The story from the woman’s perspective.

Caught in the act.

And then, in burst a bunch of guys in robes. We know nothing about what they did with the man. Did they let him go with a warning? Did he escape through the window? It’s a mystery… but its kind of fishy.

And then, it’s a blur. It was very rare in that time for stoning to be practiced. The right to execute was sole privilege of the Roman governor, religious stoning hadn’t been practiced in Jerusalem regularly. No one took it seriously. And now, this brutal law was being implemented for her.

Guilt and shame at being caught. Caught in the act! Embarrassment at being dragged out in front of her neighbors and friends. And now they are picking up stones, a mob, and one ready to kill.

Her fate seems to be in the hands of a strange Rabbi… but he is just writing on the ground.

Then, this man Jesus asks a question… and begins writing on the ground again. Is he stalling? Buying time?

And yet, something in his question, something in the mob’s faces, as they listen. And they ponder. And one by one, each one a little thrill of relief, each one a chance at life, one by one they drop their stones and leave.

And then he asks “where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir.”

And she realizes… no one is there to condemn her… except him. He stands there as the ultimate barrier to freedom, to forgiveness, to hope, to restoration, to life.

And then he says the most beautiful thing of all. “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

There it is. Grace and truth. The grace comes first. The forgiveness. The sentence lifted.

Grace before morality, before righteousness. Jesus redefines righteousness…. Or rather, he puts righteousness in its final place, as a response to his grace and forgiveness. A gift, a blessing that follows after his grace and forgiveness.

And she is free.

Does she go and live a sinless life? Probably not. But that wasn’t a condition of the grace, it was an invitation to righteousness extended after the grace.

The Joy of Condemning

Because the first thing they think of is not justice, it isn’t the law, they see an opportunity to prove someone wrong. To prove Jesus wrong, or to trap him in a moral, ethical, legal dilemma.

And it feels so good to be right. To trap Jesus. But that crowd is filled with people mostly ready to just judge the woman. Ready to stone her. To condemn her in a brutally personal way. Throw stones at her until she is dead.

But Jesus draws on an aspect of the law and elevates into a beautiful principle of grace. The Mosaic law says that witnesses who saw the crime… but did not participate in the crime should cast the first stone. They saw it, they helped condemn the woman, they must help execute the sentence. But of course, it would be monstrously unjust if they were themselves a part of the original crime.

Jesus expands this idea to include any and all of their sin. In the crime against the law of God, they are all criminals. Maybe they weren’t in bed with that woman… but another. Or maybe it was greed or lying or manipulating others, or attempting to manipulate God, or idolatry, or self-worship, or hate… but each and every one of them examines their own soul.

Now this is a true miracle. Guaranteed in a youth group if you ask which of you is without sin, one smart aleck will raise their hand. But Jesus speaks in a way that demands honesty. And one by one, something rises within them stronger than their desire to condemn the woman.

I believe it is this.

Humility. Humility in their own sin and weakness. Humility in their shared experience, in common with the accused woman. They, like her, are sinners in need of grace.

And this disarms their condemnation.

We Want to Step into Jesus’ Shoes

There is another character in this story. Jesus. We really want to step in to Jesus shoes. We want to be the wise but loving one who forgives but also commands righteousness.

Jesus is already filling Jesus’ shoes

We are very often in the position of the accusers: desiring to condemn our fellow sinners, but humbled by Jesus into laying down our stones. And Jesus himself follows in that he does not condemn the woman.

He extends grace.

But we aren’t responsible for the woman going and sinning no more. Did she? That’s between her and Jesus. Not the point of the story.

In a very, very few cases, we might be used by Jesus in the “go and sin no more” part. We might be invited by that person to help them be accountable in righteousness.

As a parent, we help our children grow in righteousness.

Deacons or Pastors may be called on to speak to ongoing unrepentant sin in your lives… but that is accountability invited by the members of our church. That is a big part of what it means to be a member of a church, to support one another in pursuing holy living.

But we have judgment and condemnation on speed dial. On quick draw. It is a favorite tool, and it feels SO GOOD to use it. You get to be right. You get to feel superior to those who are wrong. And you get to see justice done as they are condemned for being and doing wrong.

And so Jesus speaks these words to us. “Let you without sin cast the first stone.”

No Condemnation

There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We take a hold of that and love it… for us.

But I believe Jesus wants that to be our default mode. That our first stop is always, always, always grace. We are not to reach for condemnation and then decide if we can get away with using it.

We are to always start with grace. Loving others, even when in the midst of their sin, even when caught in the act. Even though they haven’t said a word of repentance or sorrow, or made a commitment to stop or spoke the name of Jesus or anything at all.

We start with grace. We start from the place of humility.

Knowing that we are sinners saved by grace… we simply never get to touch another stone.

Knowing that we are sinners saved by grace… we simply never get to touch another stone.

As Christians we talk a lot about being sinners. This can come across as self-flagellation. That we are just trying to create emotion within ourselves by feeling really sorry and guilty.

And if that is what you are doing, knock it OFF! We don’t remember and confess our sin in order to feel bad! We should feel joy at the beautiful grace that Jesus’ shows… for we are not condemned.

We remember we are sinners to feel the joy of grace… but we should also be steeping ourselves in humility… that we might drop the stones of condemnation.

Forgiven so that we may forgive.

In, during and after a Presidential election: grace first.

In our personal lives, at work, grace first. We feel safe bringing out the lighter stones of condemnation in our family, because its safe and they have to love us. But even there, perhaps especially there, grace first.

Could we transform, in our circles, in our neighborhoods, we could transform what it means to be “Christian” or “evangelical” or all the labels they place on us. Could we be known as a people who always, always start from a place of humility. Sinners saved by grace who offer grace first.

As a sinner, saved by grace, we must forever drop the stones of condemnation and take up the gospel of grace.

As a sinner, saved by grace, we must forever drop the stones of condemnation and take up the gospel of grace.

Sinners saved by grace who offer grace first.