The application of love

        I am captivated by my thoughts on this passage of Scripture from John.  I am going to assume that under the guidance of the Spirit so much has changed and that this passage is an example of it.

        Jesus is being tested by the scribes and Pharisees. It would be no different for us today when some religious elite or unloving conservative 'Christian' poses a question and taunts with some hammer like quotation of scripture. Surely adultery is a sin and that the prescription is stoning. Deny it if you can. It is so written. 

       The first question in my mind is that there really should have been two people in front of Jesus. Did the woman commit adultery by herself? In that regard sadly, much has not changed. It is evidence of a broad scheme of male domination where the rules for men are quite different than the rules for woman. One need only read the news this week to find rapists get leniency or some such abomination of justice. Woman who are raped are dehumanized, threatened, questioned and sneered at.  Deny that if you can.

         But the real revelation here is how Jesus responds in the face of an obvious religious taunt over what Scripture says to do.  Jesus pulls out no stops in his mercy, forgiveness and love. Jesus does not say very much at all except that famous line, 'let anyone among you without sin cast the first stone'. Gotta love Jesus, a freek'n rebel full of love. A regular hippie and religious firebrand.

        Jesus gives us examples all through his life of how to live and act. As if that is not strong enough he shows us how we can move beyond the heresy of taking snippets of Scripture and using them as hammers to enslave and condemn others. Jesus moves beyond stoning as an answer to love. Can we do the same? Is that not the choice anyone makes when the claim Jesus as their savior, when they claim to be a Christian?

        As far as the scriptures go, whether you go back to the time of Genesis or the time of John, there are countless contradictions and seeming justifications for errant human behaviour.  I believe it is the movement of the Holy Spirit that helps us realize that while mentioned in Scripture, slavery is an abhorrent human affair. If you read the story of Sampson and the Philistines, that may have been the actual story of the first suicide terrorist.  My point is, we look at many things differently. I suggest that we will always look at things differently if we look through the lens of love.

      Whatever question about Scripture you may have, whether it is a singular line or contradictory answers to your question found in Scripture, the answer is best solved by the application of love. What abundant, embracing, forgiving love can we apply to any situation, that is what Jesus would do. That is our answer.

John 7:53-8:11

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 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. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’]]