The Mercy of God

by Dr. James Carlson, guest writer
One of the most compelling scenes in the movie, The Passion of the Christ, is when an adulterous woman is brought to Jesus by Pharisees and Old Testament lawyers.  They want her stoned because she has broken one of the Ten Commandments.  Jesus sees the tragedy of her life and the need of her heart and offers her forgiveness.  Before this gracious act of mercy, however, he confronts the religious leaders with their own sinfulness.  One by one they walk away.  The Biblical account is found in John 8:2-11.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.  
They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  
“No one, sir,” she said.  
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.  “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
There’s an amazing prophecy about this event in Jeremiah 17:13, written over 600 years before Jesus earthly ministry.
Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame.  Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
What did Jesus write in the dust of the ground with his finger?  The names of the accusers who had forsaken the Hope of Israel.  The names of the accusers who had forsaken the Spring of Living Water.  They wanted to see the woman die.  Jesus wanted to see her live life to the fullest.
Many know John 3:16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Listen to the words of John 3:17!
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
The forgiveness Jesus offered the adulterous woman is extended today to everyone!  “Neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin.”  II Peter 3:9 states, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Did the woman in the story accept Jesus’ offer?  Without a doubt.  This is why her narrative is included in the Bible.  Did any of the Pharisees or Old Testament lawyers ever repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior?  We know some did, like Paul the Apostle.  In I Timothy 1:15 and 16 he wrote, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy.”
In 1738 Charles Wesley wrote a beloved hymn entitled, And Can It Be?  The third verse is a powerful exposition of the mercy of God.
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
In Luke 18 Jesus told the parable of a tax collector (a publican) who had lived such a rotten life, he considered himself unworthy of salvation.  Desperate to know God he went to the Jerusalem Temple, smote his breast and cried out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”  At the same time, within ear-shot, a Pharisee pompously prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like one of these publicans.”  Jesus amazingly declared, “The tax collector went home to his house that day justified rather than the other.”
How thankful we can be that the Almighty is a God of mercy; otherwise there would be no hope for any of us.
If you are not a Christian, and you think that God could never forgive your sins because they are too horrendous or too revolting, think again.  Jesus paid the penalty for the transgressions of the world when he died on the cross.  Salvation is a free gift for anyone who desires to receive it.
This is the Mercy of God.