Why are you glad to be set free?

What could you give some one as a gift if they just saved your life?

Let’s rewind our story from John 8:1-11 and look at it from a new vantage point — that of the religious leaders of the day.  It’s good to read the story again, so start there before moving on:

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, "If any one of you is without sin, let him 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."

Sin is a total relationship killer.  Not just your relationship with God (we’ll talk about that more in a second) but all relationships are affected by sin.  Try being connected to your wife — body, heart and mind — after you’ve given in to the sexual temptation of the internet:  Been there done that and it doesn’t work!  Try enjoying the company of your boss or a co-worker after you’ve backstabbed them in front of others or done something wrong that you’re trying to hide:  Been there done that, it doesn’t work!  Try being ‘normal’ around your parents when you’ve totally violated their trust and they just haven’t found out yet:  Been there done that, it just doesn’t work!

Sin is a relationship killer.

The more sinful and guilty a person tends to feel, the less chance there is that he will be a happy, healthy, or law-abiding citizen. He will become a compulsive wrong-doer — Dr. Albert Ellis

"The spiritual life is not hidden inside us. It’s practical–it affects everything we say and do. Living in the presence of God, being in touch with God’s Spirit, being fine-tuned to God’s sensitivities involves us in reflecting God’s concerns for all people, resonating God’s moral tone for the world, embodying God’s will through our living. In fact, the Old and New Testaments indicate that you can tell a person’s relationship with God by looking at his or her relationship with other people." 

-Don Postema, Space for God, 156.

Luke 4:17-19

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
   "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

In this passage, we get to glimpse into a conversation with Jesus and a woman going out to draw water from a well. If you pay close attention, you can hear Jesus’ love, passion, and challenge to this woman. Stop when you get to the part where Jesus says, "Believe Me". Ponder the significance of those words and the implication of those words for our life.

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