Do We Have Jesus Vision?

John 8: 4-5, 7, 10-11 (NLT): Are we Seeing with the Eye’s of Christ?

“Teacher,” [the religious leaders] said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”Jesus stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” When the accusers heard this, they slipped away.“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.”

Human tendency leads us to judge others, especially those seen as a menace, threat, and burden to society. But Jesus teaches differently. His love is a forgiving love, a love that penetrates beneath the surface of every human being’s experience. No matter a person’s sin, Jesus loves each of us with the love of the Father. And he invites us to do the same.

When I was fourteen, I knew a person who was a drug addict and criminal. Throughout his young life, he served time in jail for various drug offenses. When he was out of jail, he lived a nomadic existence, sometimes sleeping in a tent but more often in his car. Being around him always kept me on edge, making me feel uneasy and scared; he drew trouble wherever he went. Despite this, I continued to make his acquaintance, often cruising around in the car he called home. Spending time with him, I observed violent outbursts of behavior, mostly toward inanimate objects. He often was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I was both scared and fascinated by him. And in my young mind, I saw him as society’s discarded, as an outsider to the laws of normality. There were others like him, too; they saw no value in school, nor did they profess any hope to contribute to the world. They lived angry, disturbed lives -- lives of self-medicated numbness. But what were they seeking to escape? Why did this person seek to anesthetize himself from the world?

On a hot July day that same year, I sat in a municipal courtroom audience. My acquaintance was being indicted on a serious drug charge. This was one more crime added to the many in his past. I did not realize it then, but what the public defender said in that hearing branded my heart and mind. Here are the details I remember:

• He was given up by his parents at a very young age and lived in various foster homes until he was 12. 
• He was abused. 
• He was adopted at 12 but couldn’t adapt and made poor choices throughout his life. 
• He struggled with substance abuse and dropped out of school. 
• His extensive arrest record showed a pattern of violence, disregard for authority, and drug use.

I witnessed something in that courtroom that enkindled in me human sympathy and understanding; it would take years and the grace of God, however, for me to process this. As human beings, we are more than the ugliness our sins; we are made in the image and likeness of God, created to know and love him, even when we are desperately lost. And it is in the desperately lost that we often find God. 

The Pharisees lead the adulterous woman to Jesus for the “just” punishment of stoning (see Deuteronomy 22:22). What Jesus does, however, ends up convicting those who are quick to convict others. He points out that all are sinners, for no one is able to throw the first stone. Jesus expresses sympathy toward the woman because he sees into her heart and past the exterior of her sin. The eyes of Christ do not judge in the way that humans judge. Instead, Jesus expresses understanding and mercy, inviting the broken into communion with him.

As a teacher, I am faced with this choice every day: Do I see my students, especially those who act out and repeatedly make poor choices, as subjects of the “law”? Or do I accompany, forgive, and hope for their improvement? Do I love them through their pain and poor choices? Jesus sees with the eyes of love, hope, forgiveness, and accompaniment. Exemplifying the way we are to love others, Jesus says, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

Loving God, we pray that in our daily life we can stop and see others with your eyes, the eyes that see through the ugliness of sin to the heart of our human potential. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Have a blessed Week!

Stan