Neither Do I Condemn You

This essay was originally written for a class at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute.  After keeping it for several months, I decided it to polish and share it.

     "Let me go!  Just let me go and I'll never do it again, I promise!" I wailed.  But the man had an iron grip on my elbow and only pushed me along faster as I tried to break free. He was marching me to certain judgment from this Galilean rabbi, and I knew that by the law of Moses I was condemned to death by stoning.  I'd heard that this rabbi had forgiven others of their sins, but He was also righteous.  Surely, His mercy wouldn't quite reach to cover my sins.  
     It was just this morning that anyone seemed to care about my behavior.  Before, I was just another woman who slipped out and found intimacy in the arms of a man who was not my husband.  Now, the religious leaders were trying to entrap this Jesus in His teachings, and I was merely a casualty to their agenda.  Somehow, the man I'd been with seemed to be of no interest to them; as he was nowhere to be seen.
     Arriving at the temple, my captor shoved me into the middle of the crowd, and began loudly proclaiming to Jesus the sin I'd been caught in.  Certain of condemnation and subsequent death, I hung my head in shame.  I heard the man who had drug me here finish the account of my adultery and remind the Rabbi of Moses' law that commanded I be stoned.
      I couldn't believe my eyes!  Jesus' finger was at my feet, writing in the dust!  What on earth was this all about?  He completely ignored the accusations against me, as if they weren't even being spoken.  Keeping His eyes on the ground, He wasn't even looking down on me in condemnation.  The crowd of religious leaders grew livid at His disregard of them and demanded again that I be condemned.
     Finally, He stood up and looked around.  My heart sank.  Surely now would come the death sentence I knew I deserved.  He spoke, "All right, hurl the stones at her until she dies.  But only he who never sinned may throw the first!" (John 8:7 TLB).  Bracing myself, I waited for the first stone to come flying.
     It never came.  The only thing I heard was the quiet footsteps of one man after another slinking away as Jesus continued His writing in the dirt.  Each of the self-righteous religious leaders knew they had no right to cast that first stone at me.  Guilty, and condemned by their own consciences, they slipped away one by one until none were left to condemn me.  
     When no one was left but Jesus and I, He finally stood up and looked me in the eyes.  I quaked in fear of what this one innocent Man might say or do, but the love and compassion I saw in His eyes immediately calmed my fears.  He gently asked me, "Where are your accusers?  Didn't even one of them condemn you?" (John 8:10 TLB).
     "No, sir.  They all left." I replied shyly.
     "Well, neither do I condemn you.  Go and live an innocent life free of sin."  He said, smiling at me.  
     Wait, what?!  No condemnation, when I was deserving of death?  Confused, but grateful and free, I walked away to start my new life.  
     

Broken Cisterns

Every time I read Jeremiah 2, verse 13 pretty much jumps at me:

“My people have done two evil things.
    They turned away from me,
    and they dug their own water cisterns.
I am the source of living water;

    those cisterns are broken and cannot hold water." [erv]

I have to think, what are the broken cisterns that I dig for myself?  What is it that I use to try to fill the thirst inside rather than the Living Water?  What do I chase after to bring me fulfillment rather than Jesus?  

The last phrase says alot, I think...no matter what our "cisterns" are, they are broken and cannot hold water.  They will never satisfy, because whatever happiness/relief/etc they bring won't last.  It can't last, it will only make us need more, and more, and more in an attempt to fill the emptiness inside.  That's how addictions work.  They might make us feel happy or satisfied or secure, but only for a short time.  Then we need more to get the good feelings again.  That's how the addiction cycle gets stronger every time we go around it, because our needs are really not met, they are only growing with our futile attempts to fill them.  

"I am the source of Living Water."  God is the only way to truly fill us.  It's only in Him that we can find true fulfillment.  He is the only way to true joy and peace.  

Isaiah 55:1 says, 

"All you people who are thirsty, come!
    Here is water for you to drink."

John 4, verses 10b and 14 say, 

“ If you knew, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.”

"But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.”

I don't know about you, but for me, I choose the living water from God.  I don't want to live my life a slave to addictions that only take me in circles and are more binding all the time. I don't want to always have to keep digging more and deeper "cisterns" to try and fulfill the emptiness inside.  I choose to go to the Fountain of Living Water.

Mourning to Dancing

 Note:  I have been reading through the Psalms lately, and many of them inspire me so much that I want to post about them, so if I continue to blog post about various Psalms, you know why;).

So the other night, I read Psalm 30.  And the last two verses really stuck out to me, partly because they're highlighted in my Bible, and partly just cuz....well, I love them!

Psalm 30:11,12

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
    you have loosed my sackcloth
    and clothed me with gladness,
 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Mourning into dancing?  Isn't that from one extreme to the other?  YES!  It is!  That's how our God can do it!  He takes our deepest sorrows, pain, and hurt...then guess what He does.  No, you won't have to guess, I'll just tell you, cuz I can't help it--He turns them into joy, beauty, and dancing!  Dancing here is a spontaneous act of uncontrollable joy [source: Talitha's interpretations].  

Our response to this great work of God's is praise and thanksgiving--bubbling out of our hearts for the great work He has done for us.  Know why?  So others can see it, and want it, and seek God because they want it so much!

Desiring for & Waiting on God

So last night, I read Psalm 27, and two verses in particular stuck out to me: verse 4 and verse 14.  Partly because I hear them pretty often, and partly because, well, they're just so meaningful!

Verse 4:

One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in His temple.

Notice that "one thing."  Not "I have a list of about five things that I desire from God," but ONE thing.  So often I find myself tending to make lists of the things I desire from God, and those lists tend to be rather long.  But what really matters?  Just that one thing.  To dwell In the house of the Lord.  To see His beauty there.  And that is what our strength needs to be focused on.  That's what we need to seek.  

In eternity, our fame/wealth/looks will not be what gets us into Heaven.  It will be how much we sought after God.

verse 14:

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Wow.  I'm not a patient person by nature, so you can imagine that for me to "wait on God," oh my.  I want what I want right now!  I don't like to wait for God to work things out.  But did you notice the third line?  When we DO have the courage to really truly wait on the Lord, He will strengthen our hearts.  Our wait will be more than rewarded.  The blessings of truly waiting on God far outweigh the benefits of having it "right now."  

Our faith will be strengthened, our love for God will be proven, and the goodness of our God will be shown as we wait.  

Some thoughts on the Crucifixion

Through the past while I've slowly been reading through the Gospel of John.  Last night I read chapter 19, John's account of Jesus' condemnation, beatings, crucifixion and burial.

And as I read I thought about the various things I've heard about how cruel the Roman scourgings and crucifixions were.  That led me to thinking, "Jesus lived through that scourging which killed many people.  It was not a 'chance' that He lived through that.  To fulfill the Plan He had to be crucified, even though it meant enduring so much pain before He ever got to the Cross.  He carried the Cross, beaten, bloody, and weak as He was.  He felt the nails being pounded into His wrists and feet, even though every nerve in His human body must have screamed, 'NO!'
Worst of all was the feeling of being forsaken by His Father.  The physical pain probably would have seemed much less painful if only He could have felt the Father's nearness.  Psalm 22:24 tells us that God did not hide His face, and that He heard the cry of His Son.  But for the sake of all humanity, the Sacrifice must feel the entire weight of our sin.  The just and jealous God required the sacrifice to be paid, though His Father heart wept to see His only begotten Son hanging on a cross, crying for the Father, and hearing His own righteous Name mocked by the crowd.
But the Father and Son had planned this before the earth was created. This was not some backup plan, this was the Master Plan.  So the plan must be completed, cost what it did.  God would have done this if only Adam had sinned.  He would have done this if only you or I would have sinned.  
In my mind, the whole scene takes only 2 words to describe it -- sin and love.  Those 2 words capture a picture that human's greatest happiness and deepest pain cannot match.  The sin -- needed to be removed, and though the animal sacrifices covered the sin for a time, they never removed the sin but it was remembered each year (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11).  The love -- (John 3:16) Because He loved, He gave the ultimate sacrifice, the ONLY one which could ever remove the sin.  
The Father's heart wept.  The Son lived through agony, was abandoned by all disciples, died a robber's death on false charges, all for the love that they bore to you, me, and all humanity.
Folks, if this isn't love, there is no love.  If this doesn't describe love at its height, nothing will ever be love.

Because of the Cross, we are justified.  And because of the resurrection, we must also be sanctified through His living in us.

Like the Woman at the Well...

 So lately I've been thinking alot about the woman at the well in John 4...most of this was fueled by our sermon on Sunday, "A Divine Appointment."  One thing that stuck out to me was how the Samaritan woman was an outcast due to her lifestyle, yet it was to her that Jesus offered his living water.  If Jesus took the offer of living water to someone like her, who are we to turn away a seeker--or even to refuse to tell a person of the living water-- regardless of their past life?  We are really no better, even if we've been raised in church and yada yada.  Or for those of us that are on the other side and feel like we're too sinful, that's not true!  After all, Jesus didn't come to save the righteous, but to save the sinners.  
  And when I thought of the woman at the well, this song came to mind...
lyrics ~Wanda Jackson
(Verse 1)
Like the woman at the well I was seeking
For things that could not satisfy;
But then I heard my Savior speaking:
"Draw from the well that never shall run dry".

(Chorus)
Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more--
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

(Verse 2)
There are millions in this world who are craving
The pleasures earthly things afford;
But none can match the wondrous treasure
That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord.

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
So, my children, if the things this world gave you
Leave hungers that won't pass away,
My blessed Lord will come and save you,
If you kneel to Him and humbly pray:

(Chorus)
Blessings,
Talitha 

How Deep the Father's Love For Us

lyrics ~by Stuart Townend
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers


I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection


It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
(REPEAT)

  I was just listening to song, and the 5th verse really sunk into me: 
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

 How often do we (I) really "boast" in Jesus Christ?  Sure, it's easy to boast about all the "good things" I do for Him, but that's not what I should boast in.  He's done so much for me, why do I not glory in His cross?  My youth group is doing a thing of each taking a specific weapon from the armour of God, a different one each day of the week.  Today mine is the Gospel, and as I was thinking about it, a way to use the weapon of the Gospel IS to boast in Christ.  

thoughts and comments?