The Music of Freedom

She was a means to an end.   A prostitute, eager to ply her trade.  The men met in secret and decided on a trap, a plot that included her.   Here He sits again, this man from Nazareth, teaching and leading the people like sheep.  He had to be stopped before He completely destroyed their comfortable, safe religious system.    They had it timed perfectly.  The signal had been received and right in the middle of the act, the door slams open, the men rush in and she finds herself being grabbed up, naked, pulled by her hair, taken outside to face judgment and death.  Fear courses through her veins as her blood runs cold.  Shame turns her face beet red as her hands try to cover her body.   Every eye is on her and the feelings of guilt and shame increase as she finds herself gasping for breath.  They throw her at His feet with smugness as thick as fog.  Their excitement increases, they can almost taste their victory as they ask the question prepared with such finesse.   “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"   John 8:4-5.  They knew the Law commanded that BOTH the man and the woman should be stoned.   But hey, that detail didn’t matter for they weren’t interested in keeping the Law, only using it as a trap.  Her ears heard the question and her heart knew she was headed for a painful death.   All of a sudden He kneels down.  She feels the eyes of the crowd shift, leaving her and following Him.  He keeps their eyes busy as He begins to write in the dirt.  She is amazed!  He has drawn all the attention on Himself.   Her shame begins to leave her body.  She takes a breath, and a spark of hope starts to dawn in her heart.  The schemers have forgotten about her, but not their evil plot.  With passionate self-righteousness their voices raise with intensity as they insist on an answer.  She cannot even imagine how He will answer.  As He rises and stands up, she hears, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  John 8:7-8.  Again, He stoops down and writes in the dirt, keeping their eyes away from her.  Were her ears playing a trick on her?  Did she hear right?  It was the music of freedom as she heard the stones thumping to the ground as one-by-one her accusers left.     Tenderness fills His eyes as He looked at her and asked, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’  She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.’”  John 8:10-11.  The only one without sin, the only one qualified to throw the first stone, refused.  Now He is setting her FREE!  Free from condemnation, free from her life of sin, free to live!  Her heart swells and fills with a love she has never known, a love that would follow her all the days of her life, a love that would transform her into a new creation.

Based on John 8:1-11.  

by Pat Everett