Sin no more
She had broken the law of God, the law of the nation, and the laws of loyalty and honesty. She had had sex with someone who wasn't her husband.
Jesus rescues her from the people who want to throw stones at her till she dies, but does not excuse her. He tells her to sin no more.
The woman goes away and almost certainly hides, in case her accusers should change their mind and arrest her again. Does she 'sin no more?' We don't know, but we do know our own reaction to those word.
Some people react by saying that what she did was not sin. They argue that a person can do what they like with their own body and they say it does not hurt anyone else. (Rather untrue but that's what people like to think.) Other people say the laws of her country were wrong, she should not be killed for a private sin. Others would say that she just couldn't help it, her passion was stronger than her caution, and she should be pitied. Jesus would be amongst this group, he understood that people just can't help doing wrong, either because their desire is stronger than their will power or because they deceive themselves about the wrongfulness of what they are doing. He is compassionate and merciful towards all people who do wrong.
You and I know that some wrongs hurt people more than other wrongs do, and so we tend to classify sin into big sins and little sins. Jesus didn't have any such classification because he knew that sin is a desire, a deception that masters us and we need help.
Talking to the people after he had refused to condemn the woman caught in adultery he told them that if they believed what he said they would know the truth (about many things) and that truth would make them free.
The listeners, jumped in delight on that word free and chose to challenge him. They were not slaves, never had been slaves, what was he talking about? People do challenge Jesus: you can challenge him in disagreement and he will probably just leave you to your own opinions, or you can challenge him as a person willing to understand what he says and you will receive an answer. You might not always like the answer.
If you sin, said Jesus, you are in the power of sin. You can't help it, it has enslaved you. The people listening didn't want to agree with that. Probably some of us don't agree either. We have classifications for sins. There are, we say: big sins and little sins, and little sins shouldn't be counted. Then there are harmful sins and sins that don't hurt anyone else, therefore they shouldn't be called sins. There are lots of sins that God should just forget about, and then there are sins that other people do that we never intend to forgive or forget.
"If you sin, you are a slave to sin." said Jesus. We have never been slaves, responded the people; indignant, defensive and proud. Their pride was justified; their nation was founded upon a promise to keep the laws of God, the nation still had these laws, and the people offered prayers and sacrifice whenever they thought they should.
About six hundred years before, one of the Jewish prophets had spoken to God in prayer, His words were reverenced by the very people Jesus had just called slaves to sin. He said this: You are indeed angry, for we have sinned, and we continue to sin and we need to be saved.
Jesus, is the salvation that Isaiah was looking for. Jesus said that anyone who believed him would be set free from the power of sin. The people who chose not to believe him would, "Die in their sins." Jesus does not consider this a small thing but three times warns against it. Even religious, highly moral people like the Jews were in danger of dying in sin, sin makes God angry, and it keeps us from uniting with him.
Many people believed what Jesus said. Their belief resulted in immediate change in their life and the change confirmed their belief. They found that the appeal of things sinful had lessened, and that even when they were tempted there was help available from Jesus. Thus there arose on the face of the earth a new people, a people who had found the salvation Isaiah had prayed about.
The gospel of John chapter eight, verses 12 to 36
verses 21 to 24
The book of the prophet Isaiah chapter sixty-four verse 5.
Jesus rescues her from the people who want to throw stones at her till she dies, but does not excuse her. He tells her to sin no more.
The woman goes away and almost certainly hides, in case her accusers should change their mind and arrest her again. Does she 'sin no more?' We don't know, but we do know our own reaction to those word.
Some people react by saying that what she did was not sin. They argue that a person can do what they like with their own body and they say it does not hurt anyone else. (Rather untrue but that's what people like to think.) Other people say the laws of her country were wrong, she should not be killed for a private sin. Others would say that she just couldn't help it, her passion was stronger than her caution, and she should be pitied. Jesus would be amongst this group, he understood that people just can't help doing wrong, either because their desire is stronger than their will power or because they deceive themselves about the wrongfulness of what they are doing. He is compassionate and merciful towards all people who do wrong.
You and I know that some wrongs hurt people more than other wrongs do, and so we tend to classify sin into big sins and little sins. Jesus didn't have any such classification because he knew that sin is a desire, a deception that masters us and we need help.
Talking to the people after he had refused to condemn the woman caught in adultery he told them that if they believed what he said they would know the truth (about many things) and that truth would make them free.
The listeners, jumped in delight on that word free and chose to challenge him. They were not slaves, never had been slaves, what was he talking about? People do challenge Jesus: you can challenge him in disagreement and he will probably just leave you to your own opinions, or you can challenge him as a person willing to understand what he says and you will receive an answer. You might not always like the answer.
If you sin, said Jesus, you are in the power of sin. You can't help it, it has enslaved you. The people listening didn't want to agree with that. Probably some of us don't agree either. We have classifications for sins. There are, we say: big sins and little sins, and little sins shouldn't be counted. Then there are harmful sins and sins that don't hurt anyone else, therefore they shouldn't be called sins. There are lots of sins that God should just forget about, and then there are sins that other people do that we never intend to forgive or forget.
"If you sin, you are a slave to sin." said Jesus. We have never been slaves, responded the people; indignant, defensive and proud. Their pride was justified; their nation was founded upon a promise to keep the laws of God, the nation still had these laws, and the people offered prayers and sacrifice whenever they thought they should.
About six hundred years before, one of the Jewish prophets had spoken to God in prayer, His words were reverenced by the very people Jesus had just called slaves to sin. He said this: You are indeed angry, for we have sinned, and we continue to sin and we need to be saved.
Jesus, is the salvation that Isaiah was looking for. Jesus said that anyone who believed him would be set free from the power of sin. The people who chose not to believe him would, "Die in their sins." Jesus does not consider this a small thing but three times warns against it. Even religious, highly moral people like the Jews were in danger of dying in sin, sin makes God angry, and it keeps us from uniting with him.
Many people believed what Jesus said. Their belief resulted in immediate change in their life and the change confirmed their belief. They found that the appeal of things sinful had lessened, and that even when they were tempted there was help available from Jesus. Thus there arose on the face of the earth a new people, a people who had found the salvation Isaiah had prayed about.
The gospel of John chapter eight, verses 12 to 36
verses 21 to 24
The book of the prophet Isaiah chapter sixty-four verse 5.
posted by Jessie Coates at 11:59 AM
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