Title: Jesus of Hope / John 8:3-11
Contents
John 8:3-11
They brought the woman with such bad intentions and urged Jesus.
Moses commanded these women to be stoned, but what will you say?
In this harsh atmosphere, Jesus was silent and wrote something with his finger on the ground. What did you use? It is unknown, but this action of the Lord must have had the effect of tempo-tempoing their excited hearts. Getting excited with an excited person turns into a big fight. When we get angry, we can slow things down by one tempo.
The Pharisees hurried and kept asking Jesus. Jesus got up and said,
“He who is without sin among you, let him first throw a stone at him.”
These words of the Lord were the words that pierced them. hit it don't By giving a third answer to those who were expecting one or the other, you're bringing the problem back to theirs, not someone else's. It was not the woman's problem, but the problem of whether they were guilty or not, the problem of themselves. All matters of faith are not about anyone else, but about myself, and between me and God. “He who is without sin among you, let him first throw a stone at him.”
These words of Jesus make our hearts pound. If any of those people had boldly confronted them and threw stones, the mob could have piled up piles of stones. But there was no one in life who could brazenly deflect from Jesus' calm and decisive words.
“He who is without sin among you, let him first throw a stone at him.”
At these words of the Lord, no matter how wicked they were, they had no choice but to lay stones. Although they harbored a wicked heart, Jesus saw the image of God still remaining in them. That's why He said to the center of the matter, 'He who is without sin, let him first cast a stone', and in these words, they are also told that they also had a conscience. Their hearts were pierced by the resolute words of the Lord. Therefore, he dropped the rocks he had grabbed onto the ground one by one and pulled them out.
Jesus asked the woman who was left alone.
‘Where are those who accused you? Has no one condemned you?’
‘Lord, there is none.’
“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
That is not to say that the woman is innocent. That woman was an ugly woman. You may have committed more sins in the past. However, the Lord forgave her past and present ugliness and propelled her life into the future with the word of hope. Because the future is more important than the past or the present. The opposite is also true. If you did well in the past and you are doing well today, but you cannot stand right tomorrow, that is not a desirable appearance. Even if I didn't do well yesterday and I'm not cool now, if I can do well tomorrow, that's a lot better. Of course, if you did well yesterday, do well today, and do well tomorrow, there is nothing more to say. In this way, the loving eyes of the Lord who sees people with a heart of hope move us. Because of the Lord's love, we can dare to stand before the Lord today.
A person who has received such love from the Lord has always been transformed into a new life. You can see that this woman too has changed into a completely different life through the Lord's forgiveness and love. It is known that Mary Magdalene was the first woman to meet the resurrected Jesus. There is no direct reference in the Bible that the woman was Mary Magdalene. However, many biblical scholars claim so through various circumstances. According to the law, it is only natural for this woman to be stoned to death. But the Lord did not ask about this woman's past. You didn't even see the current ugliness. You just saw the future. In spite of the wretched years, you have taken the wrong path, but you have seen the image of God still remaining in you. This love of the Lord saved this sinful woman and brought her to a new life.
I do not condemn you; go and sin no more. 8:11
This declaration of forgiveness from the Lord to an ugly woman who was forced to stone to death is astonishing. The more you read this verse, the more it moves your heart. This woman became Mary Magdalene. This name of Mary Magdalene appears in every scene of Jesus' important event. Hope leads to possibility. And that is to create a life of change.
Satan's greatest weapon is despair, discouragement, and a sense of inferiority. Satan always drives people to despair. ‘You can’t. you are nothing Whatever you do, nothing happens. Your faith is bad...' and so on. Such Satan's purpose is to bring man to ruin. In the end, it is a departure from faith and a departure from God.
But God speaks. ‘You can do it. You have the image of God in you. I will heal you. I will build you up. you give me strength You stand up.’ This is the voice of God.
Depending on what kind of sound you hear and follow, the shape of your life will change. It seems to be said every week, but you can see this clearly in the image of the 12 spies who spyed out the land of Canaan. Ten tribes we can't. We are so inclined to the voice of Satan that we are nothing, the voice of unbelief, so we report it in the end. But Joshua Caleb said we can. God is with us. That's how I grabbed hold of the voice of faith and hope. Who eventually took possession of the promised land? They were people who heard the voice of God and went to the land of the future.
Therefore, we Christians should always be people of hope. Just as Jesus sees us through the eyes of hope, we too should read the world with the eyes of hope, see people through the eyes of hope, and interpret ourselves with the eyes of hope.
not enough now But tomorrow will be filled.
The environment is bad now. But I believe it will be renewed day by day.
It's difficult now. nevertheless i have hope
weak now Nevertheless, I believe in the grandeur of tomorrow.
The outer person is weak. But I believe that my heart is being renewed day by day.
That person, my children, my environment, even my beliefs may not be cool now, but they will be renewed and grow. will be changed
Please look at it in hope with such faith and eyes. At that time, our hearts will become like those of Jesus.
Victor E. Frankl describes his experience under the Nazis in his book 'In the death camps'. Dr. Frankl was a doctor at the time, majoring in psychology and psychiatry. Frankl, who was treated as a beast in a Nazi concentration camp just because she was a Jew and was subjected to forced labor, heard a dream from a person named F in the same camp. He said that he heard a voice in his dream telling him to speak his hope, so when he asked when the war would end and liberation would occur, the voice replied that it was May 30th. It was February when I had that dream, and from then on, person F was very full of hope and did the hard work without much effort. However, as the days passed and May 30 drew near, the war ended and there was no sign of liberation, F became increasingly depressed and collapsed from a high fever on the 29th. And he died on the 31st. When hope is gone, that life is also gone.
People of faith are people who live with hope. Because that's how Jesus lived. It is because of the heart of Jesus that we became saved children today. For discouragement kills, and hope saves. Even in the sometimes difficult and difficult reality, sometimes in the midst of lack, we must hold onto the grace of God who builds and strengthens us and runs to the future with faith.
What would the future be like if this woman had been bound by her past, bound by her ugly present, and unable to properly hear the voice of the Lord? This woman received the word of the Lord by faith. 'Yeah, my past was bad. My present is really ugly. But my tomorrow will be different. Let's hold on to the Lord's words of love and forgiveness and move forward anew toward the future.' As he proceeded in hope, his life unfolded completely differently. He became an important figure in the early church.
If a rose was disappointed with its thorny appearance and went on to live a poisonous life, how could it have blossomed into a beautiful flower? She was not disappointed by her thorny appearance, but grew up in hope and became a beautiful flower that is loved. Do not become a person who only looks at the failures and pains of life, your own shortcomings and shortcomings, and gets pricked by thorns. Rather, be a person who has a fragrance by making a beautiful flower like a rose.
The heart of Jesus is the heart of hope. The heart of love that opens the way to the future in hope is the heart of Jesus. Because of this heart, the ugly woman became Mary Magdalene. Because of this Lord's heart, I believe that we are here as Christians despite our shortcomings today. Just like the heart of hope and the heart of the Lord, we pray that our hearts will resemble the heart of the Lord every day with a heart of hope and that our lives will be full of joy.