“Honor your father and mother” is one of the Ten Commandments. It seems a bit strange to me when you look at it set along side the other commandments.
Why is this so important? Why, because parents have been given such a high and worthy charge – a living soul has been placed into their care.
God has a job for mothers… the giving of a very precious gift in the name of God And he gives this work to broken people… Amazing!
Today we meet a broken woman
The woman taken before Jesus had been caught in the very act of adultery - Not exactly the normal Mother’s day text is it? But why not... Here is a woman who was obviously setup and treated like an animal. There is no consideration for her at all – while the man is left to go free.
Jesus had great compassion and heartfelt care for the women in his life - His mother, Mary at the cross with John, the woman who washed his feet and used her hair as a towel, and here, the woman taken in adultery.
Two different views of this woman
The crowd saw her as damaged and worthless.
Jesus saw her as damaged and valuable.
It’s All in the Seeing
John 8:1-5 (NCV)
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 But early in the morning he went back to the Temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat and taught them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They forced her to stand before the people.
It’s All in the Seeing
John 8:1-5 (NCV)
4 They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught having sexual relations with a man who is not her husband. 5 The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?”
It’s All in the Seeing
A Damaged Soul
She was no one special. She was no one important – no one of any consequence at all. A woman of low birth, of no value to society – just a woman – without even a name worth remembering.
She may have been a prostitute. Perhaps she was simply a lost cause – a woman so hungry for unconditional love and unreserved acceptance that she would sleep with most any man that said the right words or paid the right price.
She was the talk of the town, but nobody talked to her. She was lovely, but she was unloved. I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re “easy”. I know it it’s calloused and crass to use this term in speaking of this woman, but it’s probably accurate.
A Guilty Sinner
It was early morning. A bright new day had come when the door of a dingy room was thrown open hard. It bounced against the wall and young strong thugs – employed by the righteous right – reached for her. They pulled her from the bed and threw a dirty robe at her. And then they drug her into the streets – leaving the man behind.
She fought and scratched and screamed but despite her unwillingness, she came out from the gray light of the dark, hidden, room into the early morning light of the streets of Jerusalem. Her eyes blinked in the full light of day. She was young and worn. Her clothes were dirty and torn with uncombed hair and eyes red first from fear, then anger, and finally tears. Her arms, legs, and face bruised by the grasping hands of uncaring men as they yanked her and drug her and pulled her along.
And behind her – a mob came followed – taunting, questioning, pointing, staring, and laughing. She could say nothing in her defense… because she was caught and humiliated. She was guilty.
A Worthless Woman
Here she lies in the dirt – A broken, bleeding, and worthless human being – under the curse of the law and self-righteous crowd. There was the weight of death upon her head.
The crowd looked at her as if she were a piece of rotten meat covered with grubs. She was worthless. Broken. Useless. Nothing.
A woman who was caught in sin – A woman who was forced to stand before the people and then humiliated – A woman under sentence of death.
Damaged, Guilty, and Worthless
If only I could change my past…
Some of you here on this beautiful Mother’s Day know what it’s like not to be able to get past your past. You daily live with the constant ache of regret. Thoughts of your previous mistakes and sins still haunt you and you repeat the mantra, "If only …" "If only I’d done this. If only I hadn’t done that. Life would be as I have always dreamed."
Because you can’t get past your past you suffer from depression and fear. You have a constant sense of failure. You lack joy or an awareness of purpose.
Emotionally you often feel numb. Spiritually, you’re cold. In those rare moments when you’re honest with yourself, you find that you secretly hate others who have dreams and goals and the ability to achieve them. Worst of all is this nagging sensation that your life is on hold and you’re waiting to really live.
Adapted from Susan Wilkinson’s book Getting Past Your Past (Multnomah Pub.), 44.
Sarah Vogt was a rotten teenager
She was not your average spoiled, know-it-all, not-going-to-clean-my-room, getting-an-attitude-because-I’m-15 teenager.
Her Past was filled with hatred…
Listen to her testimony in her own words, “I was a manipulative, lying, acid-tongued monster, who realized early on that I could make things go my way with just a few minor adjustments. The writers for today’s hottest soap opera could not have created a worse "villainess." A few nasty comments here, a lie or two there, maybe an evil glare for a finishing touch, and things would be grand. Or so I thought.
Since I was perceptive enough to get some people to bend my way, it amazes me how long it took to realize how I was hurting so many others. Not only did I succeed in pushing away many of my closest friends by trying to control them; I also managed to sabotage, time and time again, the most precious relationship in my life: my relationship with my mother.”
My mother, who gave birth to me at age 38 against her doctor’s wishes, would cry to me, "I waited so long for you, please don’t push me away. I want to help you!"
I would reply with my best face of stone, "I didn’t ask for you! I never wanted you to care about me! Leave me alone and forget I ever lived!"
I was mean and manipulative, trying to get my way at any cost. Sneaking out of the house at all hours of the night just to prove I could do it. Juggling complex lies that were always on the verge of blowing up in my face.
Ironically, I wish I could say I had been heavy into drugs… accounting for the terrible, razor-sharp words that came flying from my mouth. However, that was not the case. My only addiction was hatred; my only high was inflicting pain.
Her Present was filled with Pain
She would ask herself why the need to hurt? And why the people that she cared about the most? Why the need for all the lies? Why the attacks on her mother? She would drive herself mad with all the why’s until one day, it all exploded in a suicidal rage.
After an unsuccessful attempt on her own life (she jumped from a vehicle moving at 80 miles per hour) one thing stood out more than her sneakers with no shoe laces. She didn’t want to die.
Listen to her testimony, “…I did not want to inflict any more pain on people to cover up what I was truly trying to hide myself: self-hatred. Self-hatred unleashed on everyone else. I saw my mother’s pained face for the first time in years - - warm, tired brown eyes filled with nothing but thanks for her daughter’s new lease on life and love for the child she waited 38 years to bear.
Then came her first encounter with unconditional love.
“Despite all the lies I had told her, she still loved me. I cried on her lap for hours one afternoon and asked why she still loved me after all the horrible things I did to her. She just looked down at me, brushed the hair out of my face and said frankly, "I don’t know."
A kind of smile penetrated her tears as the lines in her tested face told me all that I needed to know. I was her daughter, but more important, she was my mother.”
From an article by Sarah J. Vogt from Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul Copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Kimberly Kirberger
Maybe you were a rotten teenager
Unconditional love is the most precious gift we can give as parents. Being forgiven for the past is the most precious gift we can receive as children.
You may be where Sarah Vogt was. You may have had an abortion… or two… and today you deeply regret it. You may have been “easy” and today you feel damaged and broken. You may have had an affair. You may be messing around with someone you shouldn’t be messing around with today.
You may have indulged in parties, drinking and drugs… And today you hope no one ever finds out some of the places you’ve been.
Jesus loves… Unconditionally
Jesus gave this woman unconditional love and it gave her the opportunity to change…
Remember Mr. Rogers Neighborhood? Some of you do?
What made that show so popular for kids?
He looked at them. He talked with them. He accepted them the way they were.
That’s powerful stuff.
Jesus loves you exactly the same way
When she left the street that day – once filled with a howling mob – now empty – she had the opportunity to become a woman of value and virtue
Jesus gave her unconditional love with a blessing… Go and sin no more
By all standards of decency she was a tainted woman. Yet her life proves a truth that needs to be shouted for all to hear, especially in our modern times:
Your past does not determine your future, your choices do.
What became of this woman?
No one knows
I’d like to think she became an extraordinary mother – one like Sarah Vogt’s mom
You see – The most important job of a mother (and a father) is the giving of gift of unconditional love to their children in the name of God
Unconditional Love is God’s Gift to Us All
Mother’s are supposed to be good at unconditional love!
Two boys were fighting over a cookie. Mom came in the room and said, “I’ll fix that! – I’ll eat it!”
The boys looked at her with concern until the youngest suddenly relaxed and said, “No you won’t – who ever heard of a selfish mother.”
God has given us the task of being a source of unconditional love…
