✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
John 8,3-11 3413
4. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 049
Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, † 379
23. Juni 2013
1. O Heavenly Father, You are merciful, gracious and forgiving. Often we attempt to help our neighbors with good and loving intentions, but we usually end up treating our neighbor legalistically, judgmentally and with little forgiveness. Help us to first examine our lives by Your Holy Word, repent of these, our sins, and hear Your Holy Absolution so that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit moving within us may then help our neighbor with a heart of mercy, a gracious attitude and a forgiving spirit. Amen.
2. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to Him: „Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?“ This they said to test Him, so that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them: „Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.“ And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up and said to her: „Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?“ She said: „No one, Lord.“ And Jesus said: „Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.“
3. In our Gospel Reading for this morning Jesus says to the crowd: »Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.« (Luke 6,36-38). This teaching of Jesus was contrary to that of many of the Pharisees of His day. Many Pharisees counseled for a strict interpretation of the law with a punishment of offenders as prescribed in that law. Earlier in His Beatitudes Jesus had taught: »Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. You have heard that it was said: »An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth« [Exodus 21,24]. But I say to you: Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. You have heard that it was said: »You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy« [Leviticus 19,18; Deuteronomy 25,17-19]. But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you« [Matthew 5,17-18.38-39.43-44].
4. In John 8 this teaching of Jesus is put into practice. On the last day of the feast of tabernacles Jesus had gone to the temple and had taught that He is the water of everlasting life (John 7,37-38). The Pharisees were incensed and angrier that a stirred up hornets’ nest. They straightaway cursed the crowd for being ignorant of the Law since the crowd had praised Jesus as the Prophet and the Christ (John 7,40-41.49). They then chastised the temple guard for not arresting Jesus forthwith (John 7,45). The Pharisees, however, hatched a plan to trap Jesus. When Jesus returned the next day to the temple, the Pharisees were waiting and they brought before Jesus an adulteress. What do we do Jesus? Do we stone her to death as the law of Moses requires?
5. The Pharisees wanted to entrap Jesus. To accomplish this they were willing to judge and condemn a sinful woman on a day of rest, but Jesus is not the country bumpkin the Pharisees perhaps assumed Him to be. Jesus acknowledges the law and its punishment upon the sinner. Since the Pharisees are so intent on upholding the law, Jesus then asks them: „Who among you sinners will be the first to pick up a stone and carry out judgment upon her?“ Those intent upon upholding the law were now accused by that same law they had levied against the woman; they left humbled and shamed until only Jesus remained with the woman. Jesus judged her sin under the law but refuses to carry out the law’s punishment and condemnation. Jesus extended to her unconditional love; He showed her the very mercy and forgiveness He teaches in Luke 6.
6. Jesus did not arrive to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The law reveals sin and condemns the sinner, and as such each one of us is found guilty under the law; death and condemnation are the punishment we deserve as sinners. Jesus arrived to fulfill that law; He arrived to bear the weight of sin, the curse of death and the condemnation of the sinner upon His very own shoulders. Jesus arrived to accomplish the law, and He accomplished the law by His own crucifixion under that law. Jesus has fulfilled the old testament, and we now live under the new testament: Jesus has fulfilled and accomplished the law, yes, every iota and dot has been upheld by Christ Jesus. He perfectly obeyed the Ten Commandments, dutifully upheld the festivals, and took every iota and dot of that Law upon His very body which He offered up as the blood sacrifice. His merits are now applied to us to the fullest degree so that in Christ we have fulfilled the law (Romans 10,4).
7. The Apostle Paul proclaims it this way: »For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says: „The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart“ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved. For the Scripture says: „Everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame“ [Isaiah 45,17]. For „everyone who calls on the Name of the Jesus will be saved“ [Joel 2,32]« (Romans 10,4-6.8-9.11.13).
8. Jesus arrived to show mercy, to justify, to save and to forgive sinners condemned by the law. This righteousness is in stark contrast to, and in direct confrontation with, anyone who would merit his or her righteousness by using the law. A rich young ruler would later tell Jesus that he had merited eternal life by keeping the Ten Commandments since he was a young boy (Luke 18,18-21). The Pharisees also made this same boast about themselves. Indeed, if anyone could merit everlasting life by keeping the law, then it would have been the Pharisees. These men worked very diligently to honor the law. In fact, they went beyond what the law commanded to ensure they kept that very law.
9. Jesus responded to the Pharisees and their righteousness by saying: »Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. Woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it. Woe to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering« (Luke 11,39.42-44.46-47.52).
10. Jesus pronounces misfortune upon the Pharisees, and anyone, for trusting in their self-righteousness. Eternal torment and damnation awaits everyone who seeks salvation in their own merits under the law instead of simply trusting in the righteousness that Jesus freely gives to all people. You see, Jesus rightly exposes the lie of the self-righteous: »Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy,« (Luke 12,1) »indeed, you Pharisees justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God« (Luke 16,15).
11. Jesus chastises the self-righteous and is merciful to the self-condemned. Jesus promises: »Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God« (Luke 12,1.8). This promise is for all people; some, content with their pharisaism, will remain steadfast in their righteousness under the law, and in doing so they deny Jesus before men and God the Father. Others, notorious tax collectors, prostitutes and publicans, acknowledge their sinfulness but trust in Jesus and acknowledge Him before men and God.
12. Jesus is here to save sinners. He is here for you and me. Jesus does not condemn you, but He shows you mercy. He forgives you, calls you to trust in His righteousness for your own and exhorts you to refrain from sin. The law which has accused and condemned you has been fulfilled and accomplished by the crucified and risen Jesus. His grace is given to you, and His grace is sufficient for you (2. Corinthians 12,9), so sufficient that you have full assurance and certainty of Jesus’ mercy and forgiveness. »The Law and the Prophets were until John the Baptizer; since then the gospel of the reign of God is preached« (Luke 16,16). This gospel shames and humiliates all accusers so that only Jesus remains in your presence, and His words to you are: »I do not condemn you.« His grace is enough to declare you righteous. Amen.
13. Let us pray. It is good to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High, for You are the Leader and Guide of all the elect. Here we are upon wild and stormy waves, in an evil world that is quick to judge and condemn; but You are steadfast in showing us mercy and forgiveness, so that we may finally attain to Your heavenly reign through the merits of Christ (Löhe 343-44). Amen.
Christ crucified and risen for you
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.
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