Adultery Meets Majesty

Caught.

She is caught in her act of lustfulness with someone other than her husband. Ripped out of the bed and away from the person who she was giving herself over to, she is being dragged down the streets to be judged.

Her mind was not on her commitment she had made to her husband and to God. Her mind was on something she wanted badly, something that would interfere with her commitments.

The “holy” teachers who have dragged her here, throw her in front of Him.

No. Please not Yeshua. She knows this man, this teacher. He is the one whose words are like no other. But of course He knows the law, of course He knows her penalty.

The “holy” ones ask Him to pronounce judgment on her. They want her stoned. She deserves to be stone.
 She knows that this is the right penalty, this is what she must pay for her sin. She looks at Yeshua drawing in the dust, ignoring these teachers of the law.

He stops drawing.
Her heart drops.

He looks up at them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

He looks back down, begins to draw again.

Her heart swells when she realizes what Yeshua just did.
Her heart continues to pound just like the sound of the stones falling to the ground. Everyone of them dropped their judgement stone and left her.

She stands still.

Oh, but Yeshua is still there.

And in that moment she realizes something horrifying.
He is able to cast the stone. This man is without blemish, without sin.

He stands up and looks at her. She refuses to meet his piercing gaze for she knows the judgement that will meet her. 

“Where are they,” Yeshua’s smooth voice breaks the quiet “has no one condemned you?”

Her eyes meet His and she sees grace, something that she has never seen before. Mercy flowing from this man, this Yeshua.

She replies, “No one, sir.”

In that moment she remembers her broken commitment, and she decides to remake it. She commits herself to glory. Her life belongs to Him.

He could have thrown the stone.

 But instead these words of endless grace flow from His lips, “Then neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin.”

From that moment her life was never the same.

One moment of discovering majesty changed her.

One second in the presence of Yeshua restored her.

The Birth of Salvation

December twenty-fourth, a night covered by darkness that smothered the fallen world.

Yet, also a night of expectancy.

The night angels stood at the borders of the unseen realm in anticipation, wondering why He had chosen to do it this way.

As the darkness grows colder and the spirits from the realm of the deep rejoice in their dominion, Mary feels the life inside her urging to come forth. To be born into this world of darkness and destruction.

And she shudders.

But God, in his infinite mercy and patience, waits.

            The night eventually wanes and darkness breaks forth into light.

 A new day.

Yet, the realms of the deep still claim dominion even as the sun appears.

            The day brings Mary outrageous pain and to the angels it brings extravagant excitement. The sun makes its cycle as it has for thousands of years, but once again darkness claims its position; however, this night would be different.

            Amongst the screams of labor from the mouth of Mary, the anxious pacing of Joseph, and the rejoicing from the realms of the dark ones over their dominion, God brings forth light. (Isaiah 9:2) Blinding light shines in his created sky and eternal light comes forth from the womb of the pure-girl.

            The angels stand at the ready for the command and when it comes they jump into action. Glorious praise and unending purity flow from the mouths of the angels and into the worn and battered ears of the shepherds. The same shepherds who just hours ago were bound by the fallen world.

But now… Now the darkness is blown away by this light.

The shepherds were the first to hear of the God-child who had come to break the chains of this fallen world. (Luke 2:8-14) They made the journey to Him, with the light in the sky leading the way and the angel chorus behind.

            Mary and Joseph were the first of the broken human race to see the heartbeat of God. They wrapped the creator of all in a dirty and bloodied cloth and laid him in a stone trough.

            The one who had breathed the Spirit of Life into man at the beginning of time was just now taking his first breath as a baby. (John 1:5)

And the angels rejoiced.

And God smiled.

Just twenty-four hours before the entire world was consumed with sin and no hope for eternity.

But now, through the first cries of the Christ-child, hope was born. (Luke 1:79)

Salvation was born.