Pardon of Love

Have you ever been caught “Red handed” so to speak doing something that you knew you shouldn’t be doing? If so, you were most likely stunned, nervous and scared about what the repercussions would be. Its at those moments you realize it was not worth what you did, and you knew you shouldn’t have done it before you did it anyways.

In John 8:1-11 there is a story brought to Him a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. They told Jesus that according to the Law of Moses she should be stoned, and they wanted to see what He would say about it. Jesus instead of answering them, knelt down and started writing something in the dirt. They kept asking Him as to what He thought and when He stood up in front of them He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” and again knelt down continuing to write in the dirt (the Bible does not say what it was). The Bible says after they heard Him say this they started to leave starting with the oldest one first all the way down to the youngest. Eventually it was just this woman and Jesus standing there and Jesus looks at her and says “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” and she said “No one, Lord.” Jesus then said “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.”

It is true this woman had committed a sin and was wrong but imagine how traumatic this had to have been for her as well. She was caught in the very act of her sin which was made public, and she was on trial in front of so many people who wanted her to be stoned to death. Then she is brought before Jesus to find out what His opinion was. This woman’s life was now in the hands of Jesus and He in turn made her accusers look at their own lives and the sins they had committed and in the end, it saved her life. The difference for them that day was their sins were not on trial in front of everyone like hers were and it made them think. It’s amazing how when you are forced to look at yourself what you will see, and what you have been forgiven from. The problem though is that most of us forget we ourselves needed Christ to die on that cross for us because of our own ugly sins. We forget that and tend to look at others and what they have done judging them when Christ has already paid the price for all of our sins and gave the pardon for each of us.

Sometimes people’s mistakes are made public and for them it’s unfortunate because we tend to look at their sins and judge them openly and that is not Christ way. Christ demonstrated openly, His great love, for this woman that day not condemnation. He knew she had committed a sin and yet didn’t condone her, instead He told her to go and sin no more. So, it is not that He accepted the sin, but it was that He accepted and loved her and told her to go and sin no more.

Christ is not the one to throw a stone at us each time we sin, and neither should we be throwing stones at others for their mistakes, because none of us is perfect and none of us has arrived. Not until we are with Christ in Heaven will we be without sin and neither will anyone else. So, what we need to do is to be forgiving, non-judgmental and realize that if Christ was not willing to let a stone be thrown at a woman caught in the very act of her sin neither should we be throwing any stones at anyone. For it is to us that Christ really says “Go and sin no more” because throwing stones at others is a sin. The day Jesus died on the cross is the day each of our sins were pardoned and that is what we need to daily remember. To remember we are all just on a journey that will hopefully lead us closer and closer to a life of holiness and not a life of judging others. We need to also be stretching out our hands openly offering a helping hand out of love to those who need it not, for a stone to throw. For if we were open and honest we would understand that each of us deserves to have a stone thrown at us according to our own sins, but since God’s love for us is so great He pardoned us, so we could be with Him in eternity that is the greatest miracle of all. That is what we need to pass on to others – that hand of love not a hand of stones.

From Gardens of Splendor by Gina Burns