Drug Before His Feet

My land-lady Marie has a vege food store that I’m taking care of while she’s away in California. About a little while back, 2 freezers went down and $700 worth of vege food was lost. I called Marie and explained the situation to her.

A few days ago I was led in prayer to scrutinize my actions. I reached the painful and frightening conclusion that I needed to bring all of the facts to light for Marie. Right when I learned that there was anything wrong with the freezer, had I diligently worked to monitor it and communicate with Marie, much food probably could have been saved. My parents were here, and my dad, when we realized the freezer wasn’t freezing the food as it should, turned it to its coldest setting. I figured that would take care of the situation for the time being, and that there was no need to bug Marie about it immediately. Like I said, a few days ago I realized my actions were wrong, and that had I acted more diligently, who knows how much of the $700 loss could have been spared. Thoughts started running frighteningly through my head that night, how am I going to tell Marie? The fear of rejection set in, she’s going to be furious, or at least think horribly of me. I’m going to lose my reputation of being a responsible young man, and people are going to see me as negligent. I’m going to have to compensate the San Marcos church for the money that they lost. I went to sleep with those thoughts in my head, not looking forward to the morning but knowing that regardless of the outcome I had to do what was right. I’ll get back to my story later.

In the middle of the night, they burst through the door, met with gasps of horror by the one-night stand lovers who thought that nobody knew what they were doing. They storm up to the woman and pry the adulteress away from her one-night stand married lover, wrap a sheet around her, and drag her through town to one of their homes. “Tomorrow” they say, “we’re taking you to the one called Jesus. You know what Moses said to do to adulterers, we’ll see what He says.” It seems like all hopes of a promising life are coming unglued. Even if you’re a cold hearted man, when faced with death uncertainty and fear are bound to creep in. The uncertain events of the next day loom heavy on her mind. She’s messed up. There’s no getting around it! She was caught in the very act. Feelings of death and condemnation crept into her heart. This is it. What have I done with my life? I’ve told myself that someday I would change, get my life together, really do it right, but now all she feels is despair. At the very least her reputation is going to be absolutely drug through the mud, and she knows that she deserves it. Everyone is bound to turn against her when they learn the truth, when the truth about who she is comes to light. She cannot defend herself; she knows she’s defenseless. What can she possibly do? What hope is there? Moses offered no hope to adulterers. They were to be stoned. She can’t sleep. She tosses and turns.

Read John 8:2-5 (story of the Adultress woman drug before Jesus) These men had beaten her down, demoralized her, condemned her, and degraded her. They’d brought her into the middle of an on-looking crowd and mercilessly exposed her vulnerable fresh wound. And then they challenged Jesus…the Law of Moses said to stone her, what do you say.” It’s kind of what the Law does to us. We’re sitting around, minding our own business, and we feel moved to pick up the Bible and start reading. Well, that would be a good thing to do, God likes it when I read the Bible, and I usually feel better after I do, so we pick up the Bible and start reading, and we get to some hard passages; they’re hard not because we don’t understand them, but because when we compare our lives with what’s written we know that we’re not living them. We start looking for a way out. “Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the earth.” Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death.” We think about putting the Bible down, but know that that won’t make the truth go away. “If you’re angry with your brother you’re subject to judgment, and if you call your brother a fool you’re in danger of the fires of hell. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. “You shall have no other gods before me.” We really start to get worried. Whatever law it is that grabs us, we feel like we’ve just lost control of our lives, and there’s nothing we can do about it. The more we seek, the more the law beats us down. You probably know what I’m talking about. We’ve just sat down for a nice reading of the Scriptures, but the law has grabbed us, beat us, accused us, and dragged us before Jesus.