Lately, I have been so intrigued by God’s infinite power and might. I recently read about a star named Eta Carinae that is 7,500 light years away and five million times brighter than our sun. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what five million times brighter even looks like. I can’t even imagine a sun twice as bright as ours—let alone five million!

It has been learning about things like Eta Carinae, to thinking about something as small as a bird that has me fascinated with God’s wisdom, power and might. Psalm 8:3 says, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained…” The powerful finger of God made the universe and everything in it. Mind blowing!

And here in John we see God, stooping down to the ground and from his infinitely wise, all-knowing mind he commands his human finger to plow through the dirt while the scribes and pharisees are persisting him to tell them whether this woman caught in adultery should be stoned to death like the law of Moses says.

The law of Moses… that was written by gods finger (ten commandments), the pharisees that where knitted together by god, the very dirt that they all stand on that God spoke into existence. And here God is himself, stooped down, wrapped in human flesh, drawing in the dirt while his creatures are yelling at him to make a call so they can trap him in their test. If they only knew that the man drawing in the dirt before them is “..the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power…” ( Hebrews 1:3) But they don’t know that. The one thing they do know very well is the word of God.

The scribes and the Pharisees in our story know the Bible (the old testament) like the back of their hands. In their time, they were the good guys. The back to the Bible guys. In our day they would be our pastors, priests, apologists, radio preachers, etc. They literally had most of the old testament memorized. When Jesus came on the scene forgiving sins and healing people and claiming to be God, they did what they thought they should do, like testing him and then they thought of ultimately getting rid of him since he claimed to be equal with God. They hated Jesus. But they loved the scriptures. They also loved glory. The glory of one another. That is why they couldn’t see that the man drawing in the dirt was God Almighty, because they were blinded by seeking their own glory. And before you get mad at them, you and I do the same thing at times.

It is very easy to read the Bible and know that we have things to change in our lives and we can start checking off boxes of sins to get rid of. Once we have checked off enough boxes we start thinking we are doing pretty well. We start seeing all the boxes that others haven’t checked off yet. We see people with boxes they haven’t checked off that weren’t even on our list to check off because to us it is such a gross, vile sin and we would never have a box (sin) like that. There are times when I meet someone and get to know them and start thinking in my head, “Man! They are a terrible person and I am much better than them.” Or even just encountering the cashier at Wawa who I quickly make a judgment about and have ill feelings and thoughts towards. Maybe for you, it is stumbling upon MSNBC or FOX news and feeling hateful thoughts towards the person on the tv. Thankfully, by God’s grace, this has been happening less and less for me, but I’m ashamed to even admit that it happens and I have a feeling I’m not the only one it happens to.

In the gospel of John, Jesus says to the pharisees, “How can you believe when you seek glory from one another and not the glory of the one and only God?” The pharisees loved the glory of one another. They wanted glory for themselves. They kept the letter of the law almost perfectly, and on the outside, they looked great. And they thought they did, too. But they were ignoring the heart, the spirit of the word. The law which they loved and worked out so well in their flesh became flesh to teach them the spirit of the law— ( “and the word became flesh and dwelt among us…”). The rest of that verse says that “We saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth.” We as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, have seen his glory. We see what Hebrews 1:3 says about Jesus being the radiance of God’s glory. But when we seek our own glory and want to look good in our site and to others, we can be like the pharisees and want to stone a poor sinful woman caught in adultery.

Jesus in his wisdom says, “Whoever is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” Everyone walked away from the oldest to the youngest (proof that wisdom comes with age) and only Jesus, the creator of the universe, the only one without sin, is left. He says, “Woman, did no one condemn you? …Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

I’ve been the pharisee, and have sought my own glory over God’s and have cast judgment on a fellow sinner. Let us seek the glory of God! God’s ultimate glory is the cross, where He judged my sin and the sin of the world. The cross is so glorious that Jesus will have those holes in his hands for all eternity (a lamb as if slain). May we see everyones’ sin as God sees ours, and look on them with the grace we are seen with.

I have been the woman, and have felt condemnation from Satan and from myself. When I encounter the holy God of the universe that with His fingers makes stars like Eta Carinae, and could and should banish me to eternal punishment, says to me “neither do I condemn you,” grace lifts me up off the floor of despair and hopelessness to walk in the His grace to “sin no more.”

John 1:17 says, “For the law came through Moses. Grace and truth were realized in Jesus Christ.” Let us love others with God’s grace and walk free from the power of sin by God’s grace!

I would like to end this blog with a couple of verses from one of my favorite songs called “Grace Alone” by Dustin Kensrue:

  So I’ll stand in faith by grace and grace alone

  I will run the race by grace and grace alone

  I will slay my sin by grace and grace alone

  I will reach the end by grace and grace alone.