Jesus principle - teachable moments - loving the sinner, hating the sin

Jesus principle - teachable moments - loving the sinner, hating the sin

S- John 8 - NASB

2Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5“Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

O - Jesus here finds himself in a situation where he is being tested and he uses it as a teachable moment. That is the hallmark of his ministry, he went where the people were  and waited to see what the father was doing and took those moments to make them teachable to both Pharisees and citizens. In this situation the Jewish law enforcers brought him a woman who had committed adultery to test him, and so they said the law of Moses said we should stone her for her sin. Jesus understood their hearts and knew what the father wanted out of this moment which was to show God’s heart and intention for his people who are trapped in there sin.    You see the Law of Mosses was given because the Israelites couldn’t follow God, there sin kept separating them from God’s intent for his people.  God created man and woman and modelled marriage through Adam and Eve. Decades later through Abraham God began restoring his people from the effects of sin. Even though after long captivity in Egypt and the salvation of the Passover, and being witnesses of amazing and miraculous moments (parting of the Red Sea just to name one) , those moments were not enough to keep God’s people honoring the covenant of marriage. Sin still rained in their life.  Now again many years later, long  after God helped Moses write some laws that kept the Israelites in bounds, the heart behind those laws arre lost on them. In this scripture passage we see this example of those wanting to carry out the law of Moses without understanding the heart of God. This is why Jesus came. He witnesses that God hates sin But loves his people.  In this teachable moment Jesus shows God’s love of his people, but hatred of sin.  In this moment Jesus teaches the crowd that they are not to hate the sin  in her but rather represent God’s heart, and leave the judging to God in all situations.  Jesus did this effectively by showing the crowd their own sin, to recognize that they had no place condemning, that was gods role, not theirs. Now Jesus did not let the adulterous woman off the hook either. He simply said I do not condemn you to death, go and sin no more.

A - The application for me is to recognize I can be one of those in the crowd, who spends way too much time judging and condemning, when I need to seek the father’s heart, correct and even condemn the sin And spend all of my time and energy loving.   I need to trust God’s ultimate judgement and discipline of His creation. 

P - Dear heavenly father thank you for today’s lesson may it be used to scrub away the effects of sin in my own heart, and reveal the heart you have given me which is filled with your spirit. Lord I pray for forgiveness for all of those that I have condemned, chose to be the judge of, And simply did not love the way you love them. I pray in the future Lord you would show me each and every day how to love your people, help free those bound by sin, through what you would have do not my will.  I pray all of this in Jesus Christ name, Amen.