Ashamed No More Series

Max Lucado, in his book Facing Your Giants, talks about Rogers Cadenhead, who upon the death of Pope John Paul II, registered www.BenedictXVI.com as a new internet domain name before the new Pope's name was even announced.

Now, the right domain name can prove pretty lucrative. For example, another name, PopeBenedictXVI.com, surpassed $16,000 on eBay. Cadenhead, however, didn't want money. A Catholic himself, he was happy for the church to own the name. He would give it to them without asking for any money in return. He quipped, “I'm going to try and avoid angering 1.1 billion Catholics and my grandmother.”

He did want something else in return, though. In exchange for the name, Cadenhead sought:

1. One of those hats;

2. A free stay at the Vatican hotel;

3. Complete absolution, no questions asked, for the third week of March 1987.

Makes you wonder what happened that week, doesn't it? It may even remind you of a week in your own life (Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants, W Publishing Group, 2006, p.131-132; www.PreachingToday.com).

Is there something of which you are ashamed? If there is, what do you do with that shame? What do you do with your regrets? What do you do with the embarrassment of your past? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 8, John 8, where Jesus deals with a woman and her accusers, who publicly humiliated her in the temple courts.

John 8:1-2 They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them (ESV).

The Feast of Tabernacles had just ended, so Jesus takes advantage of the crowds still lingering around. John 8:20 says Jesus was teaching in the treasury of the temple, which was on one side or other of the court of the women. The law prevented women from getting any closer to the sanctuary than this court. So it was a very public place, a place where men and women could gather together.

John 8:3-4 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery (ESV).

Must have been quite a show, watching a woman having sex with a man she’s not married to. The scribes and Pharisees don’t realize it yet, but they just incriminated themselves. Even so, they go on to condemn the woman.

John 8:5-6a Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him (ESV).

If Jesus said, “Yes, go ahead and stone her,” He would have discredited Himself with the crowd, who loved His message of grace and forgiveness. The very people He came to reach, the sinners, would turn away from Him. On the other hand, if Jesus said, “No, refrain from stoning her,” He would be violating the Law of Moses and could be subject to arrest.

The religious leaders set a trap for Jesus with this dilemma, because no matter how He answered, either the crowd or the authorities would condemn Him. They thought they had Jesus trapped, but Jesus springs the trap on them.

John 8:6b-8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground (ESV).

There is a lot of speculation as to what Jesus wrote on the ground. Some say He was writing His sentence as judges did in His day before pronouncing judgment. Others say He was sketching out the scene as they described it, which incriminated them. Still others say Jesus was just doodling in the sand to give the woman’s accusers time to think about their self-incriminating accusation.

Whatever it was, Jesus trapped the woman’s accusers when He said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

You see, the Law required that the eyewitness to the capital offense cast the first stone (Deuteronomy 17:7). So the one who picked up the first stone incriminated himself as a participant in the adultery. Either he was in bed with the woman, or he gawked in lust as it took place. After all, they had already admitted that they caught her in the very act (John 8:4).

So to pick up the first stone was an admission of guilt, and the Law required that the man also be stoned along with the woman (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). When the religious leaders set a trap for Jesus, He sprung the trap on them. What could they do but walk away.