Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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“You will die in your sins.”
That’s a grim promise. But Jesus is reading the hearts of the men standing before him. They do not see him as the “way” to God; as the “way” to happiness; or as the “way” to anything good.
Rather, they see him as in the way.
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Jesus is in the way of their religion.
He’s in the way of their egos.
He’s in the way of their convenient lifestyles.
He’s upsetting their plans, flipping tables, and turning their belief system upside down, while dining with tax collectors and prostitutes, forgiving sinners, and breaking the Sabbath.
On Palm Sunday we will see the scribes and Pharisees’ frustrated desire to remove Jesus from their way finally begin to unfold.
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It’s a humbling question to consider, but when do the Lord’s teachings get in our way?
For example, Christ’s command to, “forgive, not seven, but seventy-seven times,” gets in the way of holding a grudge.
His command to, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” gets in the way of judging or condemning other people.
His command to, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” gets in the way of giving into temptation.
His command to, “Follow me,” gets in the way of charting our own destiny or taking the driver’s seat.
As we approach Holy Week, may show the Lord that he is never in the way; rather, he is the way to God, where we discover life in abundance.
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Image credits: (1) Christ Pantocrator, Sinai (2) Blue Letter Bible (3) Juvenal, Hope Radio KCMI 97.1
Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone. And even if I should judge, my judgement is valid, because I am not alone, but it is I and the Father who sent me. Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men can be verified. I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me.” So they said to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the treasury in the temple area. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Jews often referred to God as their light. As the Psalmist proclaims, “the Lord ismy light and my salvation.”
Thus, when Jesus claims in today’s Gospel, “I am the light of the world,” he is claiming to be the God of Israel.”Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” he says.
This verb Jesus uses, “follow,” was understood in four general ways.
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It was often used in the context of a soldier following his captain on long routes through cold winter nights, into the throes of battle, or into strange foreign lands. If they ever got separated, then the soldier would likely die.
Similarly, Christians must stay close to Christ throughout their lives so as to follow him safely into heaven.
To “follow” was also used in the context of a servant accompanying his master. Whenever the master made a request, the servant was to respond joyfully, doing whatever was asked.
Christians are those servants who do what God asks of us without complaint.
The same verb was used in the context of accepting a wise person’s opinion, or in the issuing of civil laws. Much like taking the advice of a doctor, or living as law-abiding citizens, Christians guide their lives by the teachings of Christ.
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“I am the light of the world,” the Lord says. “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
What might it look like for me to follow the Lord as a soldier, servant, student, or friend today?
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Image credits: (1) Common Grace (2) Steam (3) Cornerstone in Somerset, NJ, Christian Church
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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I remember going to my friends’ birthday parties as a kid. While I’d always bring a present for the “birthday boy,” there would often be party favors for the guests: a whistle, a piece of candy, a plastic toy.
One of my favorite toys was the Chinese finger trap. It was a little tube woven out of bamboo. You had to insert your index fingers into either side, then try to pull them out.
But the harder you pulled, the tighter the tube became. The only way to release your fingers was to push them together, loosening the grip of the trap.
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Today’s Gospel reminds me of a Chinese finger trap.
The religious authorities try ensnaring Jesus in a situation that he cannot win.
If Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees not to stone this woman, then he’ll be accused of breaking the Law of Moses, discrediting him.
But if Jesus agrees and tells them to stone her, then they’ll report him to the Roman authorities for breaking civil law; no one but government officials could issue a death warrant.
Like a Chinese finger trap, it appeared there was no way out until the Lord outwitted his opponents by pressing them together, lumping everyone into the same category:
Sinners.
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The fact that this woman is laying in the middle of a circle means these men are ready to barrage her with stones. But this begs the question, “Where is the man?”
If this woman were caught “in the very act,” then the man should also be laying beside her on this bed of dirt, because under the Law of Moses, both are guilty.
But instead of engaging in legal technicalities, the Lord kneels down eye level to this broken, embarrassed woman and begins doodling in the dirt. I’m sure many of us have heard two possibilities of what Christ was doing.
He was either buying time, or writing an account of these men’s own sins.
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But there’s a third option.
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Perhaps the Lord was not only writing an account of these men’s own sins, but also the sins of their entire nation, how all of Israel committed adultery against God in their hearts, breaking his covenant time and time again.
In the Old Testament, covenants involved two parties. Like a marriage, both sides promised to be faithful, lest blood be shed. But Israel repeatedly broke their end of the covenant by worshipping false gods and giving in to the desires of their flesh.
As God reprimands them through the prophet Hosea, “She [Israel] is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her adultery from my face.”
Yet, in spite of his divine anger, God always pursued and forgave his people.
This truth is reinforced as Jesus scribbles his finger in the dirt. As infuriated as he may be, everyone’s sins can be swept away with the stroke of his hand.
If only they repent.
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Realizing they’ve been outwitted, each man slowly drops his stone. I’d imagine the oldest and wisest leave first, while the young “hotheads” hang around for a while longer, bloodthirsty, seething, plotting, waiting.
But eventually, they, too, go home.
“Woman, has no one condemned you?” the Lord questions her. “No one, sir.”
“Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”
This does not mean that she is off the hook; her sentence has merely been deferred. She now must go and amend her life.
As one poet put it:
“How I wish that there was some wonderful place called the Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes, and all our heartaches, and all our poor selfish grief could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door, and never put on again.”
For this woman, Christ is, “the Land of Beginning Again.”
So, does she actually, “go and sin no more”?
We don’t know.
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As with the Prodigal Son, this story remains unfinished, leaving it perpetually in the present.
The fact that we’re not given either the woman or the man’sname means they could be any one of us – anyone who’s either botched their Lenten practice, or has sinned somewhere along the way.
But like dust being swept away, the Lord kneels down to us and says, “Neither do I condemn you.”
Now, “Go, and sin no more.”
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Image credits: (1) Eximius Personnel, Shutterstock (2) The Woman Taken in Adultery, Rembrandt (3) God News Utah
