The Writing in the sand!
An interesting thought popped into my head (it happens!) as I was reading the account in John’s Gospel about Jesus and the adulterous woman, and particularly the way in which he dealt with the challenge he’d been set by the Scribes and Pharisees (to either condemn the woman to death by stoning, as proscribed in the law, or offer forgiveness to her and defy the law)
They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
John 7:53-8:11 for the whole story
It’s the thing about Jesus writing in the sand. Some commentators suggest that what Jesus was actually doing was listing one by one the sins of those who were watching, and that, as much as his comment ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’ was the reason they turned tail and walked away, tails between their legs.
I think that’s an interesting picture we ought maybe to carry around with us. When our conscience tells us that what we’re saying or doing doesn’t quite fit with the faith we profess, is that Jesus standing next to us, writing in the sand?
And what’s our response? To walk away and ignore his challenge, or to respond to Jesus’ reply to the woman… ‘Go away, AND FROM NOW ON do not sin again’
Be careful of the writing in the sand!
There’s a new set of Bible Studies with a Celtic theme on www.faithandworship.com/connexions_bible_study_notes.htm