Presented July 26, 2020 by Rev. Jesse Larson
Based on John 8:1-11
This past Thursday, Rowena and I were doing some shopping at Delta Shores. Cars were zooming about here and there, and sure enough, the car ahead of us promptly ran a stop sign. The car that has been cut off skidded to a stop behind the errant driver and proceeded to honk its horn. The driver at fault instantly threw his car into park, got out, charged over to the other vehicle and began yelling at the car, making threats and even spitting on the windshield. It was shocking, but fortunately, the other car was able to drive away from the troubled individual.
Unfortunately, road rage, shootings and random acts of violence seem to be more and more commonplace in our frenzied society. Too many people seem to be on edge, ready to boil over at any time. And when they do—even for the slightest reason—disturbing acts often ensue. To make matters worse, we are now adding the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, polarized American politics and complex race issues into the mix. It’s getting to be more than some folks can stand, and many of us are witnessing a lot of bad behavior.
Is the reality of more people losing control a part of the new normal we keep hearing about? We hope not.
Learning how to manage stress and anger is a skill all peoples—epecially we who call ourselves Christians—need to hone, as stress will always be a part of our lives. I can’t even begin to imagine the stress and anxiety present in today’s text concerning the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees claimed that the woman was caught in the very act of adultery. So it was not only a humiliating situation, but the stress was ratcheted up when these same men pushed for her to be stoned as a punishment for her crime. This angry mob was hungry for blood.
The scribes and Pharisees also pushed Jesus to weigh in on the matter. You can sense the crowd was reaching its fever pitch, while these religious leaders fueled the fire. They demanded the go-ahead from Jesus. “Let’s put on this show of force, let’s punish this woman, and let’s get on with it now!” Interestingly, Jesus bent down and wrote something in the dust. The scribes and Pharisees must have been looking at one another wondering what the heck was going on. We don’t know what he wrote in the ground, but maybe that’s besides the point. It seems to me that Jesus was intentionally lessening the intensity of the moment and distracting the crowd from their blood lust. Jesus provided some space for cooler heads to prevail. When he had their attention, he then asked them the question, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” He then bent down again and resumed writing with his finger in the ground.
Eventually, the crowd dispersed and Jesus was left alone with the woman. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
In so many other encounters with others, Jesus has a way of creating an entirely different reality out of what was originally a dire situation. In the midst of vicious mob justice, Jesus protected this woman and redeemed her. Jesus never adds fuel to the fire or throws up his hands in frustration. Instead, he is always turning us away from our worst instincts and putting us all onto a path of mercy and love.
Last week we considered the question, “What does it mean to follow Jesus?” Some of you responded that it means to try our best to follow what Jesus taught, and to even emulate the ways he interacted with people. These answers are all spot-on. In the midst of our good days and bad ones, we are called to put love into our interactions with others.
Love is a muscle that needs to be used every day. In difficult situations of conflict and hot heads, we often say, “be the bigger man.” (It’s not a politically correct statement, but the sentiment remains.) Behave in a loving manner even when you know the other party is in the wrong. Or, as Michelle Obama said, “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. Our motto is, when they go low, we go high!”
Yes! Let love, rather than hate, be our guiding light. When hatred is met with grace, the results are often amazing.
What we are talking about is grace. For better or for worse, it seems to be needed in most of our daily interactions, with both loved one and strangers alike. Grace is extending love, kindness, compassion, and mercy to someone who hasn’t earned it and may not even deserve it. Grace is a true gift. It is a gift we can give to one another (and ourselves), and it is a gift that God has given to all of us.
There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love or forgiveness. No matter how hard we try, we always fall short. But that doesn’t matter to God—we are loved fiercely and without any strings attached. God’s grace washes over us, makes us whole, and completely changes a situation from fracture to unity, from hopelessness to hope, death to life.
Jesus looks beyond our sins, as he did for the woman caught in adultery, and refuses to condemn us. Instead, he picks us up, dusts us off, and sets us back upon the right paths.
In closing, while visiting Nepal in 2018, I hired a taxi to take me to a few sights near Kathmandu. While parking at one temple, a bus backed into our taxi. My driver and the bus driver got out of their vehicles and began shouting at one another. I tiptoed my way into the temple, avoiding this confrontation. An hour later, I returned to the taxi and asked the driver what happened. He simply responded by saying, “Oh, I forgave him. It was an accident.” My heart was warmed. If we could all be as gracious as this taxi driver! It was an accident!
We all make mistakes. We make them all the time. I know that I occasionally cut off other drivers, or fail to return a phone call, or I say the wrong thing. We make mistakes and we hurt one another, sometimes accidentally and other times intentionally. It’s a part of life, but thanks to grace, we can get past these hiccups, restore our relationships, and continue on the way that God has laid out before us.
Grace is amazing. It has a way of redeeming all of us and turning bad days into good ones. In these days of intense stress and strain, may we continue to put more and more grace into a world that desperately needs it. It’s not always easy, but when every time we do use grace, we are inevitably rewarded with the chance to see people and the world change before our very eyes.
May God’s grace be with you all, and in turn, may we pour it into our world every day. Amen.
