Thursday, July 11, 2019

Standing Naked


DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
STANDING NAKED

John 7:53-8:11
Then each went to his own 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, "If any one of you is without sin, let him 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." 
NIV

We are told most ancient manuscripts and other witnesses do not include these eleven verses, however, it is here and why it is included or not in the earliest manuscripts we cannot speak to. We cannot know why all the versions of the scriptures, we aware of, include these verses, so we will deal with them as they appear. First, we should note that from the temple mount to the Mount of Olives is just a short distance across the Kidron Valley. Having stood on the Mount of Olives we could see across to the temple mount where Jesus had been teaching. As we noted earlier both Bethany and Bethphage were small towns just on the back side of the Mount of Olives and of course, Bethany was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. It would not have been unusual for Jesus to withdraw to the Mount of Olives, perhaps even to Bethany to spend the night with his friends, especially knowing this would most likely be the last time he would be with them. However, he appears in the temple court the next morning to teach. This is the time this story about the woman caught in adultery comes to light. It is nothing but a trap set by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees to see how Jesus would respond. Jesus simply bent down and wrote in the ground while they continued to question him, they wanted him to agree that she should be stoned, then he would show he is not the Messiah, or if he refused then they would accuse him of breaking the law of Moses. But Jesus, being divine, simply ok, then one of you that is without any sin, go ahead and cast the first stone. Jesus trapped them instead, by their very own method. Not a single man could say to himself, he was without sin, except of course Jesus. What we have to ask, or determine in this situation, was the woman actually an adulteress by her choice, or her lifestyle or was she set up by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees? How did they catch her? Did someone, like the guy she was with, turn her in? We will never know those answers, but then they are not really germane to the truth of this situation. The point is that none of the men could cast the first stone, nor could we, and Jesus then asks here where are those who accuse her? All gone, well, then he tells her he does not accuse her either or condemn her, so go and leave your life of sin. Here is the answer to why she was accused. She must have been a woman of questionable character, maybe what would have been considered a harlot. It is also interesting how some versions say Jesus told her to go and sin no more. It would seem the Greek word would substantiate that meaning. However, it could also be translated as leave behind. What we have to consider is that Jesus knew there was not a single man who was without sin, and so how could he tell this woman to never ever commit a sin again, to live a perfectly sinless life, as go and sin no more. So then it might well have been, go and leave your life of harlotry, stop living like that, change your life. Once someone has had that kind of encounter with Jesus, having their sin forgiven, how could their life not be changed? We certainly left our lives of sin and changed our lives, but that does not mean we are now sinless. The other truth of this narrative is the woman was standing naked before Jesus and he did not condemn her but changed her life. For our life to have a radical change, we have to stand naked before Jesus. That is to say, we cannot stand before him with any righteousness of our own. We cannot stand before him, have our lives changed if we are thinking we have any good in us at all. Naked means without anything on, void of any covering, anything we would have made, any works, any abilities, skills, education or our position, or things we have done in ministry. Nothing of us counts, we have to stand naked before Jesus if we expect to have a radical change in our life. Jesus will not condemn us either. The other truth we have to consider is, as not a single man could cast the first stone, either would we. We cannot judge others of sin, because we too have sinned.  That alone might be a radical change. So let us simply stand naked before Jesus and allow him to make that radical change in us.

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