Where are your accusers?

Posted by Jeffrey Smith April 13th, 2016 2,330 Views 0 Comments

Matthew 8:10-11: Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "where are your accusers? Didn't one of them condemn you?" " No Lord" she said. And Jesus said, neither do I. Go and sin no more.

Can you imagine what must have been going through that woman’s mind? She was dead to rights. She was caught in the act of adultery. She cracked God's top ten! She was drug to the temple courts where she was publicly displayed. She was as good as dead, and yet, there was Jesus. If you're reading this, imagine being in the place of each of the members of this event. Imagine first that you are one of the accusers. You know what is right, and you know the law.  The law was broken and punishment must be handed out to her. You are in the right, this woman broke the law, and she must be punished. There would be a sense of duty, and doing the world a favor by carrying out the sentence. You would most likely want to make an example of her so that others would think twice before committing such a crime. 

Now imagine you're the woman. Imagine the desperation that you would feel knowing that you had been caught breaking the law. Imagine that not only the guilt of breaking the law, but the fact that you had been caught doing it! Now imagine the fear, the millions of thoughts that race through your mind. Imagine the questions, the undone hopes, dreams, and in a second your whole focus is on the dirty streets looking down at your feet being man-handled into public view. The vulnerability, the reasons, excuses you would come up with, all the different back stories these people couldn't possibly know all trapped inside while you faced the weight of what you had just done.  

We are all of these people, each and every one of us. You may say, well, I never committed adultery, and for that I applaud you. You may say, well Jeff, I've never stoned anyone to death, and for that I applaud you. We have all sinned against God, and to God that is all adultery. We have all stood in judgment of others. We have all seen someone do something that broke a law. We have all watched someone on the news and within seconds look for a pitchfork and torch to publicly shame them. The truth is that more than ever we have this happening. We have so much access to everyone's life that we not only look to condemn others, we do it from behind a computer screen, cowardly hiding behind anonymity. Yet Jesus there is Jesus. 

Jesus knows that beyond the display before Him, the accusers are there not only to condemn this woman, but also to trick Jesus into saying something they can use to turn around and accuse Him.

His response is one that should ring in our minds every time we stand and listen to the news, or hear gossip, or even catch someone doing wrong. " Alright, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone."

Well Jesus is the only one who had never sinned and He was the only one left face to face with the woman by the end of His response. Everyone else left one by one. From the oldest to the youngest. Jesus said, "neither do I" in response to His own question about who had condemned her. Neither do I. She was caught in the act of adultery. This happened prior to Jesus' sacrifice. This was before the law had been fulfilled for all of us! Imagine how much more powerful these words are now that He completely fulfilled the law. 

Now imagine that you are the same people after Jesus speaks. Who do you think is going to repeat what they were each there for? If you answered the accusers, you're probably right. The woman was saved from certain death, humiliation, condemnation, and yet walked away free, redeemed, saved. The others knew their faults and it was ever-present after this. Their sins were in their forefront because they would have had to think about their sins to walk away without lying to Jesus' face or to themselves. Think about that for a second. It was what Jesus said that liberated the woman, and for each of us it is the same. We have been redeemed. When we have a fresh daily revelation of the work of Jesus, does that make you want to sin, or spend more time with Him? 

Focus on Jesus, go to Him when you feel accused, go to Him when you want to accuse. We can forgive, because we were fist forgiven. Believe it. Fall on Jesus and go, and sin no more.

Father, thank You for Your grace and mercy on us.  Thank You that Your Son Jesus Christ has fulfilled Your plan for Your children and has saved us from sin and death.  Thank You Lord that our accusers must walk away when we look to You and declare that by Your finished work we are saved and righteous in Jesus Christ now and forever in Jesus name, amen.

*Thank you for reading this blog. Please check out the content this week from the groups "Through My Eyes," and FAAD. There will be an open chat on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. est. Please feel free to comment, contact me for more information, or check out the group listing on this site.