Thursday, May 27, 2010

Written in the Sand

What do you suppose Jesus wrote in the sand, when the woman caught in adultery was brought before Him?
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John 8:3-11

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
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There are many great ideas of what it might have been. Some say it may have been the Ten Commandments, or the sins of the men who brought the woman before Jesus. Since Scripture doesn't tell us, we cannot know for sure what the Lord wrote in the sand, and I'm certainly not saying that my theory is right. It's simply my own speculation.
So, here’s one possibility of how it all went down, and what might have been written:

Jesus was teaching in the temple courts with people gathered around Him. As the teachers of the law and Pharisees brought the woman before them, interrupting Jesus’ teaching, I don’t think they realized what He was doing. They thought He was ignoring them or writing something in the sand about what He was currently teaching. They kept questioning Him, and He told them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Now they realize that He wasn’t ignoring them after all, and they look down at the ground and notice what He had written: A reference to Scripture. Of course, the modern reference and verse divisions that we use today weren’t added until much later, but there must have been some sort of reference to what He was quoting from from the scroll of Ecclesiastes.

I’m sure many of them knew it by the reference, but I believe that after saying that to them, when He bent down and wrote in the dirt again, He finished writing the rest of it so there was no doubt that it was quoted directly from Scripture. And it goes perfectly with the words that He spoke.

Ecclesiastes 7:20
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

No one had a choice, but to drop their stones and walk shamefully away. Their trap had backfired on them.

So, what can we learn from this, regardless of what He might have written in the sand? That none of us are sinless or better than anyone else. We all deserve hell for breaking God's law. We are undeservedly saved from the wrath of God by grace through faith.

Now, if we have truly received this free gift of everlasting life, shouldn't we be taking this knowledge to others who are just like us? God doesn't want any to perish, if He is our Lord, shouldn't we feel the same? 2 Peter 3:9, Eze 18:32

Not only that, but we are commanded by the Lord. Matt 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 10:42, Eze 33:8-9, 1 John 2:3

Go.

2 comments:

beckadee said...

Hi brother mel!
Amen!
Tracts are good and an affective witness for those who are lead in that way.
Then there are those who are drawn to those in an immediate need, say a grocery store parking lot. Someone is hungry or just needs to know that God is here and cares.
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I love your blog! The design is very nice and clean. God bless bro!
w*i*n*k*k*s

AL said...

Hey, nice to see ya here! You're the first to cross over from the boards to the blog. I provide links between them, but no one seems to go from one to the other.

Thanks for the compliments! Ya know, there's a specific tract that is perfect for those you speak of with immediate needs. It's the "Gift For You" tract, which has little tabs inside for putting a bill of whatever size you can afford in it and includes a good, complete Gospel message.
Check it out here.

Gift for You tract

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I hope you'll come back and visit again soon. I keep track of witnessing encounters here, but haven't been out the last few weeks. We'll be back to it this weekend though, so watch for a new post early next week.

God bless!