30^th June 2013

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 16 June 2013

Lessons - Psalm 51:1-17; John 7:53-8:11

This story in John goes to the heart of the Gospel.

Jesus is in the temple where Judaism was thought to be preserved in its purity. He is teaching 'all the people' (8:2) in the presence of the scribes and Pharisees who have already 'sought to kill him' (7:1). The shadow of the Cross is cast over the scene as they 'bring a woman who had
been caught in the act of adultery' (8:4).

The religious leaders are not really interested in her but only in 'having a charge to bring against Jesus' (v6). So they set what they think is a clever trap by asking Jesus, 'What do you say about her?' (v5). If he upholds the severity of the Mosaic law, he can be charged by the Romans.
If he does not, he can be accused of blasphemy. He is in a no-win situation!

But, as usual, Jesus turns the tables. They expose themselves by their question, 'What do you say about her?' It is impersonal, detached and judging. They do not care about her. They want to condemn her to eternal punishment and, in the process, condemn Jesus.

Instead of talking about what the woman has done, Jesus first turns to her accusers. He speaks directly to them. 'Let him who is without sin among you, throw the first stone. (v7)' The first sin to be named by Jesus is self-righteousness. These righteous men, so steeped in God's law, make no attempt at reconciliation. They do not welcome or accept her but aim to exclude her from the community of faith. In accusing her, they accuse themselves of loveless disdain for her.

Chastised but unrepentant, these self-appointed judges trudge off (v9a) leaving Jesus alone with the woman. This man, who alone of all people is without sin, turns to this sinful woman. He proclaims the judgment of God as only God can do.

What Jesus says makes clear that she is not condemned to eternal punishment (v10) for what she has done. Yet, she is bid to 'sin no more'
(v11). He does not say anything specifically about forgiveness and we are not told whether she repents. But he speaks directly to us about what the 4th Century hymn (Australian Hymn Book 1, v4) calls the 'omnipotence of grace'.

Twice, he 'writes with his finger on the ground' (vv 6,8) - once before admonishing the scribes for their lack of mercy and once before talking to the woman. Here we see the great Gospel truth that, as serious as our self- righteous and immoral sins are, God does not keep a permanent record. As wind and rain surely erased what is written on the ground, so God erases our sins.

Here is a word of hope for self-styled 'evangelicals' and 'libertarians':

* Jesus does not accuse the Pharisees of being sexually repressed, afraid of change, narrow minded or closed to diverse forms of sexuality. They are right. Adultery is a most serious breach of the exclusive physical social and spiritual union of a man and a woman that is God's clear purpose for marriage.

* But neither does he commend her for a liberated attitude to sex. In condemning her accusers for not seeking reconciliation, Jesus welcomes her as a daughter of grace with the clear instruction that she must not continue in her adulterous relationship. To receive the undeserved grace of God is to be set free from sin.

In this encounter we see the pattern of the Gospel. As signs of God's inclusive grace, Jesus seeks the lost and eats and drinks with 'tax collectors and sinners' - without relaxing God's righteous demands.

Nowhere in his meeting with immoral people does Jesus begin with their sins! He does not speak to them in a detached or impersonal way. Neither does he affirm their behaviour as being 'right for them'. He reserves his harshest criticisms for the self-righteous who are disgusted by their immoral neighbours and not interested in them being reconciled to God or to the community of faith.

This passage speaks to our situation in the churches and the Australian community. How might it help us to address robust debates about the propriety of diverse forms of same-sex sexual relationships and the push for so-called 'Marriage Equality'?

The key thing is to reject misguided compassion which approves of same-sex sexual relationships and to practise true love that empathises with fellow sinners, stands with them in their temptation, seeks their reconciliation to God, protests against violence done to them and offers pastoral care at time of harassment, illness and death.

The passage makes it plain that self-righteous evangelicalism and tolerant libertarianism are both excluded! We must not mistake the 'redemptive love of God in Christ' for 'righteous indignation' or 'affirmative tolerance'.

We should resist these attempts to shrink the Gospel of Christ. The Church is called to be truly 'welcoming', 'accepting' and 'inclusive' in the manner of Jesus with the adulterous woman. We are summoned to declare, in words and deeds, the transforming grace of God who loves the ungodly (libertarian or evangelical) and calls us (self-righteous or self-
indulgent) to repentance and a new life in Christ. All of us fall short of the glory of God! All of us are restored to life through God's grace in Christ!

In this dramatic and moving incident the good and the bad are united in hope. In Christ the dark motives of the most scrupulously religious and the dark deeds of the most immoral are unmasked to highlight the magnificence of grace.

Thus, Jesus' approach to the woman and the scribes holds out to us all a great hope. By what he says to them (about casting the first stone and about not sinning again) and by what he does (in writing with his finger on the ground) he shows that, as serious as our self-righteous and immoral sins are, God does not keep a permanent record. Though guilty, we are not condemned. Though unacceptable, we are accepted. Though judged, we are set free.

Good reason, indeed, to 'shout the omnipotence of grace'!

---------------

Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.