Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Karla Fay Tucker story (from NIVAC: John - Burge, p. 246-248)

1983 - went with her boyfriend to check out a home to rob

high on drugs

ran into the owners of the home and brutally killed them

Both were caught, and tried and sentenced to death

3 months into her prison time, Karla watched a puppet show that was put on by a church ministry.

She “stole” a free bible from them and began to read it.

Shortly after that, she became a believer - a genuine believer -

She began to grow in the grace and love of God

she ministered to her inmates

News of her transformation began to get noticed outside of prison.

She was scheduled to face Capital punishment on Feb, 3, 1998.

three weeks earlier, she appeared on the Larry King show - he tried to make light of her conversion but could not deny that it was genuine.

She had been changed.

She had been forgiven by God, and hoped to be forgiven by the family of her victims.

Others took notice and began to petition the governor of her state for a stay of execution.

She even wrote a letter to her governor.

Still others were picketing and screaming for justice.

So the governor has a challenge before him - Does he fulfill the demands of justice or does he let this woman live - knowing that she had a genuine life change and is truly repentant- a desired outcome for all who are imprisone.

I bring that up because so often, in justice and in a pursuit of holiness, we can get so caught up into being right and bringing justice that we fail to acknowledge and take into account the work of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God in someone’s life.

Jesus had an encounter like that - when someone who, like Karla Faye Tucker, was caught.

The people who came to test Jesus wanted to trap him.

Let’s consider this passage in a different translation, just to have it fresh in our minds.

You may notice in your Bible that this passage has some special markings - noting that the earliest manuscripts do not include this.

Several commentators agreed that this passage is likely an authentic experience in the life and ministry of Jesus - but was not likely written by John.

The message of the passage is consistent with the way that Jesus interacted with people, which speaks to its authenticity.

The inclusion of this passage stood the test of the canon that assembled Scripture.

I believe it is inspired and is useful for our edification and spiritual growth.

With that in mind, let’s consider some of the primary characters and how we relate to them.

First of all, we have to recognize that...

We are all this woman - caught in sin

It seems this woman was caught in a specifically named sin.

She was guilty.

She didn’t deny it.

The challenge we have to face, is that like her, we are all caught in sin.

Sin is something that plagues all of us.

We have inherited it from our earliest ancestors.

We are mired by a sin nature.

The world has been corrupted by this sin.

It’s not difficult to see that not only are we all plagued by sin, but we all have different sins that we struggle with.

The things that tempt me may not be the same things that tempt you, but they can ensnare us nonetheless.

Hebrews 12:1 talks about sin, some translations - besetting sin.

Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely [besetting sin]...

Did you notice the imagery there?

The sin that entangles or snares us, like trying to run with your ankles tied together, it’s ineffective and impossible.

this begs the question…

What is sin?

Sin is an affront to the holiness of God.

It runs counter to God’s will for our lives.

Sin is missing the mark of God’s standard.

The beautiful and encouraging thing is that God knows that about us and did something to deal with our sin.

The just reward for our sin is death

So God, sent his son Jesus - fully human and fully divine, to be the perfect sacrifice on our behalf, to atone for our sin, in order to bring us into a right relationship with God.

He has reconciled us to God.

We gain access to this forgiveness by faith - admitting our sinfulness and receiving God’s righteousness through Jesus.

If you’ve not yet responded to Jesus salvation, let’s have a conversation after church or sometime this week.

But, since we are all this woman - caught in sin, we have to recognize that we have no ground to stand in judgment of other people.

It should allow us to walk in humility toward people who are ensnared in sin’s net.

Unfortunately, that is not too often NOT the case.

Which brings us to our next point of observation...

We are tempted to be these religious zealots

How did these religious zealots act?

They cared more about their own self-righteousness than they did about her holiness.

Did you notice that she was “caught in the act” of adultery?

Which means that someone saw something to indicate that this woman committed this sin.

What’s more, it was more than one person!

Old Testament law said the someone could only be put to death on the witness of 2 or 3 people.

Rather than helping her out of her sin, they watched in order to catch her.

Jesus challenged us to view our sin differently.

It is so easy to look in judgment on someone else.

To look down on the, rather than to help them.

One of Job’s counselors helpfully reminds us -

But, in addition to caring more about their self-righteousness than her holiness, ...

They treated her as a pawn in their game to entrap Jesus.

She was simply a tool for them.

They had a goal to entrap Jesus - and it was a good one.

If he condemns her then he upholds the law - but the woman dies - they win in their game of life and death, judgment, and condemnation

If he frees her, he proves that he is light on sin and therefore not worthy to be heard or followed.

Instead he calls them back to scripture - let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.

OT law required that it would be a witness to cast the first stone.

It seems this standard was put in place to make sure that the witness is telling the truth, because it would be their conscience that would have to be clear.

Some of the commentators suggested that this form of justice was not carried out in the first century.

In this case, they were picking and choosing a particular sin and a particular person to trap Jesus.

So Jesus seems to ask about their own integrity...

John 8:7 (ESV)

...“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

In reflecting on this comment, Don Carson writes:

Jesus’ saying does not mean that the authorities must be paragons of sinless perfection before the death sentence can properly be meted out, nor does it mean that one must be free even from lust before one can legitimately condemn adultery (even though lust and adultery belong to the same genus, Mt. 5:28).

It means, rather, that they must not be guilty of this particular sin.

Carson continues:

As in many societies around the world, so here: when it comes to sexual sins, the woman was much more likely to be in legal and social jeopardy than her paramour.

The man could lead a ‘respectable’ life while masking the same sexual sins with a knowing wink.

Jesus’ simple condition, without calling into question the Mosaic code, cuts through the double standard and drives hard to reach the conscience.

Did you notice that there is no talk of the man she committed adultery with?

In light of Carson’s comments, I wonder if he was one of the men who was with the group of religious leaders?

Purely speculation, but given the culture, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

Unfortunately, we have seen that historically in the church as well.

Men have blamed women for being too pretty, too sexy, too beautiful - blaming women for men stumbling.