Shame and Hypocrisy

We have a lady coming this Sunday to talk about mission amongst prostitutes. I will also give a short sermon. I am being a lazy blogger and using this sermon as a post (in fact I am going to divide it up and use it as three posts). It is on the beginning of John 8.

At dawn the doors burst open. 'This is not your husband!' There is nothing she can say in defence. Covering herself in a robe she is dragged out of the room and onto the streets. People peer from their windows and whisper in the streets. There are accusing looks as they hear what she has done. This is a story of shame. 'What will my family think when they find out?' She is pushed and shoved towards the temple courts where a crowd parts to make way for her. The man who had flattered her and agreed to go to bed with her is no where to be seen. She is utterly alone. The fear! 'What are these men going to do with me?' Her life will never be the same again!

Let's not belittle the wrong that this woman did. There is a husband and a wife being betrayed here. More importantly God was being offended, his law had been broken. But the woman is not the only one who should feel ashamed. Where is the man? It takes two to commit adultery. Maybe he slipped out during the commotion. Maybe he was a 'honey trap'-had she been set up? Maybe the religious leaders let him away. He didn't really matter to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. You see they weren't concerned about justice. They were simply trying to catch Jesus out. This is a story of hypocrisy.

With sneers on their faces the religious leaders claim 'In the Law of Moses commanded such us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?' This is a trap! If Jesus says this woman should be let off then they will claim that he has no regard for the Law of Moses. What sort of teacher would he be then? But if he says she should be put to death then Jesus will be in trouble with the Roman authorities, for they reserved the right to carry out executions. 'He told us to do it!' Acts of such treachery could end with the trouble-maker being crucified.

These religious leaders were hypocrites. The woman was a pawn in their plans against Jesus. They acted with self-righteousness but justice did not matter to them. Sadly many people reject Christianity today citing the hypocrisy they have seen in people calling themselves Christians. Please don't! After all Jesus is the one person in this story who hasn't a sniff of hypocrisy about him. Please don't reject him because his followers fail to live up to his standards.