John 8:3-11
People, not Issues

In a recent TV interview, I heard former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey explain why the Democrats and Republicans seem to be growing more contentious and partisan, aligning themselves with the far Right and far Left. She noted that it is so much more difficult to generate campaign contributions and encourage people to vote in the middle than it is at the extremes, because those at the extremes have a passion that is lacking in the middle.

Although I agreed with her comment, and although I understood she was talking about the field of politics, her comment still bothered me deeply as it related to living out the Christian faith.

One of the areas in the church where Gov. Whitman's comments fit is seen in Revelation 3:14-16. In this passage, the Risen Lord chastizes the church in Laodicea as being neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm and nauseating. Still, that isn't what worried me. In God's power, the opposite of lukewarm is inspired by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; in human power, the opposite of lukewarm is motivation by a "lightning rod" issue, just like the politicians do.

So what would Jesus do? More to the point, what did Jesus do with the "lightning rod" issues in the first century?

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

New Revised Standard Version

The Pharisees confronted Jesus with an issue in the person of a woman who had been seized from the bed of a man and dragged into public. They thought they had him! Would Jesus uphold the scriptures, which clearly condemns adulterers, and agree that the woman should be executed? Maybe they could even convince Jesus that he had to take part in the stoning, and that action would surely ruin his popularity. His only other option was unthinkable, to contradict the scriptures! Which will it be, Jesus?

In elementary school, I found out how diabolical issues can be. I was excited in my new-found relationship with Jesus, and I began sharing with a few of my friends the wonderful change I felt in my life. One of these friends looked at me, puzzled, and asked what church I attended. I told him the Baptist church 20 minutes away, and told him about how great it was. "Oh," he said, "you're the ones that don't believe in drinking and dancing, right?"
I sputtered a bit, and answered, "No, it's not about drinking and dancing, it's about Jesus."
Clearly confused, he tried the question the other way, "So your Baptist church allows drinking and dancing?"
We verbally circled each other a few more times, and I gave up. I couldn't get him out of what his parents had taught him about Baptists, and Baptists in the 1950s and 1960s had worked very hard to earn a reputation for strong moral stands against drinking and dancing. I seemed to have no chance of persuading him to see what the Gospel was really about. That incident broke my enthusiasm and sent me quietly back home to figure out what went wrong.

The point with my young friend was that he asked the wrong question, a question he couldn't see had nothing to do with the topic.

The Pharisees did the same thing. They presented Jesus with an issue, and Jesus saw a person. The Pharisees were pitting their religious organization against the movement they perceived Jesus as leading, but Jesus wasn't leading a movement. Jesus was changing the lives of individuals by loving those individuals.

Notice Jesus' response at the end of the passage to the adulterous woman. We witnessed the Conservative response to her in condemnation; we can imagine the Liberal response would have been to berate the social order that "forced" the woman to give away her body for guarantees of shelter and sustenance. Jesus was neither Conservative nor Liberal, because Jesus was Love. The sin was wrong, and Jesus told her to abandon her life of sin, but the sin faded away as a repentant woman met her Savior.

Do churches and denominations in the 21st century understand this lesson? Many do not. I grieved when I saw a church sign earlier this year condemning abortion and urging new laws, because for that week, they missed the chance to tell people driving on that street that God loves them, and people without God's love is the greatest social crisis we face. I am disturbed to see religious leaders spending time campaigning with politicians, because they need to be calling people to repent, not to vote. I am angered when denominations aggressively define themselves by a code of social doctrines and political positions--anything more than the Great Commission--because it marginalizes and trivializes the Gospel.

Jesus wasn't whipped by Pilate's soldiers so that we would stop drinking and dancing.

Jesus didn't carry his cross on the streets of Jerusalem so that we would make certain the sale and use of marijuana remains illegal.

Jesus wasn't crucified on Calvary so that a politician with acceptable values would be elected to the White House.

God didn't raise Jesus from the dead on the third day for any other reason except that God loves every individual, and wants to have an eternal loving relationship with each one of us.

Jesus commanded us to go into every nation in the world--no matter what form of government they employ, no matter their stand on human rights or social issues, no matter how open or opposed to Christianity the rulers of that nation might be--and witness person by person to make new disciples. Anything we do that diverts our focus away from making disciples, that confuses our message of God's love, or that distracts the unsaved from the simple invitation of Philip in John 1:46 to "come and see" Jesus, is simply wrong.