Woman, Where Are They?

She was somewhere in a secret corner hidden from the sight of her husband and loved ones, enjoying the forbidden embraces, consumed by passion and lost in the pleasure of the moment right in the arms of another man. It might have been her first time or maybe not, but that faithful morning was an unfortunate one for her.
suddenly, the door bursted and a group of furious young men rushed in and dragged her out, maybe half dressed or even naked, nothing was said of her partner in sin. Terrified, and with tears in her eyes, she must have pleaded for mercy but her plea fell on deaf ears as they dragged her out and lead her into the streets leading to the temple court.
As they dragged her through the streets, heads poked out of the windows in curiousity and eyes stirred at her in dissappointment, friends, relatives and family. She was a wife, a mother, how could she have stooped so low.

I wonder what must have been going on in her mind as she shamefully went along with her accusers. Was she thinking of her lost reputation and the shameful death that would soon be her lot, or about her family, her husband whose name she had dragged into the mud and her children whom she had failed and would soon be left motherless. what could she do? her fate wasn't in her hands now. If she ever goes through this, her life would never be the same. She would forever be tagged a whore.

 It was very early in the morning and a crowd had just gathered in the temple courts to listen to the teachings of the great teacher Jesus. The scribes and the pharisees (religious leaders) brought in the adultrous woman. They made her stand in the middle of the temple amidst all the curious eyes, eyes filled with contempt and condemnation. Fright, shame and disgrace was all hers.

The religious leaders said to Jesus ''teacher, this woman was caught in adultry. In the law, moses commanded us to stone such a woman to death, now what do you say?''
Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his fingers. At this point, the woman must have realised that she was just a bait, her lips sealed as she awaited her judgement.

Her accusers persisted and continued to question Jesus in anticipation of a response  Jesus sat up, and said ''If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her''
He continues writing on the floor, there was silence.
The accusers began to depart one after the other from the eldest to the youngest, until only Jesus was left with the woman.
Jesus sits up and asks her ''woman, where are they, has no one condemned you?''
At that momment, she looks up and  finds out that her accusers are gone, unbelievable!
''No one sir, she responds''
''Then neither do I condemn you, go now and sin no more'' Jesus said
Amazing grace!

Stoning to death, was a brutal form of execution in those days . The first stones had to be thrown by the witnesses to the adultry, after that each member of the community in which the two adulterers lived had to come foward and throw a stone. The thinking behind that is that since every person in the community threw stones, no one person could be held responbsible for the death of the pair. This was so, in a society that practised vandetta, and where payback would happen if a killing occuered.
The adultrous woman was brought as a bait to trap Jesus. The religious leaders wanted to know if Jesus would spare her life by condemming the law of moses, or if he would contradict His message of mercy and grace by condemning her to death by stoning.

Jesus reflected the merciful nature of God. He doesn't support sin in any way, he forgives on the condition that we sin no more. We  must not take his grace and mercy for granted.

We have all failed God in one way or the other in the past. There could be things you did in the past that you haven't gotten over or forgiven yourself for, or even forgiven others for. Sometimes you may look at your situation  and feel like there's no hope for you, or you feel so so horrible and dirty.

Jesus is asking you the same question now, ''where are they that accuse you or point fingers ?''

He wants you to open your eyes and see that there's no one there. It's just the devil himself, the accuser of the brethren who enjoys enslaving people, holding them down with the past, and far away from the saving hands of Jesus. devil always reminds us of our past failures.

Grab the amazing grace of God, while you still can, no one knows tomorrow. The grace of God abounds today.

by Chioma Morah