Who Is The Sinner?

 

When a group of Jewish leaders brought a woman before Jesus, claiming they had caught her in the act of adultery, they were testing him. (John 8:3-11) The Jewish law allowed for adulterers to be stoned. The man, who was obviously required to participate with this woman for it to be adultery, was not in attendance. The Jewish leaders cited the Jewish Law and then asked Jesus what he thought – to see if he’d oppose the law.  Jesus says nothing, just begins to write on the ground with his finger. Interestingly, we never know what he wrote. After the men persist, Jesus says “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” He continues then to write on the ground. The Jewish leaders leave, so only Jesus and the woman remain. Jesus asks “did no one condemn you?” Wasn’t there anyone there who was sinless?  Rhetorical question because Jesus was without sin. And the only sinless person there says, “Neither do I condemn you.”

It may seem I am a bit obsessed with sin. It figures a lot into my thoughts, conversations and writing. I think about it because it seems many Christians have forgotten their relationship with sin. That, and how quickly some of those same Christians are in pointing out the sins in others, much the same as the leaders who brought that woman to Jesus.

The word sin has lost a lot of its punch in today’s culture. For many it’s a word Christians use to brand actions they disprove of – homosexuality, abortion, sex outside of marriage. Similar to those Jewish leaders who saw sin in the woman labeled “adultery”. Sin and judgment have almost become one word. “Sin” seems to mean particular acts of behavior. Beyond that, most people don’t give sin much thought. We do what is right in our own eyes. As long as we don’t hurt anyone else, what we do is what we do, no judgment or harm attached.

Yet the Bible is pretty free in talking about sin from Genesis, with Adam and Eve disobeying God’s single command, to Revelation where it’s predicted the whole world will answer to God for their sin. We are taught in the Bible that we have a sin nature, resulting from Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey. That act rewired us, so sin becomes just part of who we are. Every human being is a sinner by biblical definition. And because it is part of our nature, it’s really easy to forget about it, or take it for granted – that’s just who I am.

The word we translate as sin means “missing the mark”, failing to meet a standard, God’s standard.  The people of Israel were given a pretty clear description of God’s standard in the 10 Commandments. If we can follow all 10, consistently, we “hit the mark.”  Problem is, beginning with the Israelites, no one has been able to.  Think about it. You might never kill anyone (although Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says just hating someone in your head is as bad), or steal something. But most of us have been envious. Most of us have dishonored our parents in some way. All of us put things before God, making those things our god. If we take a good long look, we’d see that we’ve not passed the 10 Commandment test with a glowing 100%. James 3:10 reminds us that the Commandments as a whole are God’s standard, and failure to keep 10/10 leaves us guilty of all. We’ve all missed the mark.

This is why the New Testament teaches that all have sin and are all guilty. Jesus made the point even simpler when he said the Law of God could be summed up in “love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Those few words really do sum up the particulars in the 10 Commandments. And it’s easier to see how far short of God’s standard we fall. Even the part about “loving ourselves” can prove problematic.

So, there stood Jesus, the only sinless person in that small group surrounding the woman, and though perfectly in his right to do so, he did not condemn the woman. He, in essence, forgave her her sin. 

We are unable to uproot our own sin nature. It is so much a part of who we are, we hardly even notice when it shows itself. The Jewish leaders couldn’t see their own sin. And even if we try to be better, we fail, usually sooner rather than later. This is why we need a Savior. We need someone to clean out our nature, and only God can do that. So, he died in our place, taking the weight of all mankind’s sin nature. The debt was paid by his sacrifice, so that now the issue isn’t what bad things we’ve done, or what good things we’ve forgotten to do. It’s what we choose to do with Jesus’ sacrifice – accept or reject. If we accept then we can hear his words, “neither do I condemn you.”

I’ve mentioned before the Pharisee Simon who, in his mind, judged Jesus for allowing an unsuitable woman to anoint him with her tears. Jesus knew Simon’s thoughts and told him a story about a rich man forgiving debt. He asked Simon who would love the man more, and Simon said, “the one who had the most debt forgiven.” Jesus returns their gaze to the woman, and points out how much she loves, and has shown that love to, Jesus. He isn’t saying she sinned more than Simon (as Simon believed), but that she recognized her sin, her debt, and has come to seek forgiveness at Jesus’ feet. Simon feels he’s beyond all that and not in need of forgiveness. He has no debt. The result is Simon’s not really loving Jesus at all.

Those men who brought the woman to Jesus were confronted with their humanity, their sin nature. In that moment, they were convicted and walked away. I wonder if Simon would have heard the point then if he’d been there? The only one who can throw the stones (punish) is one who is sinless. And the only one who can forgive is also the sinless one. The rest of us are just sinners. That’s true of those who have sought forgiveness in our belief in Jesus and His sacrifice for our sin. We are now just sinners, saved by grace, the same grace that saved that woman.

So why do we make such an issue out of sin, particularly specific things like homosexuality? I believe it stems from a failure in Christian education. We fail to continually teach that we are still all sinners. We still all sin. The things we pick at and label are merely symptoms of living in a world broken by all of us having sin natures – a natural bent to miss God’s mark, in fact, to miss God, period.  If we are not continually reminded about our sin nature, we begin to believe we’ve lost it – or have somehow managed to improve on it – or at the very least don’t express it in ways others do.  We forget that Jesus died for sin, all sin, once for all of us. Again, the issue isn’t about what we do or don’t do wrong. That was taken care of by Jesus. The issue is what we do with Jesus.

The sad thing is that though almost every Christian you meet would agree with that statement, they aren’t convinced of it. Maybe, like the Jewish leaders, they believe their sins have been forgiven and they are beyond sinning, but they don’t believe that about others. They hang people out to dry in their sins every day, just as the leaders brought that woman (without the participating man) to Jesus. “Look at her! See what an awful sinner she is. We caught her in the act!” And Jesus just kneels down and begins writing in the sand. Maybe he was making a list of all their sins, or all of our sins. Maybe he was thinking about where his steps were ultimately taking him, to die in our place – yours, mine, that woman, those leaders. What have we done with His gift?