Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 21 March 2010 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 43:16-21 and John 8:1-11.


Dear God, open our ears and hearts to hear your words. Draw us closer to you, to your will and to your love. Amen.

The gospel story that we heard this morning was about a woman caught in adultery. I assume this is a quite a familiar passage to many of you. Jesus was put in a test and dilemma again by the Scribes and Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders. They wanted to make a case to charge Jesus. What do we learn from Jesus and from this event of ‘the woman caught in adultery’ and when Jesus was asked to judge?

1 The essence of the law of God
The essence of the law is to love and restore justice, not to manipulate and judge people. The understanding of law between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees is different. The Scribes and Pharisees attempted to use the law against the woman as a means to test and trap Jesus. The motive of the religious leaders was to serve their own interests. By getting rid of Jesus, they were able to maintain their power and status.

Let us look at Jesus. For Jesus, he took law of God differently. He regarded ‘love is the real fulfillment of law.’ (Math 5:43; 22:36-40; Rome 13:9-10; Galatians 5:14) Therefore Jesus did not use the law to condemn people in general, and the woman in this particular situation. Let us make some cross reference to other gospel reading to help us to understand further the law of God:
Matthew 22:36-40 a lawyer asked Jesus a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to him, ‘you shall love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets.”

The essence of this law is to love and bring a new life. The purpose of the law was to teach us how to love, and the commandments were a result of God’s love.

On the other hand, as all we human beings are not perfect. The law somehow reveals our brokenness, our limitations, and our sins. Human beings are sinful. God loves human beings so much that s/he created the Law to guide us to live in her/his love and freedom.

As Jesus had a clear mind of what the Law of God was all about, he was very wise indeed to respond to the Pharisees’ challenges. He had successfully put the challenge back to them. He did not ask the question straight away. He made a suggestion: ‘let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her.’ When the religious leaders heard it, they went away one by one.

When we face challenge, we need knowledge, wisdom and a being of calmness to respond wisely.

One more area for us to think about the law is, the law is supposed to be used for justice. But quite an irony, the Scribes and Pharisees attempted to use the law for an unjust cause. They wanted to use the law to make a charge against Jesus who committed no sins and no crimes.

When legal system is considered in our contemporary world, we need to be aware if our law and mechanism of the law enforcement are serving social justice, or whether the law is being manipulated by the professionals for their own sake.

2 Consider the law from a justice perspective
Let’s go back to the story for a while. The woman was accused of adultery and should be condemned. But why was there just her? According to the account, the woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Therefore, it must be committed by two persons, right? When we assume this was a heterosexual relationship, where was the man then? Why did the scribes and the Pharisees not bring the man to the Temple for judgment at the same time? The status of woman in ancient time was low. This could be one of the reasons they brought this woman and let the man go. Moreover, this woman was taken as a tool by the Scribes and Pharisee to trap Jesus. Somehow, this woman caught in adultery represents a group of people in the society who are treated unfairly because of discrimination and stereotypes.

From what the religious leaders had done, we have to examine if we ourselves and our society judge people with double standard? Do we and our society take the most vulnerable and least defendable as scapegoat for our social problem? People who are homosexual have been accused of breaking the family system without challenging some unloving heterosexual marriages. New Immigrants have also been accused of taking away jobs from the local people and lead to the drop of wage level. Jesus refused to condemn the woman implied a possibility that he confronted the Scribes and the Pharisees’ double standard and unjust treatment against this woman.

3 Women: from self denial to self acceptance
As said earlier, the woman caught in adultery represented a group of people in society who are treated unfairly because of discrimination and stereotypes. Living with this label for a long time, this group of vulnerable people may deny themselves and reject their own identity. Jesus, however, was kind and compassionate to this group of people. His kind attitude was reflected from his encounter with the woman.

Jesus had demonstrated full respect to this woman. Jesus affirmed her by saying ‘neither do I condemn you. Go your way, from now on do not sin again’. First of all, Jesus acknowledged fully of the woman’s autonomy to go her way. Jesus recognized the woman’s autonomy and intrinsic value as she was also created in God’s holy image. Therefore, she did not need to lead a life according to other people’s expectation or stayed in the bad memory of the past. Jesus’ response implied that she should move on to a new stage in her life. Jesus cared for her future to lead a full life with dignity and respect. When Jesus said to her ‘from now on do not sin again’, we must take note of what Jesus referred to regarding ‘sin’. Jesus was obvious not legalistic. He knew well that the essence of the law is to love and practice justice. The law of God is to guide his/her people to lead a life in full, and walk in a righteous and godly way. Therefore we have reason to believe that Jesus did not only emphasize on the woman’s behavior. Instead, we can understand ‘sin’ in a more theological sense. Sin from the Greek word, has different and wider meaning. Sin can mean loss of focus, stay away from the center, being isolated and alienated in relationships. For theologian Paul Tillich, he defined sins as a state of alienation with God. Stay away from the love of God is sin.

Jesus did not condemn the woman and saved her from being stoned to death. Jesus had demonstrated his sympathy to this woman. He wanted her to lead a life in love and in freedom. Therefore, when Jesus referred the woman not to sin again, it could be interpreted as he wanted the woman to make a change for her life. She would not return to a state of alienation with herself and others. She would love herself and affirm herself.

The message of ‘sin no more’ by Jesus is thus a message for all women and those who have been discriminated and judged by both the society but by their own self. Because of Jesus’ compassionate love and justice for all people, no one should stay in a sinful state of isolation and exclusion. Instead, all people should stay close to God and to themselves. They have to embrace their lives and make it full by the grace of God.

From a societal level, ‘sin no more’ is a message to all people in a society that we should not discriminate anyone but build up a just system for everybody disregarding their age, gender, race, class, marital status, sexual orientations and so on.

From a theological point of view, ‘sin no more’ is to stay close to God. All God’s children should return to the Lord of Divine. This is also a reminder for believers to practice the essence of the law, God’s commandment. The essence of God’s commandment is to love God, love our neighbor as ourselves. Through Jesus Christ we are able to reconnect with God. In Christ we are a new creation, everything old is passed and everything becomes new. To do a new thing is thus an everyday calling to each one of us who claim ourselves as children of God and disciple of Christ.

In the scripture reading this morning, Prophet Isaiah has given us a great message of God’s assurance. In Isaiah 43:16-21, it says ‘God will do new things for his people: a way in the wilderness; and rivers in the desert. God gives direction to people who may be lost; God gives water to nourish his/her people for an abundant life. Our God, through human history and through our personal life path, s/he has been participating in it with love and patience.’ Let us affirm once again of this faith and entrust God for his/her almighty. God’s love to humanity and God’s participation to bring his/her people out of bondage and lead a life of freedom is always God’s will in the past, at present and in future. Jesus Christ our Lord has demonstrated fully of God’s mercy and full presence amongst us in this world.

To do a new thing and sin no more is our challenge today. The challenge is cultivate a fulfilling life that benefits ourselves and the people around us. By doing this with all our heart and mind, we are able to bring glory to our God.

Closing Prayer:
Thank you Lord for Jesus’ embracing love and uplifting spirituality. Help us Lord to be aware of our bias and stereotypes towards others. Guide us to lead a life of love and truth in our God. Amen.