Remember the woman caught in ‘the very act’ of adultery, whom Jesus actually helped out of the problem she got herself into?
Remember the woman caught in ‘the very act’ of adultery, whom Jesus actually helped out of the problem she seemed to get herself into?
Remember how the sanctimonious accusers wanted Jesus to make his own opinion known about that issue?
“Prophet Moses said she should be stoned; what do you say? Yes, we caught her in the very act. She can’t deny it!”
Some things didn’t add up in this case, but Jesus wasn’t going to start quizzing these people. When dealing with hypocrites, he usually used as few words as possible.
He could have asked, “You said you caught her in the act, so where’s the man with whom she was doing it?” but he didn’t.
He could have asked them why his own opinion was needed when they had their religious leaders who dealt with such things, but He didn’t.
He only paused, got down on one knee and started to scribble some things on the ground with his finer. The palpable silence that followed set the mood for the famous challenge he offered the bunch of ‘stoners.’
“Let anyone who’s does not have any sin be the first to cast his stone at the adulterer.”
He didn’t exonerate the sinner, he only challenged the hypocrites. But the whole show was a scam. The accusers weren’t sincere in the least.
You may ask, “Deon, why do you say so?”
Note very well what I am about to share here because it is very important. I had read this story for many years before my mind was opened to the deeper dimension of what it taught.
See these men holding stones…They ware as dumb as the stones they held. They were being played by their religious leaders.
The religious leaders who organized the stoning weren’t interested in the woman at all. She was collateral damage — a disposable bait. These religious leaders came to trap Jesus. They knew Jesus to be compassionate. They very well expected him to say, “No, don’t stone her. Let’s counsel her… Daughter your sins are forgiven…” or something like that, and then they would say, “See, he has blasphemed. He has spoken against the Law! The Law said to stone her and he says we set her free!”
And then it wouldn’t be about the adulterous woman anymore, but about Jesus who would be accused of speaking against their law. All those stones would have been directed at Jesus at the command of the hypocritical religious leaders hiding in the corner and pulling the strings of the foolish stoners.
Can you now see that those stones were not meant for the woman, but for Jesus?
Can you see why it didn’t bother them that they didn’t bring the adulterous man along?
Can you now see that some people who claim to believe God are actually tools in the hands of hypocritical religious leaders? These stoners thought they were working for God, but they were wrong! They were working for some Pharisees who were abusing their desire to please God for their own murderous purpose.
These Pharisees weren’t there for justice, they were there to set a trap for Jesus, and the woman was the bait!
When you are encouraged by a so called spiritual leader to hate and attack other people who did you no wrong, don’t think you are doing it for God, you are just being used as a mere tool to settle personal scores which may be based on nothing more than envy.
Don’t hate someone because a leader says they are bad. Refuse to be used to throw rocks at the innocent or the supposedly guilty. There are many leaders hiding behind their political groups, religious pulpits or organization’s ideologies, sending the ignorant to attack supposed enemies. Don’t be their tool… Don’t be their fool.
And you shouldn’t be the victim either. If it happens that you are asked to make contributions or speak at a place, check the character of the people in charge before ‘honoring’ their invitation. Some people are not interested in what you have to say; they are only interested in what you say amiss. Those whose words have been deliberately quoted out of context by ‘interviewers’ know what I’m talking about.
Learn to stoop down to write with your fingers; you don’t always have to speak about everything. You don’t always have to respond immediately. You don’t have to answer every question. And you don’t have to be effusive in your verbal response. Brevity is a virtue, and that can be learnt from Jesus.
The stones they are holding are for you, not for the person they are trying to get you to judge!
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Ref: John 8.
