Read John 8:1-11 Today's story reveals a couple of powerful things about Jesus. First of all, Jesus didn't come to condemn the world. (John 3:17) In this passage, we see the religious leaders bring this woman who was caught in adultery to Jesus. They knew the Law meant she was to be stoned as a result of her sin. But Jesus operated out of love which always supersedes the law. It doesn't disregard the law but rather fulfills the law.
In this case, the law's purpose was to restore purity and remove sin from the camp. Christ, operating in the mission of love, accomplished this goal in a different way. He looks to the scribes and Pharisees and said, "the one without sin can cast the first stone." One by one, and one stone falling to the ground after another, each person walks away leaving Jesus and the woman alone.
He looks up and sees the woman with no accusers. His response leads us to the second important point of our story. In the same way that God doesn't condemn us in our sins, He doesn't leave us in them either. He calls us out of darkness and into a marvelous light. "Go and sin no more!"
You are not destined to stay in your sin, your brokenness, and your woundedness. Christ came that you may have life and life to the full. Don't allow the people in your life or the systems that empower them to hold you in bondage. They may be agents of death holding a stone of shame against you. But remember, the Rock of salvation has come to set you free!
