In John 8:1-11, we read a story about a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Like, caught while she was in the middle of sinning. Crazy, right?
And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery;
and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto Him, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such a woman should be stoned: but what sayest thou?”
This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him.
And worse than being caught in the middle of her sin, which I’m sure she was embarrassed by, they threw her out into the middle of the Temple (filled with a huge crowd of people) and shoved her in front of Jesus.
That’s right. Jesus. The Savior of the world.
He was later going to die for the sin she just committed, and they threw her in front of Him! How mortifying. They told Jesus that she was an adulterer, and reminded Jesus of the law. A woman who has committed adultery is automatically required to be punished by death.
But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not.
So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up himself and said unto them,
“He that is without sin among you, let Him cast the first stone.”
And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground.And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
I wonder what Jesus wrote on the ground those two times? Was he taking an account of her sin? …or theirs?
She was left standing in front of the only person in the universe that could accuse her. Blameless, righteous, and holy in every way possible, Jesus could have easily stoned her for her crime.
When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her,
“Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?”“No one, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
He let her go. He forgave her.
From the moment she was put before him, Christ was the only rational and reliable ally. They smacked judgments on her before she could even defend herself. They didn’t know the circumstances. They assumed she was foul and gross, they didn’t care about her or know her. They just wanted to catch Jesus in a bind. To throw him off His game so they could have a reason to sentence Him to death.
In the same way, the minute you wake up, before you even arrive at school or work, you know that people are judging you and labeling you without truly knowing who you are. You know that when you walk through the door, people are instantly throwing silent labels at you, Velcro signs being thrown at your chest that stick to you all day long.
Whore…Stupid…Ugly…Gross. She’s probably got an STD, they say. He’s probably a cutter. Pathetic. Loser. She’s slept with everyone. He’s going to be a drunk like his dad. She only wears that low-cut shirt to get attention from the boss.
It goes on and on. In our destructive chaos we label ourselves and others. And those words stick. They’re written on us our whole lives.
And in the midst of our actual sins, and our accusatory sins, we’re shoved in front of a holy man who is writing in the sand.
I imagine that he wiped the words that were written and said about this woman away. I imagine those lies and regrettable truths were sent into the air as dust particles. I imagine my Lord, writing on that clean slate “FORGIVEN.”
That is what this shirt is about.
These are words that have been said about her (and you) either to your face or behind your back at one point or another. These are the words that have become your life because of destruction and sin. Loneliness has gotten us all, we’ve all been scared, we’ve all felt used or hurt. We’ve all sinned.
But those words have been wiped away, and, written in the blood of Christ is the proof that we are “FORGIVEN”.
You can start over. Jesus will forgive you of every sin, and silence every person who tries to accuse you, label you, or bring you down. The blood of Christ is pure and holy, capable of washing away any and all manner of sin. Sometimes the sins are not sexual, but bad just the same. There is nothing you can do that Christ cannot forgive.
If Christ has wiped away your mistakes, this is a great shirt to wear around and show others. It’ll give you a chance to share your story and help other women/men who may be going through the same thing.
If you haven’t received Christ’s forgiveness, I encourage you to talk to Him today. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Heck, the woman caught in adultery only said three words to Him.
This shirt is available at http://www.shopnewwine.com
Also, if you’d like to talk about salvation or forgiveness, or anything at all, just email shopnewwine@live.com 🙂
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