Gently Holding the Balance

Hello Beloved,

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 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 declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

There is so much to explore in this portion of Scripture… Who caught her? Where is the man she was caught in the act with? Why write in the dust? What did Yeshua write? Why leave oldest to youngest?

A short video about what I understand about the text is available. It is also titled Gently Holding the Balance.

What I would like to highlight in this first blog is how perfectly I believe this story holds the beautifully complex yet wonderfully simple message of the Gospel.

In this passage I see the gently held balance of God’s law and His grace.

At no point does Yeshua say that the commands given by God Almighty for His people to live by have suddenly become irrelevant. He does not deny the seriousness of sin.

Instead, the only One there with the right to throw the first stone says: “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” and when she replies that there is no one, He says “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

The Law remains weighty. Holy. Unmovable. The wages of sin are still death… just not hers. The very consequence that sin demanded would be paid – not by denying the Law, but by fulfilling its righteous purpose through the sacrifice of the Messiah. Standing before this woman is the only One who could bear or pardon her sin and He would do both.

Grace did not make the Law redundant. Grace revealed the One who would fulfil it.

And this is where I find myself beginning my journey with Divinely Positioned. In awe of the Holy God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I want to honour God the Father by holding close the almost unbelievable union that exists between law and grace… obedience and love… judgment and mercy.

We serve a holy God. A God who demands holiness and is worthy of reverence and fear. Yet He is the same God who clothed Himself in flesh and came to dwell among us.

The Lion of Judah who will return to judge and rule is also the Lamb who was slain in order that we might escape His wrath.

My prayer is that, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, every thought I share here will acknowledge both sides of this glorious Truth. That I would never speak of grace in a way that makes holiness insignificant. And that I would never speak of holiness in a way that makes grace inaccessible. 

All glory be to God.

Much love

Yvonne