40 Days of Purpose
Friday, Day 21
I am grateful for Jesus’s response in the passage we’ve been studying this week.
He takes a knee in the dirt and waits out the storm of questions and accusations from the Pharisees. After a period of listening he stands to make an unusual invitation. Then he takes a knee again.
“Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground.”
Jesus is the ultimate judge, and a Holy God. Yet He declares that He would not condemn this woman.
Notice that He doesn’t say she is not guilty. She was caught in the act. No, he declares that He will not condemn her because all of her sin would be taken upon Him, pointed like a laser, on the cross.
He would bear her blame. Our blame.
We see that same truth again in Romans 3:21-26. (excerpts of this passage are shown below in the New Living Translations)
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are…
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins…
“This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time.”
Jesus loved this woman and these men by pointing out their need for forgiveness.
Is there an area of your life where you are demanding justice and ignoring your own need for forgiveness? Will you bow before Jesus today, offering Him your heart? And if you have already done this, will you tell someone else today about Him?
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