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Past, Present & Future
February 13, 2000
Sermon Series on the Gospel of John
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
This morning we are going to turn to John chapter 8 together. Before I read
this, I want to note something with you. Most of your Bibles have at least
a footnote, or perhaps some slashes that set this story apart from what comes
before and after it. That indicates that this particular story is not found
in the earliest manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. The earliest church
fathers never mentioned it. And so, it has presented something of a puzzle
to scholars for years.
At
the same time, this story was definitely known by the early
church, and was included in the Gospel of John at least
by the 4th century. St. Augustine speculated that it took
extra time for this story to be included because the early
church was scared of it. I don’t know if that’s
true or not. I do believe that the story rings very true,
that it is consistent with what we know of Jesus, that
the church at an early time began to use it, and I believe
we can trust its authenticity. And regardless of why it
doesn’t appear in the earliest manuscripts, I wholeheartedly
agree with Augustine on one thing: this is a very dangerous
story.
John
8:1-11
“If
only I’d stopped to think, if only I’d acted
differently.”
Do
you ever say those “if only” words to yourself?
I bet the woman in this story did. Faster than she can
blink, she has been grabbed, marched to the temple and
rudely shoved into the middle of a circle of people. She’s
disheveled and confused, but she finds herself suddenly
exhibit “A,” the defendant, and in the space
of 30 seconds she realizes that she could very well lose
her life. She stands in front of a judge who looks like
some country hick, with people gathered around him. His
name is Jesus…and he might be as startled as she
is. “If only…I could change what I did.” That,
of course, she -- and we -- are powerless to do.
As
in several other places, the teachers of the law and the
Pharisees (or as Dale Bruner often calls them, “the
Sunday School Teachers and the Senior Pastors) have laid
a trap for Jesus. And they’ve done a very good job. “Teacher,” they
say with the sarcasm dripping out from between their teeth, “this
woman was caught IN THE VERY ACT of adultery. In the law
Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do YOU
say?” Gulp.
There
are a few things we need to note in this short story.
First,
there is the Law: For a person to have sexual relations
with someone else’s spouse was an extremely serious
matter. So serious, in fact, that there are many references
in the law codes of Deuteronomy and Leviticus that the
crime for such adultery was death.
Second,
this woman: We know almost nothing about her. In many
ways, the story at first presents her only as a thing,
really. She’s just some nameless, faceless person
who had become a tool of some very vindictive men to
trap Jesus. They cared nothing for her, for justice,
for mercy or anything else. She was available.
Third,
procedure: In order to prosecute a crime, the law required
two witnesses…in this case, two witnesses exclusive
of this woman’s husband. Apparently these witnesses
are the ones who brought this woman to Jesus. It is these
witnesses who must not only testify, but also begin the
punishment if it is approved…they are the ones
who must throw the first stone.
Fourth:
As far as we know, by Jesus’ day the Romans had
taken away from the Jews the power to carry out their
own capital punishments. The Jewish court could sentence
someone, but the Romans had to acquiesce. So there are
two types of authority here.
And
so…the Jewish authorities have trapped Jesus. If
Jesus says that they should NOT stone the woman, then he
will be going against the law of Moses, and will be called
an enemy of the Law and therefore God’s people. [I
think, under their breath, they were saying “Please,
please break Moses’ law.”] If Jesus says that
they SHOULD stone the woman right there, then he is in
trouble with the Romans…AND he would go against
everything he has taught and lived. Jesus is on the horns
of a very uncomfortable dilemma. And the woman realizes
that she could be dead within minutes.
“If
only I had acted differently…” she says to
herself again.
This
is an incredibly dramatic moment…time seems to stop
as they wait for Jesus to answer. He crouches down, and
begins to write something in the sand. In that one simple
act, Jesus gave hundreds of Biblical scholars their careers!
What did he write? Of course we don’t know…but
that doesn’t stop the speculators from filling volumes.
a)
One theory is that he was following the Roman judicial
practice of writing out the sentence, which he would
then read.
b)
Another says he was writing Jeremiah 17:13, “those
who turn away from God shall be written in the earth.”
c)
The Greek scholars take note that the word for “write” here, katagrapho,
can also be translated “write against,” as
in Jesus was beginning to list out the sins of the accusers.
d)
One scholar has calculated the number of Hebrew characters
Jesus could have written while crouching without shifting
position, then matched it to Exodus 23:16, “You
shall not support a wicked man” (referring to possibility
the witnesses are in cahoots with an unhappy husband
to trap the wife).
e)
My favorite comes from a feminist theologian who adamantly
claims that Jesus was writing just four words: “Where
is the man?”! She makes a great point. Even in
a patriarchal society, where both the law and the tradition
gave males great advantages, adultery is a two-person
assignment…yet there is no mention at all of the
man here!
Regardless
of what Jesus wrote, he seems to have known one thing quite
clearly: This woman (and some man who has not been brought
forward) have messed up sexually. They’ve become
involved physically in a way that God intended only for
a man and a woman who were committed in marriage. I doubt
if Jesus was shocked to see such a person thrown in front
of him…but I have a feeling it broke His heart.
I’m
going to talk about sex this morning. Jesus wasn’t
shocked, and I don’t think we are either. Many of
us mess up sexually. The statistics are absolutely frightening
regarding the number of people whose lives are drastically
changed because of inappropriate sexual relationships.
We continue to reinforce the idea that a sexual relationship
is nothing more than a physical act. That is the furthest
thing from what God designed it to be. It is meant to be
a beautiful part of the most intimate relationship humans
can have. But we mess it up badly.
Teenage
pregnancies? This year there will be well over a million
babies born to unmarried teens.
Premarital
sexual relationships? In 1970, the number of unmarried
couples living together in the U.S. was 523,000, according
to one study. In 1998 that number was 4,236,000 couples.
Almost half of the adults in the United States right now
have had a “living together” experience by
the time they hit 30. Many people consider this to be a
prerequisite before marriage, to answer the burning question, “Are
we sexually compatible?” Or they “just know
their partner will eventually commit to marriage, so why
not live together now?” Unfortunately, the statistics
say that 40% of couples who live together will break up
before marrying. Of the ones who do eventually marry, the
divorce rate is 50% higher than with couples who did not
live together.
Extramarital
affairs? Studies vary a great deal, but usually range between
50 and 75% of both men and women end up involved in a sexual
relationship outside marriage.
There
are lots of reasons for these depressing numbers. But one
major one is this idea that sex is a purely physical relationship.
One
of the favorite parts of my job is that I get to talk with
a fair number of people in premarital counseling…couples
who are engaged and moving towards marriage. One of our
first talks is always a fairly explicit one about their
physical involvement with each other. I always ask them
to make a commitment to one another, with God and in front
of me, that they will refrain from sexual activity…not
just intercourse…during their engagement time. If
they’re living together, I ask them to move apart.
If they own a home together, I ask them to at least move
to different rooms. We talk about it each time we meet
together.
You
may say “Wow, Dan, that’s pretty tough on people,
isn’t it?” Yes. It’s incredibly hard.
You
may say “Wow, Dan, that’s so old-fashioned
of you.” Maybe. But we are working against a culture
which knows no end to minimizing commitment, downgrading
fidelity, cataloging sex as a physical function and encouraging
us to segment ourselves as people into separate little
components. I believe that what Scripture teaches is that
a sexual relationship is a PART of a relationship of intimacy
between a married man and woman…a part. But watch
TV, or go watch almost any movie, and you will see that
the peak rests on the moment -- the inevitable moment,
unless you watch Disney animated movies -- when the couple
gets in bed together.
What
scripture deals with is a loving, intimate, knowing marriage
relationship which includes the beauty of sexual intimacy.
What I try and talk with engaged couples about is using
the engagement time to really get to know each other as
WHOLE people. We are complicated people. We are physical
people, but we are also spiritual people. We are emotional
people, and intellectual people, and social people, and
moral people. We are complicated WHOLE people. And when
engaged or dating couples are too involved sexually, the
physical component is so overpoweringly strong that all
of the rest of them is overshadowed, and hidden, and they
lose the chance to get to know each other as WHOLE people.
Yet we say “it’s only sex.” Or “what’s
wrong with just giving it a try?”
That
makes about as much sense as if I gave my car keys to my
7-year-old daughter, Dana, and saying, “Give it a
shot!” She’d love it! And it might be really
fun for a minute. But she’s not ready to drive, and
eventually she would run into a pole, or a car, and hurt
someone, or herself…and then she -- and I -- would
end up saying, “If only…I hadn’t done
that.”
So
here’s Jesus, bending down to write in the dust.
Just takes his time, writes…maybe he was just doodling!
Then finally he looks up and says one sentence: “If
any one of you is without sin, let him be the one to throw
the first stone at her.”
Then
he bends down again, and keeps writing. Doesn’t say “guilty” or “not
guilty.” He’s stayed within the law by inviting
the accusers to pick up a stone…if they are blameless.
He’s stayed true to his own desire for mercy. And
suddenly, it is neither the woman NOR Jesus who are on
trial…it is the accusers…and now their own
thoughts and memories shout out. And you have to give them
credit…they heard. It was very quiet, and then slowly
Jesus hears the footsteps begin shuffling away. Still he
doesn’t look up, until, when he does, only the woman
is standing there. I have to think she is practically shivering
with fear…she could just as easily be dead. All
she can think is “If only I hadn’t…” “Where
are they at? Has no one condemned you?”
“No
one, Sir (or Lord).”
“Then
neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of
sin.” Sin no more.
“Neither
do I condemn you.” The word of mercy. You will not
get what you deserve. You are pardoned... This is a remarkable
picture of God’s grace. We hear it resound in the
life, death and resurrection of Jesus. “You messed
up. It’s okay. I have covered you. I don’t
condemn you.” Boy, do we need to hear that word.
Over and over. Lord, I have messed up. I have ignored you.
I have lived for myself. I have cut myself off from my
friends. I have been unfaithful.
“I
don’t condemn you.” It is a remarkable word,
this word of grace. BUT if we stop this story here…and
many people do, making it as shallow as a rallying cry
for the guilty…if we stop here, it doesn’t
deal with our future. The message would be that we skip
away, and do what we want, because we’ll be forgiven.
It doesn’t matter how we live.
And
so Jesus speaks again. “Go now and leave your life
of sin.” Jesus looks into her past, wipes clean all
of the “If onlys” she carries around…and
points her toward the future. The “If only” has
become “Next time.” The past is obliterated
by the word of grace, and she is compelled to leave it
behind, and look ahead with hope to “Next time…”
If
the story said only “Go and sin nor more” [and
many of us do this, and we get judgmental and legalistic],
we’re still in trouble. We keep all of our sinful
baggage intact, and head into the future armed only with
an overwhelming and impossible assignment that says, “Quit
sinning.”
But
Jesus speaks both words. “You are forgiven…and
let that forgiveness change you. You have my grace…and
it matters how you live. I am more interested in your future
than your past, I have come to turn your 'if onlys' into
'next times.' ”
When
I was in college, I had a Bible that I wrote dates into
the front of. Every time I fell short of what I thought
God wanted from me…in my relationships, my personal
life, my sexual life…I would cross out the previous
date and start fresh, and steel myself to “try harder” and
live better so I wouldn’t have to cross out another
date. Over and over I would fail and cross out the date.
Finally one day it hit me that I was only hearing half
of what Jesus said. I knew it mattered how I lived, that
Jesus was saying, “Go and sin no more”…but
every time I opened my Bible I was reminded by those scratched
out dates that I had messed up. I couldn’t hear Jesus
saying “Neither do I condemn you.” We need
to hear both words, friends.
I
told you this was a dangerous story. If we can find ourselves
in it…and I don’t think it’s too hard
to imagine ourselves trembling with this woman who has
messed up (sexually, relationally, financially or whatever)…then
we just might hear the remarkable word of grace that Jesus
offers us. And if we hear that word…it just may
change how we live.
I
told you it was a dangerous story.
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