Put down the Stones
I was recently reading a post by a relatively well known Christian
writer who was calling for a well-known pastor to be removed from ministry
because of words that he had written 14 years ago and even ones that he had
apologized for. And yet despite he had repented of what he had done and
saw it as contemptible, she was still stating that those words reflected his
heart and thus indicated that he should be removed. Interestingly this
article was timely perfectly with the news that a famous Christian book
retailer would stop holding his books and with news that a Church planting
organization that he had started was kicking him out.
More and more frequent there have been crusades on social media that seems to target an individual. They will usually find something they feel is disturbing about the individual, and then using videos, articles, hash-tags, shares and re-tweets there becomes a centralized expression of a mob-like rage. A rage that is in a large-way irrational -- I bet that if the writer of the article I referenced in the first paragraph separated herself from her opposition to the pastor's ideology and considered how she would want to be treated by people when she was in a vulnerable state, she probably wouldn't have written what she did.
Jesus was killed by an angry mob
Jesus was certainly not unfamiliar with this emotionally-driven, irrational thrust in our society to punish people it finds rehensible. He was no stranger indeed as it was an angry mob, fueled by half-truths twisted from the context that they belonged in and then magnified by Pharisee instigators who successfully painted a picture of Jesus that was so dismal to the eyes of those in the public square that they called for His blood and even asked that He replace a known murderer in the execution line. No stranger indeed.
Yet even before He faced the fateful day where He gave His life for the sins of the world, He was still witness to the attempted execution of a woman caught in the act of adultery. To provide an accurate backdrop to this famous account in John 8:1-12 we need to understand both Mosaic Law and the political situation of Israel in Jesus' day. Like I said in an earlier post we often read our current worldview into the Biblical testimony and in doing so we either miss out on the profundity of what God was trying to say or we misinterpret the point all together.
Ancient Israel: No police, no prisons
Unlike in the United States or in just about any modernized nation, in ancient Israel there were no prisons and there was no police force. Let that one soak in a little bit. The people were the police force and laws were enforced based on the testimony of 2 or 3 citizens. When a crime took place, the citizens were to act like white blood cells towards a virus and were to literally bring the perpetrators to justice. And being that there were no prisons the punishment for at least 16 crimes was the death penalty (the why behind that is another blog for another day).
Take also into consideration the political state that Israel was in. Since 63 B.C. Rome had occupied Israel and as such the Roman government was in control of Israel yet had delegated power to Jewish leaders who would lead on behalf of Rome -- a situation similar to that of the nation of China and Hong Kong. The great Asian port city is not an independent state but one that is granted the right to govern itself by China. The Roman approved Jewish leader of the day was Herod Antipas.
In the context of all this we see Jesus defending a woman caught in the act of adultery. Now we understand that a citizen stoning another citizen for the breaking of Mosaic Law was permitted in Israel under Roman rule because they were being allowed to govern themselves. And not only that, but we understand that God had commanded the people of Israel to bring punishment on all sins that occurred in their city. According to the Law, it was their responsibility to stone the woman.
Jesus the Reformer
This is where we understand the real gravity of what Jesus was doing at the temple court with an angry mob and a guilty sinner. Jesus was redefining the execution of the Law. Jesus took the responsibility for punishing sin from the shoulders of Jewish citizens and placed it solely in the hands of God on the Day of Judgment. This was likely the biggest reformation of the Law that Jesus enacted. Sin was no longer a political/social issue meant to be prevented by social compulsion or punished by a legal system, but was now solely between the individual and God.
And while this was one of Jesus’ most radical reformations it is also one of the most misunderstood. Many misinterpret John 8:1-12 to meaning that Jesus didn’t speak out against sin, didn’t passionately compel people to stop sinning or even that He didn’t care about sin at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. We see that while Jesus was adamantly against social or legal imperatives toward holiness, that He was giving us both a more glorious and a more fearful imperative – human beings live before the very eyes of God and He is both pleased at our righteousness and will justly punish all sin. Whereas sin in the Old Testament might get you stoned or killed, sin in the New Testament will send you to Hell.
The eternal nature of God’s Judgment is one that surely has ramifications for how we live today. Not only should it inspire holy fear in our hearts to receive the Righteousness of Christ Jesus through faith and to walk out that faith in the pursuit of holiness; but it should also teach us to put down our stones. Let us look at those who have sinned and instead of partaking in the social media crusade against them that demands for their chastisement, let us put it into the hands of God. Let’s give it to the One who sees everything in its proper context and actually has the wisdom to administer a justice that is fitting for the offense.
More and more frequent there have been crusades on social media that seems to target an individual. They will usually find something they feel is disturbing about the individual, and then using videos, articles, hash-tags, shares and re-tweets there becomes a centralized expression of a mob-like rage. A rage that is in a large-way irrational -- I bet that if the writer of the article I referenced in the first paragraph separated herself from her opposition to the pastor's ideology and considered how she would want to be treated by people when she was in a vulnerable state, she probably wouldn't have written what she did.
Jesus was killed by an angry mob
Jesus was certainly not unfamiliar with this emotionally-driven, irrational thrust in our society to punish people it finds rehensible. He was no stranger indeed as it was an angry mob, fueled by half-truths twisted from the context that they belonged in and then magnified by Pharisee instigators who successfully painted a picture of Jesus that was so dismal to the eyes of those in the public square that they called for His blood and even asked that He replace a known murderer in the execution line. No stranger indeed.
Yet even before He faced the fateful day where He gave His life for the sins of the world, He was still witness to the attempted execution of a woman caught in the act of adultery. To provide an accurate backdrop to this famous account in John 8:1-12 we need to understand both Mosaic Law and the political situation of Israel in Jesus' day. Like I said in an earlier post we often read our current worldview into the Biblical testimony and in doing so we either miss out on the profundity of what God was trying to say or we misinterpret the point all together.
Ancient Israel: No police, no prisons
Unlike in the United States or in just about any modernized nation, in ancient Israel there were no prisons and there was no police force. Let that one soak in a little bit. The people were the police force and laws were enforced based on the testimony of 2 or 3 citizens. When a crime took place, the citizens were to act like white blood cells towards a virus and were to literally bring the perpetrators to justice. And being that there were no prisons the punishment for at least 16 crimes was the death penalty (the why behind that is another blog for another day).
Take also into consideration the political state that Israel was in. Since 63 B.C. Rome had occupied Israel and as such the Roman government was in control of Israel yet had delegated power to Jewish leaders who would lead on behalf of Rome -- a situation similar to that of the nation of China and Hong Kong. The great Asian port city is not an independent state but one that is granted the right to govern itself by China. The Roman approved Jewish leader of the day was Herod Antipas.
In the context of all this we see Jesus defending a woman caught in the act of adultery. Now we understand that a citizen stoning another citizen for the breaking of Mosaic Law was permitted in Israel under Roman rule because they were being allowed to govern themselves. And not only that, but we understand that God had commanded the people of Israel to bring punishment on all sins that occurred in their city. According to the Law, it was their responsibility to stone the woman.
Jesus the Reformer
This is where we understand the real gravity of what Jesus was doing at the temple court with an angry mob and a guilty sinner. Jesus was redefining the execution of the Law. Jesus took the responsibility for punishing sin from the shoulders of Jewish citizens and placed it solely in the hands of God on the Day of Judgment. This was likely the biggest reformation of the Law that Jesus enacted. Sin was no longer a political/social issue meant to be prevented by social compulsion or punished by a legal system, but was now solely between the individual and God.
And while this was one of Jesus’ most radical reformations it is also one of the most misunderstood. Many misinterpret John 8:1-12 to meaning that Jesus didn’t speak out against sin, didn’t passionately compel people to stop sinning or even that He didn’t care about sin at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. We see that while Jesus was adamantly against social or legal imperatives toward holiness, that He was giving us both a more glorious and a more fearful imperative – human beings live before the very eyes of God and He is both pleased at our righteousness and will justly punish all sin. Whereas sin in the Old Testament might get you stoned or killed, sin in the New Testament will send you to Hell.
The eternal nature of God’s Judgment is one that surely has ramifications for how we live today. Not only should it inspire holy fear in our hearts to receive the Righteousness of Christ Jesus through faith and to walk out that faith in the pursuit of holiness; but it should also teach us to put down our stones. Let us look at those who have sinned and instead of partaking in the social media crusade against them that demands for their chastisement, let us put it into the hands of God. Let’s give it to the One who sees everything in its proper context and actually has the wisdom to administer a justice that is fitting for the offense.
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