GRACE

*Please listen to the song. Afterward, proceed to today's lesson.

Grace. This one word is so powerful. This is an amazing gift that God has ready to give each and every one of us. Do you feel like you don't deserve grace? Perfect. Then you are in the right position to receive this precious, all-cleansing gift from the Creator of all things good. Grace can be defined in many ways, but it is commonly known as undeserved favor or forgiveness.

I bet the woman caught in adultery could tell you about grace. The bible does not even mention the name of this woman, but it clearly states that she was in the middle of a sinful act when the religious leaders of that time, who did not like Jesus by the way, brought her to Jesus in order to throw Him off guard. The penalty for such an act as adultery was for the person to be stoned to death. This means that people would throw stones or rocks at the accused in order to kill them. Because the religious leaders did not like Jesus, they wanted to see if He would handle this situation based on the law or in a different way.

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning He was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and He sat down and taught them. As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger.

--John 8:1-6

The 'religious' ones were ready to throw the stones. But more than that, they were trying to trap Jesus. If they were really interested in following the law, they would have also brought the man that was involved in adultery with the woman. They were so caught up in their scheme that they were willing for the woman to be killed in order to get a certain reaction from our Lord and Savior. As stated before, they wanted to see if He would follow the laws of that time. Well, Jesus did not react as they thought.

They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman."

--John 8:7-9

The scriptures do not say what Jesus was writing. For all we know, He could have been writing, "Not today Satan!" But when He was done with this seemingly unrelated gesture, He turns the tables on the accusers. The religious leaders had no response and dropped their stones and left one by one. This left the woman in the presence of Jesus. I can only imagine what was going through this woman's mind, including trying to figure out what just happened. She may have been asking herself, "What will Jesus say or do to me?" Or, "Should I say or do something right now?" Of all of the things that could have happened in this moment, what actually happens is a beautiful example of God's grace being put on display.

"Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

--John 8:10-11

The only One without sin who could truly judge her lovingly releases her to an opportunity of freedom from the shame and guilt of being caught in sin and the freedom to live without the shackles of sin. He didn't act like she didn't sin at all. It's just that His love overshadowed her sin. Y'all, that's grace!!!

QUESTIONS:

1. How did today's song make you feel? What lyrics hit home for you?

2. Put yourself in the place of the woman caught in adultery. Do you feel like you deserve grace as she received? Why or why not?

3. Hebrews 12:2 says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." This means that the presence of shame was understandable (when Jesus headed to the cross), but He did not allow shame to hinder His mission to Calvary. Are you willing to push past what you feel and trade in your shame and guilt for God's grace?

4. And just for fun, why do you think Jesus wrote in the dust? And what do you think He wrote?

*Need a little more encouragement? Check out this article: Forgiving Ourselves

Hats off to you!! You made it through this week's lesson! Pat yourself on the back, and don't forget to post an encouraging comment. Believe it or not, there's just one more freedom lesson to go. Don't give up now. You're almost to the finish line. See you on Monday :-D