I wonder, though, if you notice. The body language in this passage seems to

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1 There but for the grace of God John 7:53-8:11 4th Sunday in Lent March 26, 2017 You ve got to admit, it s strange. Our theme for this season of Lent these 40 days of spiritual preparation for Easter is this: Holy Conversations. But the story for this Sunday is hardly a conversation! Jesus hardly speaks to that woman. He spends most of his time writing with his finger in the dirt! I wonder, though, if you notice. The body language in this passage seems to speak VOLUMES. You all know about body language. What does it mean if you come home and your parent is standing like this? (Arms folded!) You re in trouble, right? Or what does it mean if you move into a new home, as we did, and your neighbor across the street is standing like this? (Arms outstretched!) THAT S radical hospitality, isn t it?! Or what does it mean if your child is standing there like this? (Arms out, questioning?) We have some more explaining to do, don t we? I hope you re not all doing this after the sermon! John s Gospel says that Jesus sat down and began to teach them. That s what rabbis did to teach, they sat down. That was the signal: class is in session. That s why in universities we still speak of a professor s chair. For example, a professor might be appointed to the endowed chair of mechanical engineering. Jesus sat down, and then John writes: The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and (made) her to stand before all of them. What is THAT saying in body language? Do you see? They are shaming her! Humiliating her! She is literally being examined on trial. And the worst of it all is this: WHERE IS THE MAN? It takes TWO to commit adultery, doesn t it? But they have only brought one! They supposedly care about justice and righteousness, but their hypocrisy and sexism are obvious from the start. They don t care about this woman! They are simply USING her for their own wicked agenda!

2 P. 2 3/26/17 They are using this woman as bait in a trap. You see, they are trying to catch Jesus. Jewish law says that the couple caught in adultery should be stoned to death. Those men gathered there seem to know, however, that Jesus is loving and merciful! They are wondering if Jesus will flaunt the law disregard the death sentence that a literal reading of the law would pronounce. Pay attention to the body language, now. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. That s FASCINATING, isn t it?! What do you think Jesus is doing? Is he stalling giving himself some time to think? Giving THEM some time to recognize this horrific thing they are doing? Or is something else going on here? Some texts say that Jesus is writing down sins that those men have committed. Have some of them coveted something belonging to their neighbor? Haven t they lied? Haven t they loved someone or something more than God? Jesus writes in the dirt as they watch You know what happens next. Jesus straightens himself up and says, The sinless one among you, go first: throw the stone. It s magnificent, isn t it?! Jesus bends down again, writing some more in the dirt, while those extraordinary words sink in. And they DO sink in. The Bible tells us they went away, beginning with the elders (beginning with the wisest ones!). Someone has said church is where the stones start to fall from our hands. Isn t that beautiful? That s what we are called to do in this holy place. It seems to me that holy conversations often have time for silence. Time to listen. Time to let the truth sink in deep. Now I hope you notice! The body language again. The Bible explicitly says, Jesus straightened up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? I mean, isn t that absolutely beautiful? Jesus straightens up. Don t you just love it when someone really looks you in the eye? One of the people who had a huge impact on my life of faith was my youth pastor growing up. Dave Baker (and we have a Dave Baker here to remind me!).

3 P. 3 3/26/17 Dave Baker had a special gift. He would look at you and smile. And as he did so he would listen to you really listen and you would feel like you truly were a child of God and it was so obvious to him and should be so obvious to the whole world. You could see all of this in his eyes and in his smile. I think of Jesus, looking at that woman, and smiling. Others looked past her. Others sneered at her, and looked at her as if she were below them. Jesus straightens up, and really sees this child of God. Then he says those life-changing words, Neither do I condemn you. Don t miss it. Those are shocking words. You see, Jesus is the One who is without sin. Jesus is the One who could throw the first stone. But he doesn t. He doesn t condemn her. In Jesus Christ there is forgiveness and new life. But let s be careful. Because that is not ALL Jesus says, is it? Jesus says to her: Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. Those are incredibly important words those last words! We have to make sure we don t overlook them! Why? Because this story has often been totally misunderstood in two ways. One way of misunderstanding is thinking that Jesus doesn t care about sin. One notorious sinner baldly put it this way: It s my prerogative to sin; and it s God s job to forgive me! Is that it, do you think? Do whatever you want it doesn t matter because Jesus will forgive you? No! Put yourself in that woman s shoes. When you KNOW you re guilty, when you know you ve done wrong, when you re THAT close to being condemned, and then you re forgiven how do you think you feel? Grateful! Incredibly grateful! Jesus loves you so much that he DOES care about what you do or don t do! It matters to him! He sees the gifts in you, he KNOWS that you were made for better things than this, and you want to please him, you want to live better to show your gratitude to make him smile some more! Believe it or not, a second way people misread this story is this: When they hear those words: Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone, they get ready to throw. Do you know why? Many people in our culture look in the mirror

4 P. 4 3/26/17 and think: I m basically a good person. I m nice to people, and they seem to like me. I haven t robbed anyone, or killed anyone... Do you see where this is going? We can put that bar pretty low and say, I m not really a sinner But you see when we dig down deeper we realize. There are sins of commission and sins of omission in other words, things we have done, and things we have NOT done. Words that we have said, for example, or words that we have not said (and now regret). If we truly examine ourselves, honestly, we see the ways we have fallen short of being the Christian we are called to be in things we have done, and things we have not done. There s another kind of sin, too. It s harder to understand, but let me try to explain. I was reading this week about a Diane Sawyer documentary called True Colors. It s about two young men who move to St. Louis. They re about the same age, same level of education, they even dress the same. One is black, and one is white. The documentary shows how they re treated. The white man is welcomed, invited into stores, encouraged by the employment office, offered a car for less money than his counterpart, and offered an apartment to rent. The young black man is ignored in stores, harassed on the street, charged more for the same car, even turned away by the landlord who rents to the white guy AFTER the African American is turned down. (I m just telling what happened it was all on hidden cameras.) Now we re not here for a guilt trip. But the truth is that we are caught up in a web of sin, systems that benefit some people and harm others. Like that system of men and what they are doing to that woman. Systems we are part of, sometimes without even recognizing it. The Apostle Paul puts it this way for all of us, I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Romans 7:15) The Bible teaches that sin is a Power. It s a lot like Alcoholic Anonymous. In AA the first step is to admit we are powerless and that our lives have become unmanageable. The second step is to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity. And the third step is to turn our lives and our will over to the care of God. Do you see how all of this applies here?

5 P. 5 3/26/17 Jesus does not condemn you! On our own we are powerless against sin, but in Jesus there is a power greater than ourselves, a power which can heal us, and help us live differently. I wonder! I wonder, have you ever heard the phrase, There but for the grace of God go I? It s kind of an old-fashioned phrase, but one with a fascinating history. It turns out that Englishman John Bradford was watching a group of prisoners being led off to the gallows. This was 400 years ago. As he watched he did not say, They are getting what they deserve. Instead, he said, There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford. And those words seemed to point to something deep in the soul. We all are guilty in one way or another. Like those prisoners, like that woman, we all stand accused, having fallen short of the person God created us to be. John Bradford expressed the truth about God and humanity so clearly: There but for the grace of God go I. Here we are, 400 years later, and he is still quoted. Because we DON T get what we deserve! In Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! Grace is undeserved mercy and favor. If it is deserved it is not grace, and it is certainly not amazing. We began by talking about body language, do you remember? Later in the Gospel of John, after the resurrection, Jesus shocks the disciples, risen from the dead and entering a room where they were hiding. He greets them with the words, Peace be with you. He holds up his hands in blessing. There are scars on his hands, from the nails. They are there to remind us: Grace is free but it is not cheap. Jesus died for you and for me. And he holds those scarred hands up to bless us and to send us out, carrying those words of forgiveness with us. We are freed by them, and ready to share them with others. Thanks be to God! Amen!

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