By Ken G. Cooper
[John 8:3-11]
So it has finally happened
Caught.
In the very act of adultery.
Careless.
And now the consequence.
Marched by the scribes and Pharisees through the temple,
Jostled, spat on. I wasn’t the only one involved. Look at their smug faces! They look so triumphant.
We stop in front of a man talking to a crowd of people. I guess it is the Nazarene called Jesus.
He’s become quite well known in Jerusalem.
I wonder why they’ve brought me to him.
The scribes are now addressing him,
Asking him to decide what should be done with me. They were demanding the fulfilment of the Mosaic penalty of stoning to death but trying to get him to give some other response.
They’d told me what to expect, but it was evident they didn’t care about me. Yes, I was caught in the act, you reap what you sow. I’ve got no illusions. But it’s him they are after, and I feel like I am being used.
He seems to have ignored them.
Their questioning becomes aggressive, but he does not react.
He stoops down and writes on the ground, dropping out of sight of many that were there.
Those next to him kept asking him to respond.
They urge from him a reply to their questions,
But now they don’t seem quite so sure of themselves. I hear someone call out “Where’s he gone?”
He stands up and I hear him speak for the first time:
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”
And then I begin to feel the impact of what he has done in my own thinking.
His quiet assurance is tangible, I’ve lost all fear: it has gone in a sudden sense of trust and awe.
I look at him with fresh eye, and see absolute purity, an unselfed love that embraces everyone, yes, even those who were trying to trick and accuse him.
Just one remains. We exchange glances, but his youthful arrogance has been smitten. He also turns away, leaving Jesus and myself alone.
He stands up again, looking at me for the first time, a look of complete understanding, reading my mind.
He addresses me.
“Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?
Words spoken with such love, a love I have never known or thought possible.
It reaches into my very being, like a baptism washing me through and through.
I feel a cleansing, lifting my thoughts to a new respect for manhood and womanhood.
My answer is easy and full of reverence: “No man, Lord”.
I almost expect his reply:
“Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”
The desire, lust and selfishness disappear, no longer part of what I am!
I see my true self for the first time;- it’s what he is seeing! A completeness born of original purity. What he is.
I know true love.
I do as I am bidden and walk away.
I have been saved!
My heart is singing and weeping in both joy and repentance.
I have found in his command a new and wonderful pathway,
A feeling and knowledge of wholeness.
I have witnessed what love is, - for the first time I felt God’s Love, not just for me, but for everyone. And I experience the marvellous realisation it was always there! Is always here. I had not seen it.
No punishment required, - the past no longer part of my now, it has gone in the awareness and presence of divine love.
The curse and habits of my previous life are no longer. My life has been changed! Jesus has shown me what is true and given me a blessing for ever “Go and sin no more”.
My life redeemed, a new beginning, a new meaning, a wonderful unspoken promise in my heart of total commitment to Love.
I know the love of God and am gloriously free.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
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