Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Go, and Sin No More.

“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

- John 8:10-11




"Go, and from now on do not sin any more." -- now ponder this line for a minute.  

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Jesus believes in us! He believes that we can overcome the sins and struggles in our lives! (only with the help of His grace, of course).  

I've heard this Gospel so many times in the past -- but I've always only reflected on either the "second chance" aspect that Jesus lovingly gives the woman; or on the "do not judge others" aspect he challenged the scribes and Pharisees with ("Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." - Jn 3:7).

It was only while preparing and then teaching this Gospel for a Bible study class last week (see About this Blog) that it struck me: Jesus is not only our Lord, Savior, Strength, Brother, Friend, Hope, Consolation, etc etc... He is also our #1 Cheerleader! And He will root for us until the end of time!  The thought of this touches me to the very core (so much so, that I was brought to tears as I shared this with the class).  

This realization came via one of the books that I used as reference for this session:
The Daily Study Bible Series, The Gospel of John Vol. 2 (Revised Edition), W. Barclay

Sharing with you the portion that reflects on this point:

Jesus's attitude to the sinner involved a number of things.

a) It invovled the second chance.
b) It involved pity.
c) It involved challenge.
d) It involved warning.
e) It involved belief in human nature. 
When we come to think of it, it is a staggering thing that Jesus should say to a woman of loose morals: "Go, and sin no more." The amazing heart-uplifting thing about Him was his belief in men and women. When he was confronted with someone who had gone wrong, he did not say: You are a wretched and a hopeless creature. He said: Go and sin no more. He believed that with His help the sinner has it in him to become the saint. His method was not to blast men with the knowledge -- which they already possessed -- that they were miserable sinners, but to inspire them with the unglimpsed discovery that they were potential saints. 
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And so in times of struggle or frustration along the journey to holiness, I will imagine Jesus telling me, "Kaya mo yan. Kapit ka lang sa akin." 




Images are screenshots from The Passion of the Christ movie.


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