I Just Wanna Use Your Love

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.  They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, 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.”
John 8:3-11

When I read this passage of Scripture, there are two questions that immediately come to mind.

1.  Where is the guy?  If the Pharisees said, this woman was caught “in the act of adultery”, then what happened to the guy she was with?  After all, according to the law (Leviticus 20:10) they should both be put to death.  Did he take off?  Was he in on it?  No one knows.

2.  What is Jesus writing on the ground?  Some believe it was the Ten Commandments, others believe it was the names of the men accusing her.  The truth is no one knows.

Fortunately, neither of these two questions has anything to do with my point today.  Recently, I had a discussion with someone who was in favor of same-sex marriage.  They stated that they knew of gay people who were pleasant, community-minded people who should not be characterized as “sinners”.  Let me make two things immediately clear.  Homosexual behavior is sinful.  The Bible is quite clear on that point; Levitical Law calls homosexuality detestable and proscribes the death penalty for those guilty of the practice (see Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13).  However, homosexuality is not somehow worse than heterosexuality in Gods eyes.  According to James 2:10, anyone who breaks just one point of Gods law is guilty of breaking all of it.  This puts every person on earth on the same level; hopelessly lost.

I have never been tempted by sexual thoughts of other men, but I have dealt with lustful thoughts of women.  There was a time when these thoughts caused me so much anguish that is was difficult to function.  I understand how strong sexual temptation is.  If and when I acted on those temptations, I was acting in defiance of Gods will.  It is only by the grace of God that my struggles in this area are greatly diminished from where they were.

My point is this.  We are all sinners.  We must resist the temptation to put people into boxes and think that we represent God in condemning them.  When Jesus was on earth, the people he condemned were the self-righteous teachers of religion.  In his dealings with most sinful people, He condemned their sinful behavior but loved and accepted the person.  God freely offers us forgiveness, just as He offered it to this woman, but He asks us to sin no more.  If we are tempted sexually (or in any other manner) God asks us to resist that temptation.  If we fail, He stands ready with forgiveness, not judgment, so long as we will accept it.