The Adulterous Woman-Conclusion! From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thank you for joining me for your coffee break today at Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and let’s get back to you, me and The Adulterous Woman.
Jesus has just spoken fifteen words that create one of the most important lessons we as Christians desperately need to learn. Basically, He’s beat the prideful Pharisees and religious leaders at their attempt to have Him arrested, but no trickery was involved on His part.

Now, at this point, the adulterous woman is sitting on the ground, “in the midst” the scriptures say and I found this painting of her online that I must share with you that captures her so beautifully.



Though there is nothing in the book of John suggesting that her hand was outstretched, all I have to do is close my eyes and put myself in The Adulterous Woman’s place, and this is exactly what I would do, especially after hearing such words of conviction! I would reach my hand out just like this and I probably wouldn’t be able to keep my conviction quiet, either as I begged for mercy and tears stream down my face!

After Jesus spoke, He stooped back down and the Scriptures go on to confirm that those who heard Him, indeed their conscience convicted them and they left the Temple one by one. No one remained except Jesus and The Adulterous Woman. But wait! How interesting is this? Now she’s standing. Can you imagine the disbelief she stood in, mixed with relief? Something tells me her recognition has fully dawned and she realizes she’s looking at her Savior.

Then Jesus raises Himself back up and said to her: “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” And she replies, “No one, Lord.” Jesus thereafter voices His forgiveness of her sins and encourages her to go and sin no more.

Wow! All I can say is HE is the only one with that power and authority to forgive the adulterous woman, aka, you and me. Only He has the videotape of my heart and yours, or any other adulterous woman’s for that matter, and He is who we all will answer to. May we learn to be less and less like the Pharisees and more and more like the forgiven adulterous woman clothed now in humility!

Thanks so much for sticking with me in this series. I hope you can join me tomorrow for a new mini-series called Dancing with a Butterfly.

Humbly,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to come have coffee with me! Grab your coffee and come on in. We are about to receive one of the most important lessons Jesus ever taught with the least amount of words!

So it’s almost as if the Pharisees and religious leaders are taunting Jesus, wanting to hear how He’s going to respond to the Law given by God to/through Moses. They were as confident that they had trapped Him in their trickery as I am that the son is going to shine tomorrow.

All eyes are on Jesus, and I’m sure some are even holding their breath in anticipation, wondering how He will respond to this dilemma and if He was/is really the Savior. Jesus didn’t disappoint them; that’s for sure! All eyes and ears on Him, He bends down and begins to write on the ground with His finger.

While they all watch in disbelief, I am positive that it is still pretty quiet but I bet the mind of the adulterous woman is speaking all kinds of things, beginning with her recognition for a need of the Savior. I wonder if she could read, and if she could, she knew what He wrote, or had a good idea because she was down on the ground, bent down with shame, not to be confused with humility.

The Pharisees become impatient and begin to ask Him all over again, as if Jesus hadn’t heard them before. Jesus continues to write, and I’m sure the adulterous woman is silently pleading for forgiveness. I wonder if this is when her God-shaped hole suddenly opened up in recognition of her need of a Savior. I know mine would be opening about now, if not beforehand!

Finally, and slowly, Jesus stands to give His answer to these Pharisees and religious leaders perched on pride, an answer of fifteen words that captures one of the most important lessons we as Christ-followers need to let sear on our heart and live out in our lives. And what I love about this answer is HE actually stumped those who came to trick Him so they could arrest Him. I can just see Him scanning the crowd before He speaks, and His eyes coming to rest on those deceived, His voice calm, controlled and confident and He says: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Isn’t that a response to get you thinking?

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to The Adulterous Woman.

Evinda

Happy Thanksgiving From the Adulterous Woman @ Chicklit Power

Oh, what a beautiful day to say thank you for stopping by! Happy Thanksgiving! I truly am thankful there is you to share coffee hour with! Let’s get back to this discussion of adultery and idolatry, which we are about to wrap up so we can finally meet this adulterous woman!

So that last definition we talked about, immorality, aka, sins of the flesh, are associated and are traced to lack of the acknowledgment of God” is a real eye opener, and something that begs the benefit of the doubt before we meet this adulterous woman. Could it be she had never come face to face with her need for a savior? Until this meeting.

Let’s look at the last definition for idolatry. Oh, my, this one will tickle your skin all over for sure: An idolater is a slave to the depraved (morally corrupt) ideas his/her idol or idols represent!”

So metaphorically speaking, then, any form of addiction is adultery because that something which one is addicted to has become an idol and therefore has led the adulterer away to idolatry. Wow, you can put anything in that underlined space to make the connection between you and the adulterous woman! I don’t know about you, but suddenly as I get ready to meet her, I am off of my pedestal and standing eye level, waiting to greet her as Jesus did!

Humbly,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for Coffee Hour and more of The Adulterous Woman! Grab your coffee and let’s get back to the conversation about idolatry and adultery!

Before we meet her, we need to do a bit more ground work. It is so very important that we understand the definitions for “adultery” so when we do meet her, we may be able to respond to her just as Jesus did, with a grace that surpasses all understanding and brings home to the heart the reality of the necessity of our need of a Savior.

Because of its depth, I am going to the Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. OMG, I’m so very glad I did. Wait until you hear this. The Greek definition says adultery is: Metaphorically used of those who are, by a Jezebel’s solicitations, drawn away to idolatry.”
There it is; adultery is idolatry, so it’s not just the literal definition of unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another! Oh, can’t you just see yourself in this meeting that’s about to take place? Can you honestly say that you have never felt the pull of something or from another pulling on your conscious thoughts to a place you shouldn’t have gone, to do something you know you shouldn’t do? I know I have! Maybe I’m not so above this adulterous woman.

But let me dig a little deeper for clarity and let’s look at the definitions for idolatry: In addition to being things offered to idols, idolatry is “The sin of the mind against God, and immorality, sins of the flesh, are associated and are traced to lack of the acknowledgment of God and of gratitude to Him.”


Now I feel like I know this woman we’re about to meet, as if we share so many things in common. The only difference between her adultery and mine is hers was committed against and with the physical while my adulterous actions have been dangerously more subtle, acts that have silently and spiritually pulled me further and further from the safety and sanctity of the love of Christ and His position of “first” in my heart and life.

Pondering true adultery,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for stopping by for a little break today at Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and come on in. We’re in the crowd of people surrounding Jesus in the Temple and He was teaching and then the Pharisees and scribes entered with someone. Grab your coffee and let’s go get comfy.

Who is it that they are practically dragging in with them? Could this be her, the adulterous woman we’ve been waiting to see? As she gets closer and closer, it is hard to see her, what she looks like because her head is looking down. They are heading straight for Jesus, looking straight at him, only daring to look out into the crowd once before they stop right in front of Him.

Wow, these men that brought her in are pretty arrogant, treating her as though she’s an extremely dangerous and sought-after criminal and they should get the reward. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they are wearing an innate mask of smugness.

Let’s get closer so we can hear what they are saying.
Oh, would you just look at them all look around before they begin to address Jesus! Talk about prideful! Ugh. You can just see it oozing out of their pores as they speak. “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.”

Let’s stop there for a second. Now, this is just an Evinda-ism, but I can’t help but wonder if they really caught her or just saw her and knew of her reputation and used her to advance their scheme of tricking and thereafter arresting Jesus. That’s just a thought! Let’s get back to what they are saying.
“Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
Scripture says thereafter that they said this to test Jesus that they might have something of which to accuse Him, which is why I wondered what I did.

Before we get to one of the most acclaimed responses of Jesus, let’s talk about this woman for a bit. Though she remains nameless in the Word of God, she is such a pivotal example of the reality of The Gospel, the necessity of the reality of the need for a Savior. And though she remains anonymous in Scripture, she is someone we can all relate to, someone we must relate with if we dare to let go of shame, one of Satan’s most powerful ropes that hold us in bondage, an unseen bondage that pulls us away from abundant life.

Now you may be saying to yourself, I can’t relate to this woman; I’ve never committed adultery. Well, I’m so glad you brought that up, and we will definitely dig a bit deeper into this tomorrow, but for now let me leave you with this truth: Idolatry is a form of adultery!

Being freed from adultery,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for coming to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power for more of The Adulterous Woman. I think we may actually get to meet her today! Grab your coffee and come on in.

As we wrap up the definitions for deceived, keep this statement in mind: “His/her arrogance consists of claiming honor for him or herself. His/her comparing him/herself is not the sin. It is the sin that causes him/her to compare!

So in the midst of this meeting led by these prideful men, Nicodemus – a Pharisee who had actually gone to visit Jesus prior to this feast and this meeting – spoke up and said: “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

Talk about risking his reputation and position! They could have thrown him out right then and there on his ear for defending Jesus by reminding them that they weren’t even abiding by their own laws, but he wasn’t. But it is important that we understand that the Pharisees knew they were losing ground and that knowledge perpetuated the viscous cycle. Their hypocritical ways were slowly exposed and as the exposure increased, their prestige decreased. Pride was interfering with their ability to reason and deception took over, convincing them that they must get rid of Jesus to save face. Right and wrong no longer mattered.

The meeting ended and everyone went to their own houses.  Early the next morning Jesus headed back to the Temple and the scriptures say all the people came to Him. If we ponder that for a minute, we would have to conclude that the people who returned were looking for Him, wanting to hear more from Him. Have you ever been excited to go somewhere and when you got up the day of, you were so excited you could hardly wait? That’s how I imagine these people who came were, filled with excitement and maybe even curiosity.

Well, Jesus didn’t disappoint those who came, because He sat with them and taught them. Picture with me a huge sanctuary, filled, and when I picture this particular scene, I see Him standing amongst them, in a way that all could see and yet His teaching is reaching out and inviting them to Him. Despite there being lots and lots of people, it is quiet but for Jesus’ voice and all of a sudden, there’s an interruption that renders an attention switch. It becomes quiet, as quiet as a crowd of this size can be because Jesus stops speaking. Everyone turns their heads to see what Jesus is looking at. It is none other than the scribes and Pharisees, but wait, who is that they are nearly dragging toward Jesus?
Join me tomorrow for the actual introduction!

Evinda


P.S. Join me and Steve today for Blog Talk Radio as we continue on in the Breaking Free from Co-Dependency series of our Destination? Joyful! ™ show.

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power! Thanks for joining me today for a little break. Grab your coffee and come on in. We are about to find out the common denominator of deception.

As we wrap up this detour, we can see through the eyes of our hearts that there are many examples, too many examples of deception, a sort of unawareness where truth leaks out of the soul and something else replaces it without even a conscious awareness and when that happens, it affects our attitudes, our actions and our abilities, rendering us utterly and hopelessly deceived.

So what is the common denominator? Well if we go back to this meeting that the Pharisees were having with the chief priests and the officers who confessed that they had never heard anyone talk like “this Man,” all I have to do is take a look around the room with the eyes of my heart wide open and my ears ready to listen and the common denominator swirls around me like a frenzied ghost. I can see it in their demeanor; I can hear it in their comments. In fact, it’s as though each one of the Pharisees is bound up in this common denominator like a mummy. And if I look at them as I rewind the tape on other scenarios of deception that have literally wrenched at my heart during our lifetime, those people are no different than these Pharisees for they wear the same garments of deception.

Plain and simple, the common denominator is pride and what’s in the middle of “pride”? I, I, I! I could never, ever claim to have the full view of the heart of the deceived; only God has that, but the one glaring thing that brings clarity to any and all kinds of deception is this thing called pride. The Webster’s Dictionary defines pride as inordinate self-esteem; proud or disdainful behavior or treatment. How ironic that I would return to this subject just after returning from a writers’ conference that has definitely taught me that I was there to continue the process of being emptied of me that He may write completely through me without any clogs of prideful or un-inspired text. Oh, that I would remember that deception sneaks in through the window of pride!

“Pride” is in the Bible 49 times and was used in the beginning by poets to refer to glory, but thereafter the majority of the uses of pride are negative in that they denote human pride as an antonym for humility and as in Proverbs, pride is put together with arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. The New Testament (Greek) translation says: pride is a swollen estimate of his/her own power and merits and looks down on others and even treats them with insolence and contempt. One who compares himself secretly or openly with others and lifts himself above.

These definitions bring clarity into this meeting with the Pharisees, Chief Priests and these officers, practically shining a light into their hearts revealing the source of their deception. And as the light moves into my world and the experiences I’ve had with deception, clarity comes, and I am at peace to pray for the veil of deception to be lifted and that truth would prevail sooner than later.

Keep these definitions in mind as we get closer to actually meeting The Adulterous Woman!

Anticipating the introduction,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little break at Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power. I know it’s not always easy turning distractions off, but let’s do just that for a few. Grab your coffee and come on in so we can try and put the pieces of “deceived” together in the context of the Pharisees. Something tells me we may wind up recognizing a little bit of ourselves in these accusers.

So the Pharisees accused the officers of being deceived and backed their accusation up by saying no Pharisee has ever believed in Him, and also accusing the crowd – who was full of people beginning to change their hearts and minds about The Christ – saying they were accursed for they did not know the law. Now, these definitions all talk about a straying from something, such as the law, the religious beliefs, et cetera.

So what if we give these knuckleheads the benefit of the doubt by asking ourselves, “Were they just holding to what they believed?” And let’s not get into semantics about how much they lived by the law, or didn’t, themselves. By asking that question, would that give us a different and deeper understanding into the depths of their deception? It stands to reason that because they believed certain things about whom The Christ should/would be and would not be, they expected their peers to believe the same way, and when these officers made the statement, “No man ever spoke like this Man,” that released the accusations.

I can’t help but think about all the clues they had received, and the ones they missed completely. For example, when they jumped to conclusions and insisted He couldn’t be The Christ because He was from Nazareth without doing the research to find out He was born in Bethlehem. Or questioning His birth line and not doing the geneology study to trace His birth line all the way back to David. Why weren’t they able to see that they, not the officers, were the ones that were deceived?

What about in our lives, friends who get enticed away from the church? I see it happen all the time with women who are looking for love and become deceived by love. And what about within the church, those who claim to be in Him, all about Him, and do things that are contrary to Him and/or what He would do? Some even justify with out-of-context scripture bashing. What about the atheist who declares there is no god, let alone God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Or the New-Agers who claim there are hundreds of ways to heaven and that the god is mother earth and angels are the primary savior and answer to their problems? Or the homosexual who believes homosexuality was something God detested only in the Old Testament? I can go on and on and on with examples of people who we deem to be deceived but are they deceived just because I say so? Don’t these people in these examples believe that we, the Christian, are also deceived?

What is the common denominator here, Father? Why, oh why, are so many deceived, determined to be fixed on their false foundations, pointing the finger at others, either literally or figuratively? Does deception happen simply by and through standing for what you truly believe or does it involve something else?

I can hear something echoing ever so faintly in my heart . . .

Join me tomorrow for the answer.

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for joining me today and hanging in there even though we still haven’t met The Adulterous Woman. I promise; we are getting close. It’s just so important that we have as many of the puzzle pieces that will illuminate understanding on her entrance and upon herself as well! Grab your coffee and come on in.

So we are still in this detour about being “deceived” something that the Pharisees accused the officers of being, all because they dared to voice the questions overflowing from their pierced hearts after hearing Jesus cry out in the crowd. And the reason we are doing so much digging on this is because haven’t we come across so many in our lives who we deem to be deceived, even those who claim to believe in Him? Haven’t we ourselves been deceived one time or another? In addition to needing answers about this, I believe that this detour will help us when we finally meet The Adulterous Woman.

Let’s go right to the definition which pertains to the text we are reading from, which will be from the Greek concordance since it is in the New Testament and then if He leads us to do so, we’ll return for a few Hebrew translations.

Oh my, so the Greek word is “planao” and its root word is plane. Hmm, we fly away in a plane… Interesting. Let’s see what this translates to: “to roam (from safety, truth, or virtue)” – 24 times this word with “er” ending refers to Satan, the deceiver! – “to go astray, seduce, wander.”
In the passive form: “to deceive by leading into error, to seduce.” Hmm, “seduce” casts a bit of light on this subject.

Oh, this is interesting: “often it has the sense of deceiving oneself.” Now that’s about as clear as mud. Let me read a bit further to see if I can get any clarity for us.

“A straying from orthodoxy or piety, literally, ‘plane’ means a wandering whereby those who are led astray roam hither and thither and is always used of mental straying; wrong opinion, an error in morals or religion. It is akin to a forsaking of the right path.”

Oh, here’s another interesting fact: “In Scripture, doctrine and morals are never divided by any sharp line.” So I’m thinking that that means one finds morals or is moral when abiding in doctrine? Or to search the doctrine is a search of morality?Are they interchangeable?

Oh here’s a powerful statement: Errors in doctrine are usually the effect of relaxed morality.
Wow, what a lot to think about. It’s going to be interesting to put all of these pieces together that will give us a better understanding of how and why the Pharisees were deceived which will also open the door to finally meeting The Adulterous Woman.

Not deceived,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for joining me today for your coffee break at Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power. I truly enjoy spending this time with you and I pray that you will be glad that you took this little break and turned everything else down or off in your life for just these few moments. I’m so sorry I didn’t show up yesterday. I just had too much on my plate, but I’m glad to be back so grab your coffee and come on in. We are going back to that first detour in the meeting with the officers, the Chief Priests and the Pharisees.

So this detour has everything to do with the word “deceived,” an accusation that the Pharisees tossed at the men who dared to speak out their wonder and curiosity. Bear with me for a moment as I check this out. I’m looking in my Hebrew and Greek concordance and there are at least nine different uses for the word! This detour may take a while. We’ll go one at a time so we can digest what may help us understand this reality of so many “believers” being deceived, as well as gain insight into the reality of why our Pharisees didn’t believe that Jesus was/is “The Christ.”

Amazing! Between the Old and New Testament, there are over 30 times that “deceived” is used, and you should see how many variations of the root word “deceive” there are! Ironically enough, the first time “deceived shows up is in Genesis – hmm, in the beginning! Just for kicks and giggles, I’m going to look up the Hebrew translation for the first time this word “deceived” shows up, and then we can compare it to the Greek translation and the verse that we are actually getting it from. This way we’ll be sure and get the right context.

Here goes: “To deride, by implication to cheat.” So that’s the first time it comes up, which is in Genesis. I just saw three lines down in the concordance the third use of this word and it’s in Deuteronomy, “that your heart would not be deceived.” I have to look it up, because this seems to be right on point. It wasn’t the officers whose hearts were deceived but the Pharisees!

Oh, this is interesting: “To open, to make roomy; usually figuratively in a mental or moral sense to be or cause to make simple or in a sinister way, delude, entice.” This is getting interesting: “to persuade, flatter, allure.” Ooh, something tells me that last one has a lot to do with our definition and a lot to do with The Adulterous Woman that we are soon to meet; I promise!

Join me tomorrow for more of this major detour!

Digging for understanding,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thank you so much for joining me today for a little coffee break at Coffee Hour! I hope you had a great weekend. I know the extra hour of sleep sure helped me, especially after an awesome event on Saturday. I am looking forward to sharing the highlights with you in a couple of weeks when this series is complete. As we get closer to the upcoming season, we will need the reminders of the things that we learned but for now, let’s get back to The Adulterous Woman! Grab your coffee and come on in.

So we just finished a little detour so let’s get back to the crowd and the pandemonium of questions and opinions after Jesus stood up and cried out professions and confessions in this huge crowd. I can just imagine the officers standing around watching and listening as their delusion of being in control crumbled every time they heard someone say, “This is the Christ.” In fact, Scripture tells us that they had a little meeting with the chief priests and Pharisees who wanted to know what in the heck was going on and why hadn’t they brought this man called Jesus to them.

I love what John 7:46 says: “The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’”
So Jesus did get to them! Even these guys had hearts with a God-sized hole that only “The Christ” could fill. Unfortunately the Pharisees jumped on them like white on rice accusing them of being deceived, reminding them that no rulers or Pharisees believed in Him so they shouldn’t!
I feel another detour; in fact, there are two very important detours that relate to things staring me in the face of my life right now as I am writing this for you.

First, how does someone get so deceived? If I am honest with myself, and with you, I have to admit that I’ve asked this question of Him so many times, more than I can count, especially of people who claim to be believers of Him and in Him. How could that be? When I look at the word deceived I can’t help but think the answer lies within the word itself so I think it’s important to take time to research it. Before I do that, let’s take a quick look at the second detour, which is not nearly as long or as deep as the first. The detour is that of the peer pressure of the Pharisees upon the leaders. I mean here they were at this meeting and I can just see the fascination that moved from their hearts to their faces and then finally into their voices as they confessed that no one had ever spoken like this Man!

As I read these words that the leaders dared to speak about “this Man,” I can’t help but feel the blanket of pressure thrown upon them as soon as the words left their mouth. In fact, I bet if I were a fly on the walls inside this meeting, I’d wager that there was a moment of silence induced by shock, and you could hear a pin drop on the floor. These men that dared utter their curiosity were so overwhelmed with wonder that they didn’t even stop to think before they spoke. They didn’t take into account what others would think; they didn’t take into account the possible ramifications. They were responding to what had pierced the God-sized hole their hearts when they heard His words.

But how many of us dare to respond to that call, to that piercing of the heart, despite our circumstances, despite what others may think, even when we know others won’t agree? Even when we know there may be negative ramifications?

Oh, that we would be moved to rise to the occasion of daring to answer the call of “The Christ” and not get sucked into societal pressures.

Join me tomorrow for the other detour which is actually imperative to take before we meet The Adulterous Woman. In fact, we may feel like we know her because of this detour!

Joyfully,

Evinda


P.S. Join us today at 1:00 at www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power for our show about breaking free from co-dependency, a viral disease indeed!

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for taking the time to join me for a little break today. Grab your coffee and let’s get back to this adulterous woman, or at least attempt to get near her today!

We last left off with Jesus telling the officers that came to arrest Him that it wasn’t the time for His arrest, and then He spoke in another riddle, not like the Joker from Batman, either! He said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

What in the world? Now, these words really caused a lot of commotion. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see all of the perplexity around the Temple. They had no idea what to make of Jesus’ words. But something else that’s peculiar is they left Him alone! The let Him be. I wonder why that is? There is no mention of an all-out brawl to try and force Him to go. The only answer that lines up and makes any sense at all is that His appointed time for the arrest that would lead to all of the suffering, the eventual crucifixion that would send Him into hell, His rising again, and thereafter ascending to His rightful place, back with His Father had not yet come, just as prophesied.
Now we are at the last day of the Festival, which is getting us closer to The Adulterous Woman, I promise! We are also nearing His appointed time.

Religious Leader

Imagine hundreds of thousands of people spilling out of the Temple, sitting where they are to celebrate the last day, “that great day of the feast” and somewhere in the crowd is Jesus. Scripture doesn’t allude to His exact location so I’m not sure if He’s inside or outside the Temple. I’m leaning towards inside, but wherever He is He’s surrounded by people, wall-to-wall people. All of a sudden He stands up and – this next word gets my attention – “cried” out. He didn’t just get up, clear His throat, hold His hands up and grab a megaphone to yell for everyone’s attention. He got up and just cried out. I can only imagine what emotion He must have been experiencing because His appointed time was getting closer. But I feel in my gut that it was something else; a yearning to express for almost the last time the message His Father had sent Him to give to all He encountered.

The beauty in His words is they too were/are a fulfillment of prophecy spoken by Abba through Isaiah, and again through John in Revelation. He cried out: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

There is a lot in one of these final outbursts, if you will, so I’ll let you go for now, but take a couple of minutes to dwell upon these words that He cried out to them and to us.

Pondering,

Evinda

P.S. Please join us today for more of Co-Dependent No More on our Blog Talk Radio Show at 1:00 Pacific Time! www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and thanks so much for taking time to take a little break with me. Grab your coffee and let’s get back into this series and see if we get a little closer to The Adulterous Woman.

Religious Leader

So we are at this party, if you will, and we’ve been onlookers in the crowd, the ones murmuring exclamations, questions about Jesus. Now we are going to check out these Pharisees, these religious leaders who are all over the place, clothed in self-righteousness as well as fancy garb. So far we don’t think they’ve really heard everyone’s whispers of questions and opinions, but at this point in scripture, we learn that they did!

I have to interject a little something here — Isn’t that the worst feeling, to be talking about something or someone in secret because you know you shouldn’t be talking about it to anyone, and then that certain someone who you don’t want to hear busts you? Ugh, that has got to be one of the worst feelings, especially if we stay in it and don’t learn from it. Yes, there’s even a great whisper of a lesson in this type of a moment: If it ain’t edifying, it ain’t flying out of my mouth! I fall short in this area every day, but I’m not giving up trying! Okay, back to the crowd and the ticked-off Pharisees!
So the Pharisees all gather together and talk about what they are hearing all the people say in secret. Imagine all this testosterone coming to the surface with each comment repeated that they overheard. Whew, I’ve been in a roomful of male attorneys in the midst of a heated deposition, so I can say I can only imagine! It isn’t pretty; that’s for sure! Anyway, they want to deal with the immediate problem, which in their view is Jesus so they decide to send the officers to take Him.

At this point, I’m not sure where Jesus actually is, inside or outside the Temple, but there is obviously a crowd still gathered because when the officers approach Jesus to arrest Him, He simply says: “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

Wow, what a mouthful. I think we’ll leave that for the next blog. Please join me Monday for more of this series, The Adulterous Woman, whom I know we haven’t even met yet, but I promise, we are getting closer! We just need to set the stage, if you will, for her entrance.

Pursuing truth,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for joining me for a little break at Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and let’s get back to this detour from long ago that is ever so relevant in our lives today.

For those of you joining us for the first time, we are in the midst of the Feast of the Tabernacles; Jesus has just spoken in the Temple about the exceptions that the religious leaders allowed as it related to circumcision on the Sabbath – which was a breach of the Law because it was considered work and His own mercy in healing on the Sabbath.

That caused a major ruckus and there were all kinds of murmurings going on while in the background the religious leaders were plotting His arrest, unbeknownst to the people who were in groups whispering their opinions about this Christ. Those who found Him to be who He said He was could not or would not speak up for Him because of fear of excommunication, which was considered to be one of the most devastating things that could happen to a Jew. To go against every religious law they had been spoon-fed since they were old enough to eat of wisdom would be like swimming up river 24/7; eventually the new way of thinking would be overtaken, drowned out by the old. The pressure was just too much.

The point of this detour is this: Sometimes it feels like that today, at least to me. It’s becoming more and more apparent that we are being surrounded by a host of things that are working 24/7 to rip us away from the One in Whom we put our hope, our trust, our First Love and get us to flow down the stream, spiraling farther from truth, the safety of His grace, mercy, farther away from the new law.

Are we standing in our groups, clicks, and whispering our belief in Him, fearful of what others may think or say, fearful of standing out like a sore thumb? Or are we going against the current, standing in our hope and faith in the One whom we will spend eternity with after it’s all said and done, no matter what the circumstance?

Join me tomorrow as we get back on track and closer to the adulterous woman!

Pondering,

Evinda

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks for joining me at Coffee Hour for a little break and the continuation of The Adulterous Woman, which we still haven’t met, but we are getting close! Grab your coffee and come on in.

We left off with the answer to why everyone was whispering in their little groups at this party: Because if these so-called leaders heard them, their worst nightmare would begin: excommunication from the synagogue.

So this explains why no one would speak up for Jesus -- STOP! We have to take this detour; it’s too relevant in our lives today not to. So let’s look up the definition of excommunicate in the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: excommunication – 1: an ecclesiastical censure depriving a person of the rights of church membership. 2: exclusion from fellowship in a group or community.

Oh, I just saw something else, another interesting fact from the World Encyclopedia: Excommunication – Formal expulsion from the communion of the faithful from sacraments and from rites of a religious body. Largely abandoned by Protestants, excommunication has been retained by Jewish congregations and by the Roman Catholic Church.

Remember, we’re in the New Testament with two major bodies of religion, if you will, Jew and Gentile, sort of like our two governmental bodies, Republican and Democrat, and just as we see the unnecessary fighting between those bodies, imagine that kind of constant rift all because of Jesus and His Father who desired then, and desires still, fellowship and relationship with His chosen people, the Israelites/Jews, and the Gentiles, you and me! I’m trying to paint a verbal picture of constant tension, a major power struggle, if you will, that caused these Jews to whisper their true desire to know more about The Christ that they’d been hearing about for as long as they had been walking.

Religious Leader

Imagine the fascination they must have experienced. Who was this Guy who was said to be abolishing The Law that they had been spoon fed from the time they could eat of spiritual food? Was there really a possibility that they didn’t have to obey the Law down to the letter? If He wasn’t The Christ, how could He know that they didn’t keep the Law Moses had given down to all of them? And what about that guy He healed on the Sabbath?

Oh, yes, there was much conversation going on about Jesus, and I can only imagine the confusion that overwhelmed the hope of those who were searching for The Christ. This type of conversion that believing He to be Who He said He was would be like you and me converting from Christianity (New Testament) to Judaism (Old Testament) theology. Do you feel the jump? It’s almost insurmountable, too much to wrap up on one blog….

Join me for more on this detour Wednesday.

Thoughtfully,

Evinda
P.S. Join me today at 1:00 Pacific time for our Blog Talk Radio show, Breaking Free from Co-Dependency at www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little break. I know life is full of demands and it can be challenging to stop what you’re doing and turn it all off. Grab your coffee and come on in for more of the history surrounding The Adulterous Woman.

So we’ve learned some interesting facts about this party that we’re eventually going to get to and I have to tell you, something tells me we haven’t skimmed all of the facets of its spiritual significance but I know we will see more of it as we get more into this true story. For now, let’s go check out who’s there.

Wow, there’s a bunch of important people here; you can tell by the way they are dressed, and I’m not just speaking of their clothing, either. Their body language is screaming authority in such an audacious way. They are everywhere, or so it seems, standing erect like stone walls with their arms crossed. I think they are the religious leaders.

And who is that lurking in the shadows? Oh, my goodness, is it really Jesus? Why does it look as though He is trying to hide? For some reason, He’s not the life of this party, or so it seems. I’m going to get in a little closer and see if I can hear why that is.

Ah-ha, apparently Jesus had just spoken openly in the Temple, the main location for this country-wide party. Wow, He’s really caused some ruckus among this party. I can hear some people saying “He is good,” and others are saying, “No, He’s not good. He’s trying to deceive the people.” No matter where I go in this crowd, people are in their little groups and Jesus is the topic of their conversations. I still can’t figure out why they are whispering.

Oh, that’s right; they are whispering because the religious leaders were more like dictators and they had a lot of power over the common people. Wow, they are not even trying to mask their authority. They are everywhere, lording over the crowds like a cloud threatening to break open with rain any moment. See, the more Jesus taught and worked publicly, the more these leaders would cause trouble for Him and His followers. Is it any wonder why they are whispering?
If these so-called leaders heard them, their worst nightmare would begin: ex-communication from the synagogue.

We’ll stop right there. Join me Monday as we get closer to The Adulterous Woman.”

Digging for the facts,

Evinda