Those boots were made for walkin’…but don’t tread on me…
In chapter 8 of the book of John it’s written that Jesus went early into the temple courts and began to teach those who gathered around him. If you’ve spent any time reading over the life of Jesus, you’d see there are no real surprises here…this was fairly typical. Wherever he went people would gather around him just to hear what he had to say. Some, I’m sure, also went to see what kinds of miracles he would do.
What’s not typical about this event is that the teachers of the law and the pharisees brought a woman to him, while he was teaching, that had been caught in adultery. Since it was early morning…I’m guessing that she was caught that night…needless to say it was not a good morning for her or her real husband.
The punishment for adultery, according to the law of that day, was that anyone guilty of the act was to be stoned to death.
The teachers of the law and the pharisees brought the woman to Jesus to see what he would do or say about the matter. The plan was that after he gave an answer they would assess that answer and try to catch him in something they could accuse him of and put him away….a twisting of words, something that went against their current law, semantic language, etc. Jesus listens for a while and then responds that any person who was free of any kind of sin is the one who should throw the first stone. And it’s at that point something interesting happens – each one begins to walk away….one by one…until only the adulterous woman and Jesus are left. When it was obvious that none there could condemn her Jesus declares that neither did he condemn her. He then simply told her to leave her life of sin and continue on.
While this event is a great lesson in and of itself, I actually find myself struck by an unlikely detail. Each person (teacher/pharisee/bystander) walked away “one by one” from the situation. In fact, it’s also mentioned that it was those who were older that walked away first….
Why is it that those who were older walked away first?
Who was the first one to walk away? Why? For what reasons?
Who was the last one to walk away? Why? For what reasons?
This was a significant event in the lives of those individuals…and ourselves today as we are all brought to the point where we have the choice of living an accusatory lifestyle – towards others AND towards God.
When I am confronted by Christ regarding the areas of sin in my life, and the effects of sin in the lives of those around me, who am I most like out of that group of teachers/pharisees/bystanders? In other words…”how quickly do I get it?”
How quickly do I come to the realization that Christ reigns supreme in all things that have to do with my life and in the lives of others? All things. How quickly do I come to the realization that what He says goes? How quickly do I come to the realization that I am to live without having the judgement of others be a part of my life?
So….when do I leave the group? I am the first to take a step back, acknowledge that there’s more to “this”, and then make the decision to live another, better, way? Or am I the stubborn one…left standing there…the one who’s only motivation to walk away may be the fact that everyone else left and I’ll look like a fool standing there by myself.
In what areas of my life am I brought to this decision point? The point where I need to jump ship and walk away from an accusatory lifestyle. ( I say accusatory in the sense that we can, and do, accuse God of doing things/not doing things just as much as we can/do accuse others in our lives) Could it be judgment like the teachers and pharisees? Could it even be trusting that God is good over my life and that He has good things in the future for me.
When do I walk away?
When do you walk away?
