The Forgiven Life
She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."
"I do not condemn you either." Think about that.
"There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Think about that.
"There is no better place for a sinner to be than at the feet of Jesus Christ." Erwin McManus said that in one of his messages. It puts what Jesus said, and what Paul wrote, in more immediate terms.
We're all sinners living in a fallen world. The whole place and everything in it is so coated by the effects of sin that we think it's all normal. We've grown up to expect the world to work in a certain way.
That way rarely includes real forgiveness. God says he has removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. Now, when was the last time any person forgave you of something completely? The issue always comes up again. "Remember when you did this..." God never does that. When you ask Jesus for forgiveness, he really does it! Poof! It's gone. There is no longer history. God isn't always standing over you, pointing out all the things you've done wrong and continue to do wrong.
He doesn't have to. We do it. We hear the message of forgiveness and think "That's nice, but..." Fill in your own list of objections.
The church frequently preaches the Devil's message, in actions if not in words. Not surprising, since we've all been taking lessons from the world all our lives, and the church is an outworking of those lessons.
Forgiveness, if we really believed it, would transform the world.
One night I was lying in bed thinking about how Jesus was supposed to take away all my pain. How could that be? How could he remove all of that? There was a chasm between; how was I supposed to give up something like that? It'd be like giving away a pound of air.
You have questions? The Holy Spirit has answers. In this case his answer was to quit hanging onto it. He'd already forgotten my sins. Why could I not also loose my grip on the past?
There's a problem with this. Forgiveness is transformational. Convinced of forgiveness, life will change. Just rubbing shoulders with God day after day will cause change; how do I live with that?
But who knows better than God what is good about life? I certainly don't. I'm so dead that my bones are petrified. Before God can start a fire he has to turn the stone back into wood, and forgiveness is where that starts. Am I ready to live a real God-inspired life? No way. Fortunately Jesus is the author and finisher, and he'll keep after me.
So, questions. What do you think your life would be like if you were truly and deeply convinced that you are forgiven?
What do you think gets in the way of you being convinced you're forgiven? And don't tell me it's because you feel unworthy. We're all unworthy, but Jesus says we're worthy, and he backed up that statement with his actions.
Why do I ask these questions? Because it seems that most of the Christians I meet are still hung up here. They're not convinced that Jesus' work really applies to them. There's some special circumstance that keeps his forgiveness from being fully applicable. Well, that's balderdash. One act, for all sin, forever. Get used to it. The first bricks go on the bottom and this one is the foundation.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
And... God calls us his children.
The Skink's Tail
I didn't think it was going to work. I'd watched this misplaced Galilean, and every time he approached a trap he danced through without even looking. I didn't say anything, though, because the elders were incensed.
Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
"Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"
They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
He didn't say a word. Just bent over and started writing in the sand. It was beautiful to watch, every movement smooth, unhurried. Then I saw what he was writing. In Hebrew. Upside down, so we could read it. What?
"You..."
The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
I began to get a bad feeling. Something was echoing in my memory. Others of us were hit harder; they started to blanch and look uncomfortable. The eldest even bowed their heads. Anything but look at Jesus.
"...are..."
"Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.
Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"
She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."
Then Nathan said to David, "
You are the man!"
I finally got it. The words in the sand. As I walked out of the courtyard, trailing the others, my ears burned. Guilty! What could I do?
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you. ------------------------------------------------------
OK, Ray, that's what you get when you challenge a sand sculptor to do exegesis.
John 8:1-11, NASB
2 Samuel 12:1-7, NIV
Psalm 51:10-13, NIV
John 8:1-11, the Sequel
This is a sequel to Real Live Preacher's
Where is the Man?"He asked me to dance
and I'd never tried dancing before
I had visions of saints and angels laughing us right off the floor.
Though I protested
it just wouldn't do any good
He gently insisted and finally I told him I would.
Unforgettable!
He taught this sister to dance in a whole new way."
Jesus squatted in silence in front of the woman. When he looked up they were alone. He smoothly rose to his feet.
“Daughter of Abraham, lift up your head and look around you.”
“I cannot.”
“Then lift up your eyes at least and see who condemns you now.”
Slowly, the woman’s hand pulled her matted hair away from her eyes. Quick looks from eyes barely visible in her downturned face were all He could see. She slowly raised her head, heavy, and looked at Jesus.
His hand was raised. She cowered, expecting the blow, and a vision raced in rapid scenes. Her, beaten senseless and left to lie beside a building. Generations of women being beaten in repeated blows. A long line of women into the future being ground to dust under the bodies and decrees of black-clad churchmen. And finally, a bloody spike protruding from Jesus' upraised hand, a trickle of blood that stops as she watches. The vision ends.
“Daughter of Sarah, who is left to condemn you?”
“No one, sir.”
“Then neither do I condemn you. Go your way and be at peace.”
"Peace, he says," she thinks as she pulls her shabby robe more tightly around her shoulders, and then turns to walk away.
“Daughter. I have something to say to you before you go.”
She stopped, but she did not turn around or look up.
“Your name is worth more than this; do not dishonor it. Your life is worth more than this; do not waste it.”
The woman made a slight move with her head that might have been a nod, then started to walk again. Jesus spoke one last time.
“Daughter of Abraham, YOU are worth more than this. Go now and sin no more in this fashion. Be instead the child of God that you were meant to be.”
This time her shoulders shuddered and a soft sob was heard. And then years of contained rage, all those male attitude pounded into her, blow her self-control to pieces. She looks up, face turning to thunder, lightning in her eyes.
"How am I to do that, sir? You see what I am. You know what I don't have."
"Go talk to Joseph
Well I've talked to Joseph,
And Joseph's a man
So many things
That a woman can know
That a man never can.
So, I'm coming, Elizabeth,
'Cause you'll understand."
The hopeless look comes back to her face. Defeat. Many years of practice. "You're a man. You can't possibly understand. You just don't know. Tell me, I ask, how am I to 'go and sin no more' when I have no money, no family, and am tolerated only because of male need?"
Jesus lowers his hand. "Daughter, you have nothing. I know. But you have more than those did who accused you. They never asked me an honest question. They have only tried, time after time, to trap me. You see me. They do not. Daughter, can you believe that I can help you?"
"Promises. They all do that so that I'll be there for the next time. When they're done, so is the promise." Some fire has come back to her face.
"Daughter of Sarah, I promise. Your life will change."
A fragment of the vision returns: the spike through His hand, His hanging body. She looks at him again. "How can I dare?" The spark of hope that shone briefly dims, and she turns to run.
"Daughter, I promise."
It's too much. How can she dare to believe? One more promise. And how would he ever change her life? He's back there someplace, standing amid words written in dust. With distance comes some calm, and some memories. Stories of this man. Repeated whispers about him healing the sick. People who run into him seem to change. Iron-willed Pharisees become even more obdurate, but little people get changed in unpredictable ways.
Can one encounter change a life? A little bit of belief is still belief, and it can grow.
-----------------------------------------
"He Asked Me To Dance" and
"I'm Coming, Elizabeth" by Ken Medema
(written for "Last Exit" 2004 December 2)
John 8:1-11, an Alternative View
Ray called me on Friday and asked if I wanted to lead the next study. Why me? Because Jesus, Ray said, stooped down and wrote in the sand. When he read sand he thought of me. Note that there's no hint of his respect for my holiness or anything else. When you have a sand sculptor available for Bible interpretation, give him the verses that involve sand... even if sand really has nothing to do with the story.
I think it's just his way of making sure I show up. A bribe, if you will. I told him I'd do it. Didn't mention anything about seeing through his story. Basic homiletics: find a link to someone, and use it.
Truth to tell, I have been avoiding this study. For various reasons, the closest of which is that I understand just how weird my approach to God is. I refuse to have anything to do with ritual and standardized Christian behavior. I neither want to persuade others that my way is the only way, nor to jump onto some holy bandwagon. I have one chance at life and that's by holding tightly to Jesus' hand, and I know the effects of getting involved in works and such, and being the by-nature avoider of conflict that I am, I just stay out.
And yet, when called to the hilltop, there's no point in hiding what little light I have. So, here it is.
Start with your first bit of homework. Read Real Live Preacher's dramatization of this story:
"Where Is the Man?"And the second bit of homework is to think about why Jesus so often used prostitutes for examples. The standard answer is that Jesus is showing that he welcomes even the bottom-feeders into his new world. Could there be more to it than that? Could it be that prostitution exemplifies the typical Christian's relationship with God?
God wants us as lovers. We, the followers of Jesus, are described as the Bride of Christ. Well, what do brides do? They get torridly in love with the bridegroom. Read "Song of Songs" if you don't believe me. And yet, we turn to all kinds of other things: busyness, activity, music, movies. Have you ever noticed that the last thing followers of Jesus talk about when they get together is God? If they do discuss God, it's in working terms and about all the burdens that have been placed on them. Might there be more to this whole thing than we believe?
I use all kinds of things to distract myself from God. Even Blog writing. Anything is better than looking at his ferocious, hot, utterly unpredictable love and where it might lead. God is wild. And yet he is utterly predictable: he wants the best for us. This is such a strange thought that I find it very hard to believe, but the proof is in the cross.
"Go your way and sin no more." A new life. Meaningless until I realize that I've also been given the resources to live God's way.
Forgiven (John 8:1-11)
"Please prepare your hearts for worshiping together. If there's any sin, confess it." Then the pastor starts his message. He's lost me, knocked me off the course. Sin?
Asking if there's sin in me is a lot like asking if there's water inside a fish. Which one am I supposed to confess? Which ones am I supposed to know about? Separating sin from the fabric of a human's life is like trying to take the dye out of a piece of cloth, or so it seems to me and I just gave it up.
My solution to this problem in the past has been to leave it in God's hands. I learned that I'm not strong enough to hold up under the search for good and evil. Larry alone can't figure this out, but the Holy Spirit and Larry are more than a match for it. As long as I hold his hand truth is clear. So why would one man's reminder so quickly overwhelm my way of doing things, the way God has taught me?
Call it the power of the moment, and being able to see the man. There's also history, all those many church meetings I've attended that hammered in the same idea. God has uphill battle teaching me a way that leads to life instead of judgment.
A day or so after I went to church with Jennifer and Maurice, I got an Email message from a friend. He's been struggling with forgiveness, and I'd reminded him that God forgave him completely when he believed that Jesus died in his place. Somehow, my friend just didn't get this. I wrote back and suggested that he's heard too many stories from other people, and has
lost track of God's Name for him. At the same time I asked God to remind my friend of forgiveness.
Now, praying is a lot like shining a bright light out through a window. The glass reflects some of the light. In other words, if you ask God to give someone else a hotfoot your own toes heat up. Here I was, having abandoned the way of grace and asking God to show that way to my friend.
Sin is a wall. The reminder of sin reinforces the wall when it's open-ended. Human beings have been taught well the technology of self-judgment. Ever since Adam and Eve ate the wrong fruit we've been trying to do the wrong thing: figure out good and evil on our own. Forgiveness is a foreign language and we try to do God's work for him. To save him the effort I guess.
But he already did it. History is in his hands, a new history that starts with his forgiveness.
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 said.
"Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:10,11 NIV)
I thought about this through the week. On the bus, at home, and decided distraction was better. God was trying to get my attention but I didn't want his judgment added to my own. No matter how many times he demonstrates his acceptance I still get scared when I don't follow what I perceive the church's rules to be. Forgiveness from God is one thing, but how do I explain that to anyone else?
Two ideas war. To be invisible or to shine brightly. By life and adaptation I'm very good at the former, but God's Spirit moves in and torches the place. The human soul becomes incandescent just because of its connection with God. Hold his hand for very long and the flames run high. That hand is where life comes from. Am I to let go of him just so that I'll fit in with a church?
Maybe this is what all the barbarian talk is about. For all their destructive tendencies, barbarians have also taken apart moribund empires and replaced them with something more dynamic if less coherent. It's too bad we can't find a better balance between chaos and order.
Friday morning, grey light leaks slowly into a sky that's pouring down rain. It finally arrived. After days of warning and people on the bus laughing at me because I was going to get soaked on my way home, I lie in bed listening to magic water falling from the sky. Pour water onto a desert for long enough and something will start to grow, and even a professional hard case can learn forgiveness. With enough reminders.
Originally written 2005 February 18
Stay tuned for further
National Day of Prayer
Since today is National Day of Prayer, we will not be meeting in our regular location. Rather, I encourage you to join in the public prayer meetings gathering around City Hall. Next week we will resume meeting and discuss John chapter 7.
