1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,650 Hey everybody, thanks for joining us as we finish out this Thanksgiving week 2 00:00:04,650 --> 00:00:09,500 and hope you and yours are doing well and in whatever way you're celebrating. 3 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:11,700 Holiday, thanks for joining us. 4 00:00:11,700 --> 00:00:14,150 We are halfway through a story. 5 00:00:14,150 --> 00:00:17,116 We try not to break stories in the middle when we can, 6 00:00:17,116 --> 00:00:19,133 but this is an interesting one. 7 00:00:19,133 --> 00:00:22,550 And with the week, we thought it worked well to handle it in kind of two sections. 8 00:00:22,950 --> 00:00:25,166 This is out of John chapter eight. 9 00:00:25,166 --> 00:00:27,950 The woman caught in adultery. 10 00:00:27,950 --> 00:00:30,716 If you missed yesterday or the session 11 00:00:30,716 --> 00:00:33,716 before this, it might be helpful, 12 00:00:34,283 --> 00:00:37,200 to go back and pick that up because there is some background 13 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,283 and some interesting stuff about this text itself. 14 00:00:40,616 --> 00:00:44,600 But in terms of the story, just a quick recap of yesterday's 15 00:00:44,816 --> 00:00:48,466 the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, the scribes. 16 00:00:48,466 --> 00:00:52,133 They've brought Jesus, a woman who they say was caught in adultery. 17 00:00:52,766 --> 00:00:55,516 In fact, it says in the very act of adultery. 18 00:00:55,516 --> 00:00:59,250 And they have tried to trap Jesus by saying, what should we do? 19 00:00:59,516 --> 00:01:01,316 The law says, stoned her. 20 00:01:01,316 --> 00:01:06,233 What do you say if Jesus says, stone her, he's sideways with Roman law. 21 00:01:06,533 --> 00:01:10,350 If he says, don't stone her, he's sideways with Jewish law. 22 00:01:10,650 --> 00:01:11,900 They think they have him. 23 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:13,616 And then Jesus responds 24 00:01:13,616 --> 00:01:18,500 by bending to write on the ground, which is a very interesting detail. 25 00:01:18,983 --> 00:01:21,050 That's where we picked up the story. 26 00:01:21,050 --> 00:01:22,883 Jesus has been writing on the ground 27 00:01:23,866 --> 00:01:26,250 and we jump back in here. 28 00:01:26,250 --> 00:01:27,866 What would that be? Verse. 29 00:01:27,866 --> 00:01:29,566 Looks like verse seven. 30 00:01:29,566 --> 00:01:32,566 So when they kept on questioning him, 31 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:36,316 he straightened up and he said to them, 32 00:01:36,916 --> 00:01:39,916 let any one among you without sin 33 00:01:40,250 --> 00:01:43,250 be the first to throw the stone at her. 34 00:01:44,066 --> 00:01:46,583 And once again he bent down 35 00:01:46,583 --> 00:01:49,583 and began to write on the ground. 36 00:01:49,850 --> 00:01:52,666 When they heard it, they went away 37 00:01:52,666 --> 00:01:55,850 one by one, beginning with the oldest. 38 00:01:57,016 --> 00:02:00,350 And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 39 00:02:01,550 --> 00:02:03,500 Jesus straightened up 40 00:02:03,500 --> 00:02:06,450 and said to her, woman, where are they? 41 00:02:06,450 --> 00:02:09,350 Has no one condemned you? 42 00:02:09,350 --> 00:02:11,516 She said, no one, sir. 43 00:02:11,516 --> 00:02:14,516 And Jesus said, the neither do I condemn you. 44 00:02:15,433 --> 00:02:17,066 Go on your way. 45 00:02:17,066 --> 00:02:20,150 And from now on do not sin again. 46 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,350 So this is one of those moments. 47 00:02:25,733 --> 00:02:28,733 We see it in the gospel whenever someone thinks 48 00:02:28,850 --> 00:02:31,850 they have Jesus cornered, they don't. 49 00:02:31,916 --> 00:02:33,566 That that's especially true. 50 00:02:33,566 --> 00:02:39,566 I think in the Gospel of John, Jesus is writing on the ground and they press him. 51 00:02:39,566 --> 00:02:42,233 Jesus, give us an answer that we mentioned yesterday. 52 00:02:42,233 --> 00:02:45,233 That may be Jesus way of withdrawing and saying, look, 53 00:02:45,233 --> 00:02:48,233 I'm not interested in this game you're playing. 54 00:02:48,316 --> 00:02:51,000 You don't really care about my answer. 55 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,733 I know this is a trap, but they say, come on, Jesus answer, give us your answer. 56 00:02:56,150 --> 00:03:01,733 So he he says this rather well known and I suppose famous line 57 00:03:02,183 --> 00:03:06,266 let anyone without sin cast the first stone. 58 00:03:06,716 --> 00:03:10,733 And, I think it's very interesting, like, or how Jesus has now 59 00:03:11,216 --> 00:03:15,750 flipped the script and it's the Pharisees and, 60 00:03:16,916 --> 00:03:17,633 scribes 61 00:03:17,633 --> 00:03:20,633 who now find themselves sort of the ones being trapped. 62 00:03:20,666 --> 00:03:24,716 This is not the only story of this genre in the Gospels. 63 00:03:24,716 --> 00:03:28,916 There are often these moments, like Solomon's wisdom, where 64 00:03:29,716 --> 00:03:33,316 this seemingly impossible problem is brought to Jesus, 65 00:03:33,316 --> 00:03:37,916 and he cuts between both of these impossible polarities. 66 00:03:37,916 --> 00:03:40,066 And, you know, we find a new way. 67 00:03:40,066 --> 00:03:44,700 But, Clint, I do think that this story, because of how relatable it is, 68 00:03:44,700 --> 00:03:49,366 or at least we can imagine it, even if it's not relatable to our specific 69 00:03:49,366 --> 00:03:50,000 life experience. 70 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,900 We can imagine being in a socially vulnerable, 71 00:03:54,650 --> 00:03:58,100 a moment, an experience of being outed 72 00:03:58,100 --> 00:04:01,883 for our deepest sinfulness, that this is the stuff of nightmares. 73 00:04:01,883 --> 00:04:07,800 And here, when we see Jesus reaching down whatever he's writing, 74 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,100 we I think it's wise to go back to that previous conversation. 75 00:04:11,100 --> 00:04:13,250 Let's not get fixated on what the writing is. 76 00:04:13,250 --> 00:04:15,500 Let's get so fixated here. 77 00:04:15,500 --> 00:04:18,616 Jesus is it is disconnected 78 00:04:18,616 --> 00:04:23,100 from the kind of risk that is at play for him. 79 00:04:23,266 --> 00:04:23,566 Right? 80 00:04:23,566 --> 00:04:27,450 Because the tension here is the Pharisees, the scribes, 81 00:04:27,450 --> 00:04:31,616 they're coming to trap Jesus using this woman as a pawn. 82 00:04:31,950 --> 00:04:34,500 But Jesus doesn't view the woman as a pawn. 83 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:36,866 He doesn't see her as a means to an end. 84 00:04:36,866 --> 00:04:39,350 So he sees her in her full humanity. 85 00:04:39,350 --> 00:04:43,166 His compassion is for her, and it leads him down 86 00:04:43,166 --> 00:04:46,350 the path that the leaders had not even considered. 87 00:04:46,350 --> 00:04:49,433 They thought it was trapping Jesus between 88 00:04:49,433 --> 00:04:53,000 Roman rule and law and the law of Moses. 89 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Whereas Jesus sees God's beloved 90 00:04:56,266 --> 00:05:02,066 care for his daughter for for someone who God knows by name. 91 00:05:02,066 --> 00:05:05,066 And that's the kind of turn and the story 92 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:10,066 which has something to teach us, yes, about Jesus's wisdom and his ability 93 00:05:10,066 --> 00:05:14,116 to disarm his opponents, though in John we're not surprised by that. 94 00:05:14,116 --> 00:05:15,150 At this point. 95 00:05:15,150 --> 00:05:19,516 It also has something to teach us about how Jesus views the world 96 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,550 radically different in its power structure 97 00:05:22,550 --> 00:05:25,966 than the people who are the religious leaders coming against him. 98 00:05:25,966 --> 00:05:30,466 The reason that they are so rattled and so threatened is because Jesus represents 99 00:05:30,466 --> 00:05:35,716 something other than the common sense that everyone knew had to be the case. 100 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:37,883 Jesus saw the kingdom. 101 00:05:37,883 --> 00:05:40,066 Jesus revealed the kingdom. 102 00:05:40,066 --> 00:05:44,266 Jesus initiated the kingdom in a way that none of these leaders 103 00:05:44,266 --> 00:05:45,266 could have anticipated. 104 00:05:45,266 --> 00:05:49,316 Then I just think these words let anyone among you who's without sin 105 00:05:49,316 --> 00:05:53,966 be the first to throw a stone at her has a way of both humanizing this woman, 106 00:05:54,233 --> 00:05:58,016 but interestingly, also humanizing these men, 107 00:05:58,016 --> 00:06:03,166 because where they might have been taking the law as an excuse for their own 108 00:06:03,166 --> 00:06:09,016 inherent sinfulness here, Jesus also has a deftly pointed out 109 00:06:09,016 --> 00:06:12,800 the hypocrisy of that position that they, too, are sinners 110 00:06:13,350 --> 00:06:14,450 who stand in need of grace. 111 00:06:14,450 --> 00:06:20,066 And so it's that moment, I think, where Jesus is both revealing a different way. 112 00:06:20,216 --> 00:06:22,216 He's disarming the powers that be. 113 00:06:22,216 --> 00:06:23,550 He he's showing us 114 00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:28,283 what God looks like when he encounters the brokenness of humanity. 115 00:06:28,283 --> 00:06:31,916 And it's both for the one who claims the law and the one 116 00:06:31,916 --> 00:06:35,266 who stands in judgment of the law, and Christ is the Christ. 117 00:06:35,266 --> 00:06:36,500 For both of them. 118 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:39,866 So I love this part of the story. 119 00:06:39,866 --> 00:06:43,200 You know, these men bring this woman to Jesus. 120 00:06:43,466 --> 00:06:45,266 She's a sinner. 121 00:06:45,266 --> 00:06:47,333 She's unrighteous. 122 00:06:47,333 --> 00:06:51,266 The law says that we who are righteous are to punish her by death. 123 00:06:51,916 --> 00:06:54,233 And Jesus says, yeah, okay. 124 00:06:54,233 --> 00:06:57,016 If that's if that's what you want to do, then 125 00:06:58,016 --> 00:06:58,583 whoever's 126 00:06:58,583 --> 00:07:01,616 without sin, you get it started, right? 127 00:07:01,666 --> 00:07:05,300 You go first and then he bends down again like, 128 00:07:05,933 --> 00:07:08,566 okay, yeah, don't do what you're going to do. 129 00:07:08,566 --> 00:07:12,866 And he he again sort of detaches himself from it. 130 00:07:13,283 --> 00:07:16,166 And now he's put them in a bind, 131 00:07:16,166 --> 00:07:19,166 because anyone who would do that 132 00:07:19,250 --> 00:07:22,166 first throwing of the stone 133 00:07:22,166 --> 00:07:25,916 would therefore be making the claim that they are without sin. 134 00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:29,300 So, so they would be sinning in their pride, 135 00:07:29,966 --> 00:07:32,966 in their hubris, in their self-righteousness. 136 00:07:33,050 --> 00:07:37,883 And and so Jesus disarms what they can do. 137 00:07:37,916 --> 00:07:40,850 He he, he upholds the law. 138 00:07:40,850 --> 00:07:43,550 He doesn't get sideways with Rome. 139 00:07:43,550 --> 00:07:48,000 And he reframes the issue from person to theirs. 140 00:07:48,466 --> 00:07:49,766 Yeah, she's a sinner. 141 00:07:49,766 --> 00:07:53,300 What about you? Any of you then, aren't you? 142 00:07:53,300 --> 00:07:57,416 Throw the rock and then there's this beautiful line, Michael, that 143 00:07:58,050 --> 00:08:02,850 they went away one by one, beginning with the elders or the oldest. 144 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,016 We don't know 145 00:08:06,016 --> 00:08:09,616 exactly what to do with that, but it probably means 146 00:08:10,133 --> 00:08:15,450 that those who had been around longer knew that they were had, that they gave up. 147 00:08:15,450 --> 00:08:17,450 You know, when you're young and stubborn, 148 00:08:17,450 --> 00:08:21,000 maybe you hang in there longer thinking, we can't believe he got us. 149 00:08:21,266 --> 00:08:23,033 The older man. 150 00:08:23,033 --> 00:08:26,100 They seem to know we've lost this round. 151 00:08:26,566 --> 00:08:30,050 And then one by one, they go away. 152 00:08:30,050 --> 00:08:35,216 Which is a very interesting place that John takes us in the story, 153 00:08:35,450 --> 00:08:40,216 that eventually it's Jesus and the woman left alone. 154 00:08:40,883 --> 00:08:43,466 And then Jesus says, well, where, where are they? 155 00:08:43,466 --> 00:08:46,466 Have are is there no one here to condemn you? 156 00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:49,033 And of course, the answer is 157 00:08:49,033 --> 00:08:52,433 am I going or the real question, am I going to condemn you? 158 00:08:52,433 --> 00:08:55,066 And Jesus says no. 159 00:08:55,066 --> 00:08:59,700 And then, because grace is always followed with responsibility, 160 00:09:01,016 --> 00:09:05,100 go. And from now don't sin again. 161 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:07,733 In other words, rethink your life. 162 00:09:07,733 --> 00:09:11,366 Reevaluate your choices. Try to do better. 163 00:09:11,366 --> 00:09:15,016 I mean, this is a woman who, by all claims 164 00:09:15,016 --> 00:09:18,916 at least, was committing adultery, are involved in adultery. 165 00:09:18,916 --> 00:09:21,533 And so Jesus calls her to something better. 166 00:09:21,533 --> 00:09:25,100 It's really, really interesting way that John weaves 167 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:28,616 this story together and delivers us to the conclusion. 168 00:09:28,766 --> 00:09:32,750 I think you're exactly right to point out to us, and to direct our attention 169 00:09:32,750 --> 00:09:36,800 to the fact that when Jesus asked, has anyone condemned you? 170 00:09:36,966 --> 00:09:40,800 The ultimate answer to his own question is his statement. 171 00:09:41,033 --> 00:09:44,716 Neither do I condemn you that there's a kind of implicit 172 00:09:45,050 --> 00:09:48,150 rounding out of this entire story in that comment. 173 00:09:48,466 --> 00:09:54,000 I also want to point out, though, that now we see how the bending down to the dirt 174 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,150 provides another kind of bookend towards a similar vein. 175 00:09:57,150 --> 00:10:01,316 In the first point, he gets down with her in the second. 176 00:10:01,950 --> 00:10:04,016 In the Gospel of John. 177 00:10:04,016 --> 00:10:07,733 Of all of the Gospels, we know that Jesus Christ is perfect. 178 00:10:07,733 --> 00:10:08,900 He's sinless. 179 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:11,216 He has nothing to confess. Right? 180 00:10:11,216 --> 00:10:14,216 And so when Jesus says, let anyone 181 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,700 who is without sin to be the first to throw a stone at her, 182 00:10:17,716 --> 00:10:21,150 he reaches down to the very place he would pick up a stone. 183 00:10:21,500 --> 00:10:24,766 And there he continues to simply write. 184 00:10:24,766 --> 00:10:29,966 In other words, Jesus Christ stands as the one who is the just judge. 185 00:10:29,966 --> 00:10:33,950 In that moment, he could have been the one to throw that first stone 186 00:10:33,950 --> 00:10:39,116 because of the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is thoroughly and unendingly 187 00:10:39,116 --> 00:10:45,266 and perfectly sinless, and here his choice to just go back to the writing 188 00:10:45,266 --> 00:10:49,283 that he was doing ultimately seals the fate of these religious leaders 189 00:10:49,283 --> 00:10:50,633 who come after him. 190 00:10:50,633 --> 00:10:54,600 And I think one of the really fascinating ways 191 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,600 that the text ends is exactly how you pointed out 192 00:10:57,866 --> 00:11:00,866 how at the end of all of this, neither do I condemn you. 193 00:11:00,916 --> 00:11:04,200 Then he says, go your way, and from now on 194 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,200 do not sin again, that once again 195 00:11:07,550 --> 00:11:11,850 Jesus has violated the kind of polarities, 196 00:11:11,850 --> 00:11:15,950 the kind of opposites that the Pharisees and scribes tried to create. 197 00:11:16,133 --> 00:11:21,316 Because if this story was only grace, if it was only compassion, it was only 198 00:11:21,500 --> 00:11:25,766 you should be nice to other people, because you have times in your life 199 00:11:25,766 --> 00:11:28,050 when you would like it if people were nice to you. 200 00:11:28,050 --> 00:11:32,900 If that's all that this was, it would still be an amazingly deep 201 00:11:32,900 --> 00:11:36,683 spiritual teaching, but not at the level that this is because 202 00:11:36,833 --> 00:11:40,966 Jesus here, who is the resurrection and the life, who is the judge, 203 00:11:41,216 --> 00:11:45,766 and also the one who's given as the as the judgment. 204 00:11:45,833 --> 00:11:47,633 He is the one 205 00:11:47,633 --> 00:11:51,900 who sends this woman out and says, May your life be turned upside down. 206 00:11:51,900 --> 00:11:53,183 It live differently. 207 00:11:53,183 --> 00:11:56,783 May this moment cause a new kind of holiness, 208 00:11:56,783 --> 00:11:59,566 a new kind of encounter in the kingdom that's being proclaimed. 209 00:11:59,566 --> 00:12:02,900 It's not just grace, it's also a new life, 210 00:12:02,900 --> 00:12:06,000 new opportunity, new moral, new ethic. 211 00:12:06,416 --> 00:12:10,283 There's a whole kind of transformation here, 212 00:12:10,466 --> 00:12:13,350 not just even in the Pharisees and the scribes. 213 00:12:13,350 --> 00:12:16,733 We see Jesus sees the world larger 214 00:12:16,916 --> 00:12:19,916 than even the kind of polarities that it was presented to him. 215 00:12:20,450 --> 00:12:23,783 There's a kind of beautiful wrap up teaching at the end of the story 216 00:12:24,150 --> 00:12:26,633 that I just really appreciate. 217 00:12:26,633 --> 00:12:31,733 John is showing us that Jesus is grace, but also truth. 218 00:12:31,966 --> 00:12:34,733 Jesus is love, but that love sometimes 219 00:12:34,733 --> 00:12:37,733 takes us to very difficult places and hard choices. 220 00:12:37,733 --> 00:12:40,166 And Jesus wants what's best for this woman, 221 00:12:40,166 --> 00:12:43,433 and he wants her to not just be alive in body. 222 00:12:43,433 --> 00:12:45,233 At the end of this ordeal. 223 00:12:45,233 --> 00:12:49,133 He wants her to be alive in spirit, to live in abundant life. 224 00:12:49,366 --> 00:12:53,933 And he invites her onto that path after she's seen who he is. 225 00:12:54,083 --> 00:12:55,500 I agree completely, Michael. 226 00:12:55,500 --> 00:12:58,500 This is a beautifully crafted ending 227 00:12:58,950 --> 00:13:01,950 where Jesus and the woman are together. 228 00:13:02,250 --> 00:13:07,250 You know, when you when you cut through all of the stuff, the, the trap, 229 00:13:07,250 --> 00:13:11,033 the test, the self-righteousness, the let's get him 230 00:13:11,250 --> 00:13:16,500 when all of that confronts Jesus and loses, it goes away. 231 00:13:16,916 --> 00:13:21,083 And then this woman who is guilty in the context of the story, 232 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,800 is left alone with the only one 233 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,800 who could throw the first stone. 234 00:13:27,916 --> 00:13:31,700 He is the only one able and worthy 235 00:13:32,116 --> 00:13:36,200 to cast judgment and carry out sentence on her sin. 236 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,266 And instead he says, neither do I condemn you. 237 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,966 And from that moment of grace calls her to a different way of living. 238 00:13:46,966 --> 00:13:49,966 And that's such a beautiful summary 239 00:13:50,183 --> 00:13:53,033 of the Christian experience in some way. 240 00:13:53,033 --> 00:13:56,033 What every Christian goes through, 241 00:13:56,033 --> 00:14:00,500 maybe with sins, we'd like to think less serious than hers. 242 00:14:00,983 --> 00:14:05,300 But still, there is that moment where each of us encounters 243 00:14:05,300 --> 00:14:08,666 the one who could condemn us for our 244 00:14:08,666 --> 00:14:11,700 failures, but instead chooses 245 00:14:12,683 --> 00:14:14,566 to be gracious to us 246 00:14:14,566 --> 00:14:18,900 and set us on a better path, or call us to a better way of living. 247 00:14:18,900 --> 00:14:19,433 This. 248 00:14:19,433 --> 00:14:23,416 This is almost this comes very close 249 00:14:23,416 --> 00:14:26,900 to leaving the realm of story for me and becoming sermon. 250 00:14:26,900 --> 00:14:31,766 I just think it is that well crafted in that well-told 251 00:14:32,116 --> 00:14:36,900 that it holds together so perfectly and delivers us to that moment. 252 00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:38,333 At the end is I. 253 00:14:38,333 --> 00:14:41,300 This is an incredibly well-written passage. 254 00:14:41,300 --> 00:14:46,583 I really cannot help but reiterate that that's literally where I was going. 255 00:14:46,766 --> 00:14:50,116 I was going to make the case that I think 256 00:14:50,783 --> 00:14:53,450 admitting the bias, that there's two people who 257 00:14:53,450 --> 00:14:57,266 who preach, and that's a part of our identity and service in the church. 258 00:14:57,266 --> 00:15:00,266 But when you look at this story, 259 00:15:00,766 --> 00:15:04,550 it is all inclusive in a powerful way. 260 00:15:04,550 --> 00:15:10,466 It it transcends teaching morality like we think of in a classroom 261 00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:14,033 context where we say, you should do this or you should not do this. 262 00:15:14,450 --> 00:15:18,983 What this story does is it turns to narrative 263 00:15:19,250 --> 00:15:23,716 to display the truth of who all of us are at the core, 264 00:15:24,266 --> 00:15:28,966 and then to reveal to us what Jesus's response to that sin is. 265 00:15:28,966 --> 00:15:32,866 And I think a way that you could imagine this story in light of that, 266 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:38,550 is to ask the question, who is faithful to the faith less 267 00:15:38,933 --> 00:15:40,433 in this story 268 00:15:40,433 --> 00:15:45,200 that the scribes and Pharisees are interested in using the faith less one 269 00:15:45,750 --> 00:15:49,316 towards their own ends, and in doing so they reached their own 270 00:15:49,316 --> 00:15:51,150 kind of faithlessness. 271 00:15:51,150 --> 00:15:55,766 But there's one who is got to stick with it for this woman. 272 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Jesus Christ cares nothing about advancement, 273 00:15:59,116 --> 00:16:00,916 and it really this story is not even about him 274 00:16:00,916 --> 00:16:05,100 winning in the sense that he doesn't take away points from the crowd. 275 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:08,483 There's no reference that Jesus is hailed as a wise teacher. 276 00:16:08,483 --> 00:16:11,416 Now, there's a kind of simple, 277 00:16:13,016 --> 00:16:16,016 and by simple I don't mean deep. 278 00:16:16,216 --> 00:16:21,083 There is a understandable turn in this story where we can, for a moment, 279 00:16:21,083 --> 00:16:26,066 if we're but willing to hear it, a kind of sermon that invites us 280 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:31,466 to turn our own faithlessness over to the one who is faithful. 281 00:16:31,466 --> 00:16:35,416 And yes, this is a devotional way of reading the text, but 282 00:16:36,150 --> 00:16:39,600 whether or not this should be included, as you know, 283 00:16:39,683 --> 00:16:42,650 not being in those first manuscripts, what he wrote in The Dirt, 284 00:16:42,650 --> 00:16:44,416 you know, all these kind of technical details 285 00:16:44,416 --> 00:16:47,850 we've talked about in the previous study in and glossed over today. 286 00:16:47,850 --> 00:16:50,850 Clint, I, I think in spades. 287 00:16:50,850 --> 00:16:54,916 This story encapsulates the story of who Jesus Christ is 288 00:16:54,916 --> 00:16:59,266 and does so in a way that moves not just minds, but hearts. 289 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:04,050 And I think it resonates today in this gospel with the Jesus portrayed 290 00:17:04,283 --> 00:17:10,100 as perfect, as wise, as discerning, and as an all loving and. 291 00:17:10,100 --> 00:17:13,216 And Jesus here provides for this 292 00:17:13,216 --> 00:17:16,550 woman and inflects in reflection point in her life. 293 00:17:16,966 --> 00:17:21,200 And the text invites us, therefore, to consider 294 00:17:21,533 --> 00:17:24,566 our own inflection points that we find in Jesus Christ. 295 00:17:25,250 --> 00:17:29,300 Yeah, I, I think that this is one of many reminders 296 00:17:29,300 --> 00:17:34,366 that we see in the gospel, not just John, but we see it clearly in John that 297 00:17:36,083 --> 00:17:38,033 Jesus only 298 00:17:38,033 --> 00:17:41,266 seems to judge those who judge others, 299 00:17:41,933 --> 00:17:44,933 and Jesus only seems 300 00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:47,900 to warn condemnation 301 00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:50,483 for those who won't admit their own sin. 302 00:17:50,483 --> 00:17:55,166 And you know, Jesus stands here as the one who could condemn 303 00:17:55,883 --> 00:18:00,500 but chooses not to, except for these self-righteous men 304 00:18:00,950 --> 00:18:04,616 who whose actions and hearts condemn themselves. 305 00:18:04,616 --> 00:18:08,450 And again, not a new theme in John. 306 00:18:08,450 --> 00:18:11,450 Certainly not, a new theme in the gospel, 307 00:18:11,750 --> 00:18:14,750 but seen clearly in this story. 308 00:18:14,816 --> 00:18:16,916 Well, friends, this is a powerful story. 309 00:18:16,916 --> 00:18:21,416 If it's been encouraging to you, if it's been challenging to you, 310 00:18:21,416 --> 00:18:25,400 if it's revealed the truth of your own faithlessness us and invited you to meet 311 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:26,483 the one who is faithful, 312 00:18:26,483 --> 00:18:29,550 give it a like, certainly subscribe so you can stick with us on studies 313 00:18:29,550 --> 00:18:32,700 like this, the only thing we want to add is because it's Thanksgiving. 314 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:36,533 At the time of us studying this, we will not be back until next week, 315 00:18:36,533 --> 00:18:38,116 probably Wednesday. 316 00:18:38,116 --> 00:18:41,700 You'll hear more on Sunday about that, but we look forward to continuing the study 317 00:18:41,700 --> 00:18:42,416 next week. 318 00:18:42,416 --> 00:18:44,783 Subscribe so you can stick with us as we go. 319 00:18:44,783 --> 00:18:47,783 Have a blessed celebration and we look forward to seeing you soon. 320 00:18:47,850 --> 00:18:48,616 Thanks, everybody.