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Thursday, October 14, 2010

“Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment”

(Part 1)


“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?”

John 8:1-5

The Pharisees had once again skillfully manipulated the situation in an attempt to trap Jesus. They waited eagerly to hear what Jesus would say. Would he reject the Law of Moses and give them a basis for accusing him? Would he agree that she must be stoned and position himself with the other religious leaders of his day? What would he have to say in the face of this woman’s blatant sinfulness?

As he stooped down to write on the ground they kept pressing him for an answer, questioning him, and prodding him to take a position. And although they were wanting to “know” for all the wrong reasons, there stood among them a woman who, too, was anxiously waiting to hear what Jesus had to say! This woman was a sinner. These were not fabricated charges. She had been caught in the act of adultery. She had willfully and knowingly transgressed God’s Law. She was well aware that if she was ever caught, it meant she would be stoned to death. She makes no defense for her actions. The Pharisees seized the opportunity and dragged the woman before Jesus for judgment.

All of this played out in the Temple Courts where just a few hundred feet away was the Holy of Holies. At one time, the Holy of Holies had housed the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark was the very Law of Moses to which the Pharisees had made reference. It was here that the High Priest would enter ,once a year, to make atonement for the people. The blood was applied to the lid of the Ark, known as the Mercy Seat. It is the place where God promised to meet them:

“There, above the mercy seat between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”
Exodus 25:22

The mercy seat depicts for us how mercy and grace overshadow the Law. Judgment and death were the penalty for sin, but mercy could be found through grace and faith in the blood. God established the mercy seat as the place He would meet and commune with His people. It was the place where sins were atoned and redemption imparted. God desires to meet us in a place of mercy where He can extend His grace toward us.

Here in the Temple Courts Jesus straightened up and said:

“If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

John 8:7

He did not minimize the severity of her sin. Nor did He trivialize the weightiness of the Law. Rather, He chose that His first encounter with this woman be at the mercy seat rather than the judgment seat. God never brings people to judgment without first extending His hand of mercy.


Pastor Scott Burr http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com

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