Doodling In The Dirt
What DID Jesus write out when the Pharisees brought Him the adulterous woman?
One of Jesus’ lessons on judging others is from John Chapter 8. I call it “Doodling In The Dirt.” That’s basically what He did while He let our conscience work on us… the story goes something like this…
“The really smart people” - you know, that clique we refer to as the Pharisees? For whatever reason, they always wanted to test Jesus on the Law of Moses. The Law… man, there were a mess of them! They brought before Him a woman caught in the act of adultery. I’ve always wondered why just the woman? I guess it may have been a part of their trap, the plan or attempt to try to get Jesus to quake and falter. They always wanted to one up Jesus.
The Law told the people of the time that they should stone one found guilty of this crime. So the Pharisees posed the question to Jesus: what say ye? His response: wait upon the Lord… “I’m going to doodle in the dirt”… that’s what Jesus did. Then He added, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Oh WoW!! That’s not what the Pharisees expected. Jesus one upped them… once again!! He highlighted the importance of something these folks were overlooking…
Compassion and forgiveness. I wrote some thoughts about the paradox to wisdom, age and spiritual maturity… and the scourge of our communities: anger and jealousy…
Anger and jealously… maybe that’s what motivated the Pharisees? I don’t know, just sayin’…
Back to the story… what happened next?
The Pharisees walked away, oldest to youngest. One by one, they tucked tail and went back to their daily lives.
Was that by age? Or maybe inference to spiritual maturity?
Doodling in the dirt… what DID He write anyway? My best guess is that Jesus was listing out all of the Pharisees’ sins. One by one, they beginning to see the light…
The moral? Sometimes it seems so easy for us to pass judgment on other people and their sin. I just need to focus on me… being a better me… compare myself only to Jesus, and focus on being more like Him. And, try to move cliquey people who tend to draw me to the wrong side of the chessboard out of my life!
Playing God…
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3: 22-23
How long do you think Jesus doodled in the dirt before all of the Pharisees walked away and went back to minding their own business?
