Wednesday, March 17

Psalm 51:6
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Ask God to help you see truth today – the truth about yourself and the truth about God!

Read:
John 8:6-8
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.

The men in this story were very religious – but their motives were not righteous. The brought this woman before Jesus not because they cared about her sin – but because they wanted to use her to trap Jesus into making a mistake for which they could discredit him.
Furthermore – where is the man who, by definition, HAD to be involved with this woman (since she was “caught in the act” of adultery – there had to be a man involved)? Some have even suggested that these “religious men” had set this woman up to be caught!

In any case, Jesus knew their hearts.
He knew that while they enjoyed “catching” this woman in her sin – they were hypocrites in regard to their own sin. He knew that while they fancied themselves as righteous men – they were full of pride and hatred.

While it is unclear what Jesus actually wrote on the ground, scholars have suggested that perhaps he was scratching in the dirt the sins of the men who stood before him – or perhaps even the names of the men who had committed the same sin of which they accused this woman! In any case, it is very telling when Jesus stood up and challenged them – they all dropped the stones they had hoped to cast at the woman and slithered away.

Here’s the question for each on of us today: Have we ever been more interested in the sins of others – than in the condition of our own hearts? Have we ever been quick to judge the behavior of others and slow to confront our own wrong attitudes and actions?

Ask God to use this story to refocus your heart – to allow you to offer grace to others and to invite God’s correction in your own life.

Brian Coffey