Mary’s Lent Diary (Day 36)

Everyone went home after all the excitement of will they/won’t they arrest Jesus?

Everyone except Jesus, that is – he spent the night on the Mount of Olives, but was back at the temple bright and early today, teaching the people.  I wish he would stay away; I don’t want a repeat of yesterday.

Jesus was teaching and then you can guess who appeared – the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, and they were not alone.  They had a woman with them, and they made her stand right in front of Jesus. 

Apparently, they had caught her in the act of adultery, and the law says that she must be killed by stoning (there was no sign of the man, of course, they were only accusing the woman).  But the Pharisees wanted to know what Jesus would say.  It was so obvious that they were trying to trap him – if Jesus said don’t stone her, he would be telling them to break the law.  If he said do stone her, he would be in trouble with the Romans – the Romans do not like Jews carrying out their own executions.

Will the Pharisees never give up?!  They seem determined to get Jesus arrested.

All eyes were on Jesus – what would he say.

But he didn’t say anything.  He just bent down and started writing in the dust with his finger.  I couldn’t see what he was writing, nor could I understand why he was writing…maybe to make it obvious that he was ignoring the Pharisees?  They were confused, too, and started to get a bit annoyed.  They kept asking him more and more questions and Jesus just kept writing in the dust.

In the end, Jesus did look up.  He said to them, ‘ok, whoever has never done anything wrong can be the first to throw a stone at her’.  Then he bent down and carried on writing.

The Pharisees looked at each other.  The Teachers of the law looked at each other.  The people looked at each other.  Then, one by one, they began to walk away.  In the end, there was only Jesus and the woman left.  I stood behind a pillar to watch what happened next.  And Jesus stopped writing, stood up and looked at the woman.  ‘Where is everyone?’  he asked.  ‘Is no one accusing you?’  The woman looked around as though she couldn’t believe it.  They’d all gone!  Then she looked back at Jesus: He was still there, did that mean he was condemning her?  But no.  Jesus told her that he did not condemn her. He said she should go, and leave her life of sin.

His compassion for the woman moved me to tears.

A woman’s eyes, the rest of her face hidden behind a cloth

The Pharisees are still trying to get Jesus arrested, this time by tricking Him into breaking the law.

To do so, they point the finger at someone else.

A woman, who has been caught in adultery.

Echoes of Matthew 7:3:

‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?’

Jesus turns the tables.

He challenges people to be aware of themselves before looking at others.

How aware of ourselves are we?

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT

In Matthew 23, Jesus refers to the Pharisees as Whitewashed Tombs.

They might look good, but inside they are rotten.

It has been said that when you point a finger, there are three other fingers pointing back at yourself.

As the Pharisees bring the woman to Jesus in today’s passage, Jesus challenges them to take a look inside themselves.

Again, we see that what’s inside matters to Jesus.

People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

I Samuel 16:7b NLT

Jesus challenges the people about their own wrong-doing, and then – as they think about it – he bends to write on the ground.

Writing on the ground.

Exactly as he had been doing before he challenged them.

Jesus gives people space.

The Pharisees had been accusatory about the woman’s adultery.

They had dragged her into a space she did not choose.

Jesus is not accusatory.

He knows the people are not perfect, yet He is not accusatory.

He simply wants them to be real, and He gives them space in His presence to do that.

Have you experienced space in His presence?

Perhaps you didn’t realise that He offers it.

Space to be.

Space to be real.

In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them.

Isaiah 63:9a

Everyone leaves, except Jesus.

There are just Jesus and the woman remaining.

The woman knows that Jesus is aware of how she lives her life.

He knows her reality, and He stays.

Her reality doesn’t scare Him off.

She stands in front of Him, knowing that He knows.

And she hears those words,

“I don’t condemn you.”

The woman didn’t choose to be in Jesus’ presence.

Not at first.

It was a scary place for her to be.

Until she realised that it wasn’t.

And it became a space that she chose.

“I don’t condemn you.”

 Lord Jesus,

Thank you for staying and not condemning me.

May being in Your Presence be a space that I choose.

Amen

Mary’s Memo Be Real

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