This morning we\u2019re going back to exploring one of our church values in some more depth. As a church we value loving God, loving each other, loving our neighbours, celebrating and exploring. Over the next month or so we\u2019re going to be looking at some different aspects of what it means practically to love each other, and this morning we are thinking about forgiveness, and forgiving each other. <\/p>\n
In the background to this is the fact that the Bible is one long story of how God reaches out to show love and forgiveness to people. In Genesis 3:15 God gives His first promise of a Redeemer who would forgive the world of their sin. Forgiveness is an attribute of God that we are consistently taught in the Bible that we too can demonstrate to others. And because forgiveness is an attribute of God; the Holy Spirit can enable us to forgive others in a supernatural way.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the background, and the theory, if you like, but I thought we might explore this in a slightly different way this morning, using John\u2019s account of the woman caught in adultery. I\u2019d like to tell the story from three different viewpoints, and see if that gives us a new way in to thinking about and experiencing forgiveness and forgiving.<\/p>\n
As I share each of these perspectives, perhaps you might like to be thinking \u2013 who does this person have to forgive? What does this person need forgiveness for?<\/p>\n
It was a Tuesday, or was it a Wednesday? Can\u2019t remember \u2013 doesn\u2019t matter much. Anyway, it was fairly early in the morning, I know that. I also know that it was the day after the end of the feast of the Tabernacles. I\u2019d spent all week in and around the Temple, joining in the ceremonies, and listening to this new preacher from up north, a bloke called Jesus. He\u2019d been making a right rumpus, annoying all the religious types, but there was something about him. I was a bit \u201cthe morning after the night before\u201d if you know what I mean, when I saw him, coming down from the hillside on his own, slipping into the Temple. I followed him, what a chance to get some one on one time with him, away from the crowds. Fat chance. I wasn\u2019t the only one to have had that idea, but the crowd wasn\u2019t that big, we could sit round with him and listen to him. I was really looking forward to some quality time, listening to what he had to say in the peace and quiet of the temple.<\/p>\n
And, then, there was all this noise. Shouting and screaming, the religious types dragging this half dressed woman with them, accusing her of all sorts, asking Jesus if they should stone her, as the law demanded. I was so angry \u2013 angry with them for disturbing my peaceful time with Jesus, angry with her for being no better than she should be, perhaps she did deserve to be punished. Noise outside, noise inside. <\/p>\n
And then quiet. It\u2019s like Jesus sucked all the noise away, like a really good teacher at the front of the classroom, his silence made every one else fall silent. He just drew in the sand. And then he said, \u201cLet any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d And went back to drawing. It wasn\u2019t long before people started slipping away. It wasn\u2019t long before I slipped away. I\u2019m no spring chicken, I know I\u2019ve not lived a perfect life.<\/p>\n
Who does that Jesus think he is? Disrupting our festivals with his shouting out in the Temple courts during some of the most important ceremonies. Confusing the people, some of them even think he\u2019s the Messiah. As if the Messiah could come from the North! Even the temple guards seem to have fallen under his spell, and didn\u2019t arrest him when we sent them out after him. We had to do something. We had to show the people that he wasn\u2019t to be trusted, that he was a law breaker, who didn\u2019t follow Moses. We had to do something. <\/p>\n
It might be a religious festival, but the wine flows pretty freely, and it\u2019s not too difficult to find people transgressing after the parties of the big last night. One of our investigators caught a girl doing the walk of shame early in the morning, sneaking out of a house she had no right being in. Here was our chance \u2013 the council gathered, and we had her, bang to rights. No question of her guilt \u2013 Moses was clear as to the punishment, she should be stoned. Jesus was trapped. If he\u2019d said that we should stone her, all his words about forgiveness and his hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners would be shown to be all talk. He\u2019d be a hypocrite, and a hypocrite in trouble with the Romans, because only they are allowed to execute people. If he\u2019d said we shouldn\u2019t stone her, then he\u2019d have been denying Moses \u2013 a law breaker. He was trapped. Surely we had him. He just drew in the sand. And then he said, \u201c\u201cLet any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d <\/p>\n
And, just like that, he was out of it, I still don\u2019t really know how. The crowd melted away, until it was just me and him and her. I couldn\u2019t bear it. I had to get away. Who does that Jesus think he is?<\/p>\n
I\u2019d had a few, and I know I shouldn\u2019t have, but you know how it is \u2013 one thing leads to another, and before you know it, you\u2019re trying to make it home quietly before anyone notices you didn\u2019t come in the night before and your bed hasn\u2019t been slept in. And then, men everywhere, shouting, grabbing, pulling. Down the road, towards the temple. Please, no, no, no. Right in front of everybody, made to stand in the middle of this circle of men. The shame of it, I\u2019ll never live this down, I\u2019ll never be able to walk the streets again. If they have their way, I\u2019ll never be able to walk at all, anywhere. They want the death penalty, they think they should stone me. They\u2019re asking this Rabbi what they should do, going on about the law of Moses. I\u2019m in real trouble here. He\u2019s not even looking at me. He\u2019s just drawing in the sand. And then he says, \u201c\u201cLet any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was so quiet. Then, the quietest sound. A shuffling of feet. A rustling of clothing. Sandels slapping against the stone pavement, fading into the distance. Then quiet again. I lifted my head. They were all gone. All except that Rabbi, still bent down, drawing in the sand. He stood up. He looked at me. No. He saw me. I knew that he knew. \u201cWhere are they?\u201d he asked, \u201chas no-one condemned you?\u201d What could I say? \u201cno-one, sir\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cthen neither do I condemn you\u201d He knew what I\u2019d done. He knew what I deserved. I knew that he knew. He knew that I knew that he knew. But there was no condemnation in that knowledge, just forgiveness. He didn\u2019t even ask if I was sorry. <\/p>\n
Was that it? Not quite. He said one more thing. \u201cGo now and leave your life of sin.\u201d He knew alright. I guess I\u2019ve got a choice to make.<\/p>\n
We all have choices to make. Will we leave our lives of sin, or the sinful parts of our lives? Will we accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers to us? Will we forgive with the forgiveness that we have been shown? These are choices that we have to make every day. We may not even be conscious of making them, but they are choices we make nevertheless. As a church we say that we value forgiving each other, so let\u2019s make that choice together every day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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