I was listening to an Erwin McManus sermon in the car today and he told a story he found in Sports Illustrated about a football player with no legs.Turns out the refs came out after halftime and said that he couldn't play because he wasn't wearing any shoes, knee pads, or thigh pads, and according to the rules, a player must be wearing those items. Forget the fact that the student has no legs and therefore doesn't need shoes or knee pads or thigh pads - a rule is a rule.
This is what a small band of Pharisees were doing in John 8:1-11 (yes, the highly-contested-and-possibly-not-original John 8:1-11). They dragged a woman to Jesus claiming she had been caught in adultery and therefore deserved to be stoned to death. A rule was a rule.
But Jesus wisely turns the situation back on to the accusers. If they were without sin and completely spotless in observing the law, then they could condemn her. Thankfully they knew the truth (their self-righteousness hadn't completely blinded them to their own sin). And so they dropped their stones, and walked away.
How often do we hear of (or even witness) people's sin and condemn them? When a husband confesses unfaithfulness, we immediately judge him and give the wife the out of divorce (it's allowed in Scripture - a rule is a rule!). When an unmarried girl finds herself pregnant, we judge her and emotionally ostracize her (after all, Paul judged those engaged in sexual sin - a rule is a rule!). When a fellow Christian ends up drunk, we heap on shame for such an unbiblical act (for Ephesians says "do not get drunk" - a rule is a rule!).
What is happening here is we are loving the rule, the law, more than the person who is violating the law. If I remember my Bible correctly though, God loves His creation, the world, so much (even more than His laws) that he sent his only Son to pay the penalty for violating the law.
Are you quick to condemn, or to love? Do you cling to spiritual rules, or do you cling to God and follow His heart toward loving people?
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