Read John 8:1-11
We are living in a violent age that is trying to destroy the real history of our nation. We see the use of many types of smokescreens to cover the real motives of the actions that are taking place. People have always used smokescreens to cover their real intent.
In his life and ministry Jesus had to deal with people that were using a person to cover their real motives. In the scripture lesson we see a trap being set for Jesus by the teachers of religious law.
“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. 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. 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.’”
The teachers of religious law brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, but that was not the real reason, or main motive, that they brought her to him. They wanted to entrap Jesus to do, or say, something they could call wrong; then they could arrest him and silence his message. The charge of adultery was the smokescreen they used to get at Jesus.
Many things are taking place in our society to get at the freedom to worship, the freedom to speak freely. I will just look at two of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Amendment I: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Amendment II: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms; shall not be infringed.”
We now see some well-organized groups attacking our past history, the events, persons and monuments that they claim create racism today. These groups seek a monopoly on what is racism. The monuments put up by past generations were for events and people that they wanted to remember for a contribution to their community and nation in that time. Were these events and people perfect? Of course not. They had flaws in character as every human being does.
Jesus was, and is, the model of perfection. When he asked the religious teachers if they were without sin to throw their stones, he looked up and they all had gone away. Then he said to the woman, “Go, and sin no more.”
These organized groups are using the smokescreen that our past generations were evil and were bad people, thus they want to tear down our nation. I say to you that the smokescreens these groups use about racism is an attack on our freedoms and faith. These people are like all humans, imperfect and flawed human beings that want to destroy our freedom, Judaism and the Christian faith. The main attack by these organized groups now is on monuments of the past history of our nation, but some of their leadership has said that they want rid of the churches and Jesus. They have said that they will attack our church buildings as they have the monuments.
We have political leaders and church leaders that are trying to use appeasement to pacify and cater to these groups by joining them in attacking the monuments that were put up by past generations. What we are seeing being done is as bad, or even worse, than the events of past generations. Jesus would tell them that if they had never sinned, or done, or thought, bad things about another fellow human being they had the right to attack the past generation. But the truth is that these organized groups are not peaceably addressing the issues. They have other motives. It is seen in the killing, looting, and burning down buildings.
The voices of faith must do what Jesus did to the teachers of the law. They must expose the motives of the groups that are trying to use the smoke screens to cover the real issues. I would remind all Christians to live out our faith. Stand up for Jesus and our freedoms. Yes, the people who wrote these words were imperfect people, but they were bold people seeking the best for each of us. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
As a follower of Jesus, I want to live under his freedom. We will make decisions on what and who we follow. It will determine if we can be free to worship God as we see fit and to say what we want and to do with our lives. What God created us to be. In His love, he says to all of us, “Go, and sin no more.”
