"No Condemnation"

Dear Friends in Christ,                           

   Time Magazine described it as “the social media trial of the century.”  It lasted 6 weeks from May to July of this year.  Since it was broadcast “live” on cable TV, it captivated the attention of many Americans who watched it every opportunity they got.  It was the trial of Casey Marie Anthony who was accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie Anthony in July of 2008.  Now I have to confess that I didn’t watch any of the trial.  In fact, I didn’t even know it was going on until my daughter Bethany told me about it and began to share with me some of the things that were happening with it.  And if I remember correctly, she described it as basically an open and shut case and fully expected, along with millions of other Americans, that Casey Marie Anthony would be found guilty of 1^st degree murder.  But she wasn’t.  Instead she was acquitted, the aftermath of which was not very pretty for those who disagreed with the jury’s verdict.  According to Wikipedia, the Internet’s version of an encyclopedia: “The verdict was greeted with public outrage, and was both attacked and defended by media and legal commentators.”  Regardless of how you or anyone else may feel about her guilt or innocence, the jury’s verdict stands and Casey Marie Anthony is a free woman.  She was declared “not guilty” of the charges that were brought against her and as a result she was not condemned to life in prison or the death penalty.

   Can you imagine the incredible wave of relief that must have swept over Casey Anthony when that verdict was announced?  If you’re a believer in Christ you can because the Apostle Paul reminds us in our text for today that there is now no condemnation, no verdict of guilty, no eternal death penalty for those who are in Christ Jesus.  That’s good news, isn’t it; especially when we take into account what Paul said on another occasion in 2 Cor. 5:10 where he tells us that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”  Now that is a thought that could very easily strike fear into our hearts, couldn’t it?  It certainly did for the man that we especially remember on this particular Sunday of the year, the man who was behind the Protestant Reformation back in the 1500’s.  And that of course would be Martin Luther.

   Luther had been raised in a very strict household and had pretty well been led to believe that Jesus was this terribly mean and stern judge who sits up there in the heavens, watching our every move and waiting for us to step out of line just one time so he can stomp on us and crush us with his wrath.  Consequently, Luther was scared to death of God.  And it was that unhealthy fear of God that ultimately led him to become a monk, for that particular way of living with all of its rigid rules and regulations was considered back then to be one of the surest ways of getting into heaven.

   But no matter how rigid a life Luther lived, no matter how hard he tried to please God and appease God, he never had peace.  He never felt he had done enough.  This, in turn, led him into an even harsher lifestyle.  Sometimes he would whip himself.  Sometimes he would fast for days on end.  Sometimes he would lie naked on his cold and bare wooden floor all night – all in the hopes that by doing these things, by punishing himself and depriving himself of the basic necessities of life, he was somehow earning and winning the mercy and favor of God.  But still he had no peace.

   Let me ask you something, my friends.  Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever been so burdened and so troubled by your sins that you couldn’t possibly believe that God ever could or ever would forgive you and love you?  Have you ever tried to worm your way into his good graces through your own faulty efforts?  If you have and if, like Luther, you still didn’t have any peace, then boy do I ever have a good story to share with you today.  It’s one that I’m sure most of us have heard before, but it’s one that we need to hear again and again because it reminds us so well of what Paul tells us in our text for today when he says that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

   This story can be found in the 8^th chapter of John’s Gospel where we are told at dawn one day Jesus went to the temple courts in order to teach the people.  And right in the middle of his lesson, a most unexpected interruption took place and a most amazing scene began to unfold.

   We’re told that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees – the religious elite of the Jews – brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery to see what he would do with her.  Now right away that raises a question that you may have never thought of before and that question is, where was the man?  If the woman was caught in the act of adultery, the man must have been there too, right? So where was he?  Maybe I’m being overly suspicious here, but I kind of wonder whether this was a set up, whether the man had been hired by these Jewish leaders to get this woman in bed so that they could then use her as an object lesson to try and trap Jesus.  It would certainly not be beneath these leaders to do something like that, for a year or 2 later they would actually hire false witnesses to come in and testify against Jesus just to get him sentenced to death.

   And we are told in the account of this story that the whole purpose of bringing this woman to Jesus was to trap him and provide some basis of accusation that they could bring against him.  And oh did they ever set the perfect trap for Jesus, or so they must have thought, for from their vantage point, this was a no-win situation for Jesus.  If Jesus said that the woman should be stoned, which is precisely what the Law of Moses required, then they could go to the Romans and get Jesus into trouble for subverting Roman law.  You see, ever since Rome had taken over the Jewish nation, it had taken away the Jews’ authority to carry out their own death penalty.  Furthermore, if Jesus did indeed insist that justice prevail and this woman be stoned, then that would significantly harm his reputation of being a kind, compassionate, and loving human being, right?

   But then there was the other side of the coin.  If Jesus said the woman should not be stoned but should be set free, then the leaders of the Jews could accuse him of subverting the Law of Moses which demanded the death penalty in cases of adultery.  Can you see then how carefully and meticulously these Jewish leaders had crafted their plan and set their trap for Jesus?

   So what did Jesus do?  Well, John’s account of this story says: “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.”  Hmmm – that’s a strange reaction, isn’t it?  By the way, this is the only instance in the Gospels where we are told Jesus wrote and for centuries Bible scholars have debated what he wrote.  Was he just doodling in the dust or writing out the Hebrew alphabet?  I don’t think so.  Rather I’m inclined to go along with those scholars who believe Jesus was writing something more significant than that.

   Picture him for a moment looking up at the crowd that has gathered around him and then fixing his gaze on one man who is especially bent on stoning this woman.  Then the all-knowing Christ writes his name in the dirt.  Let’s call him Eliezer.  Then beside that name Jesus writes the name Miriam, which is not the name of his wife but the name of his secret mistress.  Then Jesus locks eyes with another man.  Let’s say his name is Ananias and he writes in the dirt that name along with the word “embezzler” beside it.  Then he singles out Eliphaz, one of the chief businessmen in town, and writes the word “fraud” next to his name in the dirt.  And on and on it goes until finally Jesus stands up and speaks the most famous words of this story: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”  Then he stoops down again and continues to write on the ground the names of the accusers and their sins until one by one you can hear the stones being dropped to the ground – thud, thud, thud – as this self-appointed lynch mob slowly disperses until there are only 2 people remaining: Jesus and the woman.  And by the way, in case you missed it, there was one individual there that day who fit Jesus’ description of one who had the moral right and authority to stone this woman because he was without sin, and that one, of course, was Jesus.  But is that what Jesus did?  Absolutely not!  Instead, after everyone had left, he straightened himself up and asked this woman who was no doubt convinced just a few moments ago that this would be her last day on earth and that it would end in a very painful way: “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  To which she replied, “No one, sir.”  Then Jesus spoke words that must have flooded this woman’s heart with joy and relief as he said, “Then neither do I condemn you.”

   Now please understand that by that statement Jesus was not condoning what this woman did.  He wasn’t giving it his stamp of approval or making light of it.  For he does add one more statement which proves this.  He tells her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  He grants her a new beginning, a new lease on life, and someday in heaven I look forward to meeting and sitting at the feet of this once adulterous but now forgiven woman and hearing her share with God’s people up there how she spent the rest of her life.

   But the reason I wanted to share this story with you today is because it certainly gives a whole new meaning to the words of our text, doesn’t it?  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  No condemnation for a woman caught in the act of adultery?  That’s right.  And no condemnation for a whole host of other people in the Bible that deserved it, but instead found mercy and forgiveness at God’s throne of grace when they came there with humble, repentant, and sorrowful hearts.  People like Peter who denied his Lord and Master 3 times; people like the penitent thief who was crucified with Jesus but who in his dying moments recognized who he was and pleaded for mercy; people like St. Paul who at one time in his life was a vehement hater and persecutor of Christians which led him to refer to himself in I Timothy as the chief of sinners.

   Do you understand what all this means for you, my friends?  I want you at this moment to apply the words of our text to yourself: “There is now no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus.”  Think about that.  What great sin or sins have you been guilty of lately or anytime during your life?  Maybe it was the sin of adultery like the woman in our story today or the sin of premarital sex.  Maybe you had an abortion.  Maybe you slandered somebody’s good name and were instrumental in ruining their reputation.  Maybe you cheated not on your spouse but on your taxes.  Maybe you allowed yourself to get sucked into the dark world of pornography.  Maybe you turned your back on God – not that you did it intentionally, but you’ve been absent from his house for a long, long time for no good reason or excuse.  Maybe you’ve been guilty of putting other things ahead of God in your life.  Maybe you have a problem with profanity or lying or keeping your anger under control.  And maybe, because of your sins, you live in fear of the day when you will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

   If any of this describes you, my friends, please take comfort in the words of our text that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  And why isn’t there?  Simply because Jesus suffered that condemnation for you when he went to the cross and died there in your place.  And when you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, place your faith and trust in him as your Savior from sin, you are then considered by God to be “in Christ Jesus.”  And he not only forgives you for what you’ve done wrong, he takes it one step further.  No, he takes it 2 steps further.  He first of all clothes you in the perfect righteousness of Christ so that when he looks at you he no longer sees your sins but rather the perfect righteousness and holiness of Jesus covering those sins.  And then he gives you his Holy Spirit who takes up residence in your heart and makes your body his temple and gives you the desire, the will, the power to live a God-pleasing and God-honoring life.

   I close then with one of my all-time favorite stories that illustrates so beautifully for us why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…Eternal Harmony.

Amen.