Christ's Mercy

Previous: Christ Came to Save Sinners.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS POST AS A PODCAST!

This is Day 37 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

According to the Law of Moses, the law God gave to Moses to give to the Israelites, the punishment for adultery is death by stoning. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law knew that Jesus taught mercy and forgiveness. So they sought to trap Him. The trap was simple; bring a woman before Him who had been caught in the act of adultery and ask whether or not she should be stoned. If He said yes, then He would demonstrate His lack of mercy to those very sinners He had been spending so much time with. If He said no, He would prove that He was not from God, because He did not obey God's law.

Jesus appeared to be in quite the rhetorical pickle. But it is hard to outwit someone with the wisdom of God. When asked if the adulterous woman should be stoned to death, Jesus replied, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Ponder this answer for a moment. Jesus affirmed that the punishment for someone caught in the act of adultery was death, but He also demonstrated that everyone is deserving of death for their sins. But in His great mercy, Jesus came to die in our place so that we wouldn't have to.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law did not stone the woman as none of them were without sin and they knew it. They dropped their stones and went away, the oldest first, followed by the younger. Once they had gone Jesus looked up at the woman from where He had been drawing in the sand and asked, "Is no one left to condemn you?"

"No one, my Lord," the woman replied.

"Then neither shall I condemn you," Jesus told her. "Now go and sin no more."

Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save it. He was not interested in seeing this woman stoned to death for her sins no matter how grave they were. He was interested in her turning away from her sin and turning toward God.

It is important to note that Jesus tells her to "go and sin no more." Notice that He didn't simply tell her to go. He told her to sin no more. His saving grace is all for naught when we turn right back to our sins like a dog returning to its vomit. In this story Jesus is not just telling people not to judge others. He is telling them that He is the eternal judge, because He is one without sin. But He is a merciful judge, slow to condemn and full of second and third chances. But a person must turn to Him, and that means turning away from sin. Yes, we fall short, but we must be contrite of heart and ask forgiveness when we do. This is not a license to commit sin, as some have viewed it.

Christ is merciful, more merciful than any man. But we must accept the mercy and grace He offers us.

Next: Christ's Final Days

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!