Grace and Justice: The Encounter with Compassion

One of the most difficult things for any of us at any time is to experience authentic empathy, that is, to try to project ourselves into the skin of somebody else. And try to feel what they are feeling and to think what they are thinking. And yet in the New Testament, we are called, as part of Christian virtue, to weep with those who weep, and to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to be people who manifest a spirit of compassion. [00:04:43]

If there is any sense in which the Christian is called to imitate God it is at this point, to be people of compassion, because were it not for the compassion of God, none of us could possibly stand in his presence. And literally, the word "compassion" comes from the prefix "com," which means "with," and from the root "passio," which means to "feel." It has the intensity of passion. What is passion, but intense feeling. And compassion is entering into the feelings of another person. [00:05:27]

We are not exercised or offended if somebody says that we should show compassion for somebody in pain or in great suffering, and try to feel what they are feeling, but sometimes we resist the idea of having a sense of compassion for someone who's involved in gross and heinous sin. We don't want to feel sorry for somebody who is wicked. And yet if there is any place where we should have the ability to have like passions, it is with the wicked, it should be easier for us to relate to the wicked than it is to the virtuous, because of who we are. [00:06:08]

The scribes and the Pharisees were the theologians and the clergy of the day. They prided themselves in their morality, they prided themselves in their singular virtue. And they were disgusted when they came upon a woman involved in the very act of adultery. And they used this occasion to put Christ himself on trial, because that's the dynamic of what is going on here, which I will get at in a few moments, but I don't want us to hurry over this matter of how that woman felt. [00:07:34]

They weren't interested at all in this woman, in her guilt, in her sin, in her punishment, or in her rehabilitation; that's not why they dragged her into the public square to humiliate her. They were using this woman to put a test on Jesus. What was the test? Remember that the Jewish nation at this point in her history was under Roman subjugation. The Roman government ruled over Palestine. [00:11:36]

The law of Moses prescribed the death penalty for adultery; the Roman law didn't. So they dragged this woman to trap Jesus. And they throw the woman at his feet and say, "Okay. Give us your verdict. The law says to stone her, the law of Moses. What do you say?" Do you see the trap? If he says, "Stone her," what are they going to do? They are going straight to the government authorities, they are going straight to Pontius Pilate, and they are going to say, "This guy's a rebel, he's an insurrectionist, he's out here advocating the overthrow of the Roman government and the Roman legal system by saying that we should execute this lady who was caught in adultery." [00:13:31]

He took a stand. He didn't just try to dodge the issue and avoid both horns of the dilemma. He sided with one over the other. And what did he say? "Let the law of Moses prevail, stone her. That's what the law says, she's guilty, no doubt about it, stone her." But then he proceeded to appoint her executioners, and listen to how he does that. "This they said testing him that they might have something of which to accuse him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he didn't hear them. [00:14:52]

And so when they continued asking him, he raised himself up and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.' And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last, until Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst." [00:15:41]

There was a person in that crowd who was without sin, and who was qualified to carry out the law of Moses, to execute the law to its fullest measure. And had he done it, beloved, he would have been acting justly. Our Lord loved the law of Moses. And Jesus was not playing light with the grievous sin of this woman. Had Jesus, after everyone had dispersed, said to this woman, "Where are your accusers?" And then she said, "Well, nobody, Lord." He could have said, "Uh uh uh, there is one. I accuse you. You are guilty, and you must die." [00:19:02]

And he said to this woman, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." It's embarrassing for any adulterer or adulteress to come face to face with Jesus. It's embarrassing for any thief, any embezzler, any liar, any criminal, any sinner to come face to face with Jesus. The only way we can stand before Jesus is if Jesus says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." [00:20:43]

Jesus did not minimize this woman's sin. He didn't say it wasn't a sin. His statement, "Go and sin no more." can only have sense made out of it if we understand what Jesus is saying is that what she had done was a sin, and He's telling her, "Don't do it anymore." And yet He didn't make her not doing it again a necessary condition before He would forgive her. The moment she confessed her sin and humbled herself before Christ, He exercised grace. [00:21:43]

That woman's story is my story. I'm not a woman, and it's your story. It's the only way we can ever stand before Christ, face to face; Is on the basis of His compassion, His mercy, and His grace. [00:22:24]