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.