daily java

Daily Java:

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11)

In most of the translations, this verse is preceded by the annotation: [The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53–8:11]. It is my opinion that many tried to take it out of the Bible and the Lord put it back in.

As the church got older, it got meaner. Almost all churches do. They begin to get rules that are designed to show how holy they are and how strict they can be.

The Foursquare Church is an example of that. The founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel was a woman who was divorced three times. Yet, after she died, the Foursquare Church got to be death on divorce just like all of the other Pentecostal Churches. It was almost as if they were saying, Sure we started this way, but we are as strict and holy as you.

Fortunately, it has come back to a good center on that issue. But it is hard for some people to read what Jesus did and said here and just leave it alone. When they began to put the Bible together, as  it were, the early church leaders looked at this portrayal of Jesus – a sensitive, forgiving, and loving portrayal – and decided that it didn’t fit their views of Jesus.

Their  views of Jesus was that of a strong moral guy, one who brooked no sin, one who would not put up with people like this woman, one who disapproved of things like she did and people like her.

This is in spite of the fact that over and over, it was said of him that he ate with sinners and associated with those no one else would associate with. The desire to make him like they wanted him to be was so strong that they were even willing to twist the scriptures to make it so.

So they tried to take it out. And God put it back in.

If God is big enough and powerful enough to create light out of darkness, he is big enough and powerful enough to make his word like he wants it, no matter what people may do.

And this fits Jesus to a tee, whatever that means. He cared for more for people than he cared for condemnation. He even said he came to save, not condemn.

This passage shows that desire strongly.