by Pastor Tim White
Jesus ended his day by going to the Mount of Olives. (John 8:1)
This may have been where he slept while he was at Jerusalem doing his ministry. Just the thought of Jesus camping outside the city shows how startling he was in his commonness. Jesus said, “the foxes have dens, and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (John 8:20)
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that at other times Jesus would stay at Mary and Martha’s home which was located close to the Mount of Olives. Regardless, Jesus was not a rich celebrity but was very much the common man we are so startled by. On this day noted in the Gospel of John, Jesus gets up at dawn and goes to the temple courts to minister to people. The Bible says that people gathered around Jesus to listen to him teach. While Jesus was there his religious enemies tried to trap him by bringing in a woman caught in sin. They tried to pressure Jesus to comply with the Old Testament law that she should be killed by stoning. There must have been the sound of the woman weeping in fear mixed with the brutal accusations of the men wanting to murder her. In all this commotion, Jesus calmly wrote something in the dust. We have our ideas of what he wrote, but no one knows for sure. We read, however, that Jesus told them, “Let he who is without sin could cast the first stone.” All of them left in shame. And Jesus said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you go and sin no more.”
Later the Apostle Paul commented on this very aspect of Jesus in Romans 8:1. “Therefore there is now no Condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I think if you followed Jesus in the first century you would be startled at how unpretentious he was and how forgiving he would be to you. And the best part would be how personal he would be when he spoke softly “Now go and sin no more.” - I don’t know about you, but I love following Jesus.
Your friend for the rest of my life,
Pastor Tim White
Note: Join us this weekend as Pastor Tim closes out “The Battle for Your Mind” series with this week’s powerful message “Rejoice Principle.” Join us in praising the name of Jesus at our in-person service at Spirit Falls Sanctuary in Redmond, WA. Or join us online via Facebook Live, YouTube Live, WaCathedral App, or on our website at www.wacathedral.org. Services are at 10:30 am every Sunday (or you can catch our online services at any time after the livestream start time.)