NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU

Jn.8:10 – Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

This is the great mystery of the mercy of God. Jesus alone had the ability and authority to forgive sin. Up until the time of Christ justice ruled, adultery always required judgement. So what happened? Has God changed? Absolutely not. Jesus came and did the unthinkable, He took the punishment of our sin so that justice could be served. He took the judgement for this woman caught in the act of adultery, that is exactly what Calvary is all about. Christ died to save sinners. This is how Andrea Tornielli describes this mercy of our Lord.

“Jesus forgives. But there is something more here than forgiveness. For as a confessor, Jesus goes beyond the law. In fact, the law said the woman must be punished. . . . But he went beyond. He does not tell her, ‘Adultery is not a sin.’ But he does not condemn her with the law.
This is truly the mystery of Jesus’s mercy. . . . How many of us perhaps merit condemnation! And that would even be just. Yet he forgives! How? With this mercy that does not eliminate the sin—it is God’s forgiveness that eliminates it, whereas mercy goes beyond. It is like the sky. We see the sky, the many stars, but when the morning sun arrives with all its light, the stars cannot be seen. Such is God’s mercy—it is an immense light of love, of tenderness. For God does not forgive with a decree, but with a caress. He forgives by caressing our sinful wounds because he involves himself in forgiveness, involves himself in our salvation.”

I love this description of the mercy of God, the gospel day, the Day of the Lord, has dawned with the appearance of Jesus Christ. We are living in the dawn of this brand new day being washed and changed by the love of God. Jesus is the bright and morning star and the gloomy day of judgement is over. Until you taste God’s mercy and grace for yourself you can never understand. He never overlooks sin, He can’t. He took the brunt of it on the cross that’s where our victory was won. Jesus never makes light of sin, how could He, Calvary was His response to our sins. Now he says to all of us, “Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more”.