Good Questions - Day 3
- adelebowler
- Nov 19, 2024
- 3 min read
Day Three Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
Jesus began his day while it was still dark on the Mount of Olives. Mark 1:35 shares Jesus’ early morning practice: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
When Jesus arrives at the temple courts, there’s already a crowd waiting, eager to learn from Him. His authority and tenderness are so captivating that people gather at dawn to listen to the way He describes and expresses love.
As Jesus teaches, He’s interrupted by a group of Pharisees with a woman who has been “caught in the act of adultery.”
I’m sure you can picture this scene: a woman caught in the act of adultery is made to “stand before the group.” She stands alone. Alone in her sin for all the world to see.
Let’s be clear: this is not a nice woman and this is not a good guy. She’s wrecking someone’s marriage. He’s destroying someone’s soul.
Jesus knows this nameless woman. He sees her for who she is. She is His beloved.
As are those who brought this broken woman to Him.
His message of grace is not only for sinners who have been “caught.” It’s also for sinners who have not been caught.
The words Jesus speaks, and those He writes in the sand, are full of conviction. In an act of confession, the older men, who were ready to stone this woman only a moment earlier, now drop their rocks. Whatever Jesus writes or how He communicates nonverbally with them, maybe even with tears, cuts them to the heart. The younger ones, full of self-righteousness, eventually follow the older ones. These men, who made a public accusation just a few moments ago, are now making a public confession.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” John 8:10.
Jesus doesn’t ask her if she is guilty. He knows she’s guilty. She knows she’s guilty. Instead, He asks her if anyone condemns her. “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declares. “Go now and leave your life of sin” John 8:11.
A friend recently sat at our table and shared about providing some pastoral leadership on a local college campus. One of his responsibilities was to serve as a prayer advocate during Chapel times and be available to pray with students and faculty.
Our friend described these beautiful worship gatherings in Chapel. He said there was a shift from routine Chapel services to holy ground encounters with the Holy One. The Spirit was moving in powerful ways and students began responding by streaming toward the altars. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving, tears and groans for true reconciliation and unity, cries for healing and wholeness and holiness. And confession.
Our friend said, “Everyday, for two weeks straight – every single guy that came forward confessed an intense struggle with pornography.”
He said, “I waited for another sin to be confessed; none ever came.”
He concluded, “The damage of pornography is incalculable, but the shame and guilt these guys carry is soul-crushing. They wanted freedom from pornography, yes, but what they really wanted was to know and live in the freedom of grace.”
In his seminal book, “Unwanted” Jay Stringer writes,
Unwanted sexual behavior is not primarily an attempt to remedy or self-soothe the pain of a wounded child. It’s attempting to reenact the formative stories of trauma, abuse, and shame that convinced us we were unwanted to begin with. In other words, we are not addicted primarily to sex or even a distorted image of intimacy; instead, we are bonded to feelings of shame and judgment.
In this way, unwanted sexual behavior is not seeking medication but rather a familiar poison to deaden our imagination that something could change for the better.
Jesus knows the weight of the cloak of sexual condemnation. He also knows that real change is possible. He has come to bring healing, wholeness, and holiness to all who are broken or bound up in sin.
“Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Questions to Consider:
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