John8:1-11 - Ministering the Gospel...Jesus Style

John 8:7 "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."
John 8:10-11 "Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Women, 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."

I believe that one of the greatest examples of the ministry of the gospel that we have been given was Jesus' interaction with the woman caught in adultery.  The very first thing we notice from the entire encounter was that the instead of bringing forward both the adulterers, one was selectively ignored. The second thing we can see is that the "religious" people subtly changed the wording of scripture - just like the serpent in the Garden of Eden did - to say what they wanted it to say rather than what was actually stated. Finally, the Pharisees and teachers of the law intended a loose/loose answer. Either way that Jesus could have answered, He would be either breaking Roman law or Jewish law.  Yet despite all this Jesus did not worry about the politics of the situation, He didn't draw attention to the misquoting of Scripture, and He did not point out the improper procedures of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.

No, Jesus instead focused on the heart of the issue, ministering to the immediate and not so immediate needs of the woman and the hearts and minds of the religious people.

To the religious people He challenged their fervor for blaming, condemning, and otherwise judging people. He asked them to look into their own hearts, minds, and lives and see if they were any different than the adulterous woman. Her life decisions were no different than theirs, showing that all of them had broken the Law, that they had all fallen short, and could any of them really take a position of judgment, as fallen as they were?

To the woman, caught in the act of adultery, He showed a better way - a way of acceptance. He did not chose to condemn her yet He did not chose to accept her past actions as being alright either.  She was given an unspoken choice. To continue to live as she had been and eventually find herself in the presence of the holy, sinless, and righteous Judge, or change her life, her standards, and her activities and find herself once again given life - Eternal life - by the same Judge.

What can we learn from this? When people are living sinful lives, we have no right to force them to change. We cannot condemn them, yet we cannot condone them either. We are no better than them. In fact, we may be worse - we know that what we have done is wrong. We can encourage them in gentleness and love to live a better life, but we must pray for them, that they will encounter Christ in as awesome a manner as this woman did. We can also lead by example. We, just like the woman, are told to go forth and sin no more. What sin there may be in our lives we need to assiduously pluck out, that there be no sin, no earthly leaven in our lives. In the end, we are responsible to God for what happened in our lives, not the lives of anyone else around us.

This week then, lets look to God in prayer that He may show us where sin has ensconced itself in our lives. Also lets pray for those whom we know have still not found the Joy that is Christ Jesus. Let's love them rather than hate them, pray for them rather than persecute them, and encourage them rather than belittle them. How we go about ministering the Gospel into people's lives is just as important as whether or not we are doing it at all! I would rather it not be done at all than be done badly and so drive someone further from God.  I just thank God that we are saved by Grace through Faith, not by our works, but instead freely given to us by our Lord! (Ephesians 2:8-9 paraphrased)