NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU
“She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
– John 8:11
Dear Jesus, my Saviour and my Hero, King of Kings and the Lamb who takes away all sin. I am fascinated by Your life in the flesh and the things you did, so this morning can I ponder on something with You?
It is about that woman caught in adultery. Yes, the Scribes and Pharisees wanted to test you but she was caught for real Lord. the bible says she was caught in the very act! So, they brought her to you with every intent to kill her, after they must have tested if You know the law but you just scribbled on the floor.
They pressed you till you stood up and talked. No one could stand because they were all as guilty as she was so while you continued scribbling, they left one after another, fuming with anger.
You finally rose up and saw the woman still standing. She was probably waiting on You to condemn her because You alone have the right to “cast the first stone.”
“Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
She replied You while still waiting on her “inevitable” fate saying “No one Lord.”
The father had in early times commanded that anyone caught in adultery is liable to death. God, through Moses, commanded her death but You simply told her: “Neither do I condemn you.”
But why… Why did you not condemn her? The law commanded it afterall. Are we going to say you are unjust because this feels like a violation of law?
Oh no! You are just! And the father intend that she face the full repercussion of her action but the father had another plan. You… Dear Jesus will face it for her… You will get punished in her place.
Was that what you were writing on the floor? Because the prophesy had said:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.”
– Isaiah 53:5
Did she bring the reality of Your death? Did she reminded You of the cross and how You, who had no sin, the only person just enough to cast a stone, became sin for us?
Ah ha! I get it, you couldn’t condemn her because you bore our sins? Our maliciously, hatred, fornication, adultery, everything was on you. But you went on to teach in the temple that same day and no one could lay hands on you because Your hour was yet to come.
Yes, you bore everything but your hour was yet to come. Something else prevailed that day. Something that saved the adulterous woman.
Wait… Let me think…
Oh! Alas… It was grace… It was mercy! It was what the prophecy spoke about when it said:
“Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs forth now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
– Isaiah 43:19
That’s it! She was guilty, she had been condemned to die but You who is the “way,” the truth and the life made a way of escape where there – naturally – should not have been a way. Under the old law, her judgment requires that she dies but You who came to make all things new made mercy prevailed over judgment!
Yes, she was suppose to die, like we are supposed to, because the wages of sin is death but you died in our place. This was the mercy that prevailed for a caught-in-the-act adulterous woman, this is the mercy that prevailed for us. Hallelujah!
Thank you Jesus! Seriously though… What did Dear Jesus, our Lord scribbled on the floor that day?
*sips coffee*
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