Drop Your Stones

“The truth will set you free.” 

Jesus shares this with us in the Gospel of John. At the beginning of the 8th chapter, sin is highlighted in the account of a woman caught in adultery. The temple priests bring her before Jesus (John 8:3-11). He tells them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Interestingly, Jesus challenges the sin of the accusers rather than the sin of the adulterous woman.

Later on in the chapter, Jesus says: “So [Jesus] said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you hold to My teachings, you are really My disciples. Thenyou will knowthetruth,andthetruth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32).

The Jewish people argue with Jesus, claiming they were never slaves, so what freedom do they need? 

They’re clearly missing the point.

Jesus is focused on teaching truths that bring life. They often show up in the fabric of society – “love your neighbor as yourself,” for example. This baseline truth, when lived out, brings freedom. And there are things we hide that are less obvious.  Not facing the truth about the stuff you’re stashing that no one knows about – sin - will tie you down. You’ll start dividing and subdividing everything said and done. You’ll jump to all kinds of conclusions, and become gnarly and arrogant and want to throw stones at people. 

As children, we’re taught to tell the truth and you’ll feel much better (be free). But we quickly learn you don’t necessarily always feel better when you tell the truth. Consequences come and you have to suffer them. We think a lie will help.

And sometimes it does... for a moment. 

But eventually, we learn in certain situations, the lie develops and may become unruly and corners you. Living with the lie can wreak havoc on your soul. I’m paranoid, I’m duplicitous. And it’s wearing me down.You become enslaved to it. This happens even when the sin is unconscious. 

This is what Jesus is going after in the religious people gripping their rocks.

The religious leaders who were following the law of the day which required the adulterous woman be stoned, came face-to-face with a new, hard truth. Jesus cut through the law to expose the heart of the religious and offered them a chance - if they would follow His lead - at freedom. 

Drop your rocks. Forgive. Pray. Love (the way of Jesus) and you’ll all be free.

There are all sorts of truths we’ve held onto tightly that we come to see we were wrong about. Facing harsh truths as a child (oh, so daddys are sometimes cruel and leave you), or as an adult (I’m dispensable) can sometimes wreck you. How do you think early Christians who burned people at the stake for claiming the earth is round and not flat felt when they eventually learned the truth? The truth is not always comfortable. But according to Jesus, we need to keep going. (“Hold to me and you’ll know” John 8) Move through the discomfort and disruption in search of what’s true, and freedom will come. 

But these don’t come simply. Truth sometimes has you lying on the floor sweating and sobbing and crying, “...but I thought...”.

I’m realizing that truth and freedom are frightening. Author David Foster Wallace knows what I’m talking about when he bluntly deduced: “The truth will set you free but not until it gets finished with you.”

So true.

I’m real because God is so real. ~ Nancy