Behind his amazing display of grace and truth toward the woman caught in adultery, we learn that Jesus accepts us as we are, but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are. He brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners—including you and me.
The Journey: John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Not too long after my wife and I had moved into a home we had just purchased, our next door neighbor’s live-in girlfriend asked me, “what do you do?” I told her that I was a pastor. So she said, “Oh, I’m looking for a church…one that doesn’t get all weird and condemning about sin. What about yours?”
I said, “My church—hey, uh, uh, yeah, we accept everybody just the way they are—unless you’re shacking up with someone!”
No—I didn’t say that! But it was an awkward moment for me as I scrambled for a way to minimize the offense of the gospel to a person who was far from God and build a bridge that might lead us at some point into a spiritual conversation. The truth was, I didn’t need to offer condemnation by my words, in the tone of my voice or with my body language. I didn’t need to convince her of sins, she was already dealing with that herself. Besides, it is not my job—it is the work of the Holy Spirit to do that. (John 16:8). Nor would Jesus have done that. Remember, in this very same book, right after the most famous verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16, Jesus goes on to say,
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)
But let’s keep in mind, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, that Jesus didn’t come to tell the world that everything was quite alright! Obviously, the world needed a savior—that’s why Jesus came. People need a savior because sin holds people captive. To keep the bad news about sin and the good news about a Savior from them would be the most hateful thing we could ever do.
So how do we bridge that gap between the love of a redeeming God and the repulsiveness of the sinner’s sin? Grace and truth, that’s how. That is what Jesus perfectly modeled. Take, for instance, his interaction with the adulterous woman in John 8. Picture the scene: This sinful woman is standing in the center of a circle, surrounded by self-righteous religious leaders who want her stoned. Imagine her humiliation, caught in the very act of adultery—a private act now a very public sin. Nothing can hide her shame—and make no mistake, sexual sin is shameful, degrading to the people involved, destructive to innocent families it affects and odious to God.
This woman is standing before Jesus, exposed, humiliated, hot tears dripping to the sand. She has been used by men all of her life, and now she will pay for it with her life. She sees the stones; she knows her guilt. Now, all eyes are on Jesus—what will he do?
After some time, Jesus speaks and says to those who want her executed, “Ok, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” And with that bombshell, one-by-one, from oldest to youngest, they walked away, leaving only Jesus and this sinful woman face-to-face. What now? Would Jesus give her a good moral tongue lashing. No, he just gently asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”
She replied, “No one, Sir.”
At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, totally, graciously and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.
Perhaps that is why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them…and still is! C.S. Lewis observed, “Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God; the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.”
What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: A whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace!
Take some time today to memorize and meditate on these two very important verses from John 1:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
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