Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!" Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
"No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."
-John 8:7-11
Some of us say “I do not condemn you” and some say “go and sin no more.” I want to find a way to, as Jesus did, say both. We haven’t done a very good job of finding this harmony. Many of us, as the Pharisees did, see sin and we want to point it out and fight it. I don’t think that this is not a noble thing to do. The Pharisees had good intentions; they wanted to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. It was not wrong of them to hate sin, for God also hates sin. What was wrong in their actions was that they sought to judge. They wanted to rid the world of sin at the expense of banishing others and even killing them. They sought to cast the stone, to condemn.
There is another camp we can find ourselves in. We can become ignorant to sin, watching it occur and never bothering to speak out against it. We forget about or simply ignore the pain and the suffering it is bringing and we only focus on pleasing people by allowing them to continue destroying themselves and others. This side seeks not to change anything but to stay in their safe haven of security.
Both sides essentially lack compassion. Jesus did not. How can we live by these famous words; “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more?” How can we lovingly and truthfully say “I do not condemn you” and at the same time say “Go and sin no more?” And furthermore, how can our actions match this bold statement?
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
"No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."
-John 8:7-11
Some of us say “I do not condemn you” and some say “go and sin no more.” I want to find a way to, as Jesus did, say both. We haven’t done a very good job of finding this harmony. Many of us, as the Pharisees did, see sin and we want to point it out and fight it. I don’t think that this is not a noble thing to do. The Pharisees had good intentions; they wanted to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. It was not wrong of them to hate sin, for God also hates sin. What was wrong in their actions was that they sought to judge. They wanted to rid the world of sin at the expense of banishing others and even killing them. They sought to cast the stone, to condemn.
There is another camp we can find ourselves in. We can become ignorant to sin, watching it occur and never bothering to speak out against it. We forget about or simply ignore the pain and the suffering it is bringing and we only focus on pleasing people by allowing them to continue destroying themselves and others. This side seeks not to change anything but to stay in their safe haven of security.
Both sides essentially lack compassion. Jesus did not. How can we live by these famous words; “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more?” How can we lovingly and truthfully say “I do not condemn you” and at the same time say “Go and sin no more?” And furthermore, how can our actions match this bold statement?