The Sound of Grace [page 3]

The Sound Of Grace ...Continued from page 2

And now let me illustrate God’s grace with another true story from the New Testament. You know the story of the woman caught in adultery of John 8:1-11. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. And to make this more dramatic, they do this when Jesus is at the temple. “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, the JEDP historian ? oh, I’m sorry, it doesn’t say the JEDP historian ? it says, “Moses commanded us to stone, such women. Now what do you say?” Good question, but John tells us that their motives were marred by their shady spirituality. The Bible tells us that “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.” And then he says, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first one to throw a stone at her.” And you know the rest of the story. “They began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there.”

In his book Six Hours One Friday, Max Lucado writes, “Jesus told the woman to look up. ‘Is there no one to condemn you?’ He smiled as she raised her head. She saw no one, only rocks ? each one a miniature tombstone to mark the burial place of a man’s arrogance. Maybe she expected him to scold her. Perhaps she expected him to walk away from her. I’m not sure, but I do know this: What she got, she never expected. She got a promise and a commission. The promise: ‘Neither do I condemn you.’ The commission: ‘Go and sin no more.’”

The Greek text of John says something puzzling. “Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.” In the midst of what? In the midst of the stones that were earlier aimed at her. When I was in Israel this past January I got some rocks from the Temple mount. (Showing stones, one by one, continue.)

The stone of criticism. A small stone, but you can palm it, you can put it in your purse, you can put it in your shirt pocket even as you come to church. It can be lethal. “The song was too high . . . the sermon was too long . . .”

The stone of bitterness. This one has several layers. Someone who cannot forgive, someone who cannot forget, gathers these types of stones.

The unnamed stone. You name it: legalism, liberalism, self-righteousness, racism . . . you name it. Have you ever been hit with such a stone? Have you ever thrown such a stone?