"Mask Off!"

ADULTEROUS WOMAN Hypothetical? Not in our Church – it would never happen would it.... Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. ‘ Teacher,’ they said to Jesus, ‘this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?’ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger, shaking his head disdainfully as he did so, every now and again looking across at her. She was weeping uncontrollably and couldn’t look Jesus in the eye. They kept demanding an answer, so feeling a little pressurised, he stood up again, looking down on her and said, ‘This woman has sinned, her accusers have come and openly told me about it, so we are now going to stop her from meeting with the other women at the temple and she will not be allowed to dance before the Lord in the temple until we can decide what else can be done with her. This will be a sign to the people of God that God will not tolerate such behaviour, and put a stop to her infecting others with her sin’. Everyone who knew this woman, especially the womenfolk, concerned that their husbands could be next in line to be enticed by her womanly wiles, nodded sternly, shouted in agreement, and then threw their stones at her anyway.... When other townsfolk heard this, they all joined in throwing their stones (forgetting the little girl that had grown up among them, forgetting their sister, until the battered woman’s bloody body lay limp and lifeless on the floor...then they all legged it!) Jesus walked away saddened that this woman had not fulfilled her destiny but knowing that he has kept up the image of the Temple, avoided upsetting the Pharisees and taught an important lesson on adultery. Now, for those of you who know the story of the ‘adulterous woman’ in John 8:1-11, you know that the above is not what Jesus did. And it isn’t what Jesus would do now! So why are we? What fires me up? People who live lukewarm lives – hypocrites! Or is it those who like to tell everyone they are living lukewarm lives - being hypocrites, but don’t explain everything until after they’ve failed, this is not the blueprint of Jesus.. In fact, we often teach high ideas that are far too difficult to understand. We need to call a spade a spade and talk about sex, and other worldly matters. God put sex in the design of a relationship (marriage between a man and woman). Be a preventative of sin not an after sales rubbish customer services rep. The service we offer says ‘we are not here to help so get lost’. God comes with a warranty to fix you no matter what the charge, but then we, the church sometimes like to charge for our ministry and tell people that there were some little clauses in the contract that they just forgot to tell you about!................................. God doesn’t knock down, he builds up, he doesn’t paint over the cracks, he dismantles gently and rebuilds. He loves us as we are but too much to leave us as we are.