We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

Reflection on Grace
by Faith Marsalli, August 3, 2003

John 8:2-12

A couple of weeks ago, several of us attended Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends on the campus of George Fox University in Newberg. Every year I look forward to visiting and worshipping with Friends from all over the Northwest. And for the most part it really is a wonderful experience.

But almost every year I find myself saddened by a group of folks whom I find to be fearful and legalistic and graceless in their Christian perspective. I'm sorry to say that rule keepers show up in every religious institution.

I think a large part of my grief comes from having observed enough Christian fundamentalism in my early years of following Christ to choke a horse. This rigid, narrow view of God seems so far removed from my experience in recent years. I find myself wanting to withdraw and yes, believe it or not, I become smug and self-righteous. And I think what makes me most angry is that I know many folks who want to dismiss Jesus on the basis of the bad press Christians have given him throughout history.

When I read the gospels, I see that Jesus shows us a God who loves and accepts people right where they are. I see him extending mercy to those that have been judged and marginalized by others. Jesus has precious little patience with religious rule keepers. And he doesn't try to hide it.

Here is the subversive Jesus in action. We see him actually trying to ignore the Pharisee's attempt to use this poor woman to entrap him with their religious laws. We see Jesus use some pretty impressive body language to get his point across.

In the Mediterranean culture of Jesus' time such an act of stooping down and writing in the dirt would have been recognized as a blatant act of disengagement. It was obvious that Jesus didn't want to give these guys a hearing. Jesus offered freedom to this woman caught in the act of adultery. The religious establishment was determined to condemn her and indict Jesus for being soft on sin. Self-righteous people don't know what to do with grace. The heart of Jesus' message is radical grace! Unless you have experienced grace in your own life you will never be able to extend grace to others. That is why the Pharisees remained stuck in their meanness. They hadn't yet received God's grace into their life experience.

Brennan Manning in his book The Wisdom of Tenderness, recounts a time in which he was struggling to accept God's love and forgiveness and his spiritual director said to him, "You know, Brennan, it's now quite clear in my mind that nothing really happens in a person's life until they have experienced and accepted the tenderness of God. Only then can they in turn be tender with God's children."

I believe this is true. We all are drawn to love and mercy like a freezing person is to the warmth of a fire. The world is hungry for grace.

So the focus of this story isn't really the Pharisee's sin of self-righteousness or the woman's sexual sin. But the focus is on Jesus and his authority to denounce a rigid graceless religion, and bestow grace and forgiveness in its place. Jesus offers all of them the opportunity to break with old ways, where condemnation and death reign and enter a world marked by freedom and acquittal.

Jesus doesn't say to us, "Clean up your act and then I will love and accept you." Instead Jesus freely loves us and accepts us and is merciful to us in the midst of our failure. And believe it or not, this becomes the beginning point for transforming us. Out of gratitude we want to be different people. Jesus has the power to transform us from within through love. Religious rule keepers can only define and control people's behavior outwardly by legalism and shame.

An advertisement for the State of Louisiana Office of Tourism reads, "Louisiana. Come as you are. Leave different." Jesus extends grace to this woman - but he also charges her to go and sin no more. Jesus loves and accepts each of us where we are but he also empowers us to change. He loves us way too much to let us stay where we are.

Are you in need of grace in your life this morning? Are you tired of feeling like you just don't measure up? Do you long to be loved and accepted right where you sit this morning?

Lewis Smedes in his book, Shame and Grace writes, "Guilt was not my problem as I felt it. What I felt most was a glob of unworthiness that I could not tie down to any concrete sins I was guilty of. What I needed more than pardon was a sense that God accepted me, owned me, held me, affirmed me, and would never let go of me even if he was not much impressed with what he had on his hands." Smedes goes on to identify three common sources of crippling shame: secular culture, graceless religion, and unaccepting parents. Secular culture tells us a person must look good, feel good, and make good. Graceless religion tells us we must follow the letter of the rules, and failure will bring eternal rejection. Unaccepting parents-'Aren't you ashamed of yourself?'-convince us we will never meet their approval.

Jesus offers us love and acceptance - a place where we will always be safe and secure. A place where we can be free to grow and change and not fear judgement or rejection.

As we enter a time of quiet reflection, allow Christ to speak to your need this morning. Allow the Light of his love and grace to shine into the areas of your life where you are most needful. And then, if out of the silence if you would like to share, feel free to do so. You might want to ask for prayer, or you might like to share some way in which you have recently experienced the grace of God in your life. Let's reflect for a few moments and then feel free to share what is on your heart.

Closing thought…

Jesus says to all of us this morning, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learned the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Matthew 11:28