A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint John. Jesus went out to the Mount Of Olives. That's relatively close to Jerusalem just across the valley. At daybreak, Jesus reappeared in the temple. And when the people started coming to Jesus, he sat down, that is in the temple, and began to teach them publicly.
The scribes and the Pharisees led a woman in who had been caught. She had been actually taken in adultery. They made her stand out in front of everybody. Teacher, they said, that is those who had taken the woman in adultery. Now notice that, it's a very important point.
She was actually taken in the act. So they said to our lord teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. The law says, as Moses ordered, that such a woman be stoned to death. Now, what do you have to say about the case? See, they thought they'd had Christ in advice.
But you see if he says, follow the law, he'd be he'd be then going against his reputation of being a very kind, generous, magnanimous, forgiving person. And then if he says, don't stone her, then he would be rejecting the law. So his enemies thought we've got him. We had him right on the horns of a dilemma. Now watch.
Our blessed Lord may not have read Aristotle, but he knew a thing or two about debate. They were posing this question, that is his enemies, to trap Jesus so that they could have something to accuse him of. Jesus simply bent down and started writing something on the ground with his figure or tracing something there on the ground. Well, when they persisted in questioning him, our lord straightened up and said to him, let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at this woman. Then a second time, he bent down and began to write something on the ground.
Then the audience drifted away one by one, beginning with the oldest. This left Jesus alone with the woman taken in adultery, who had continued to stand there before Jesus. Our Lord finally straightened up and looked at her and said to her, woman, where did they all disappear to? Has no one condemned you? No one, she answered.
And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. You may go. But now, from now on, avoid this sin. And this is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ.
The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. First of all, it's mighty good to be back with you. I missed you all. This story, it's not a story.
This is supposed to be a real honest to God authentic instant incident in our Lord's life. It's extremely important to get it. The law said notice, our this has been quoted in a this this text that we have just read has been quoted as a reassurance as our blessed Lord's tacit approval of adultery, believe it or not. Now notice, the law said that a woman taken in adultery, you had to have eyewitnesses, not secondhand, that she was guilty before the law of adultery and therefore was should be stoned to death. That was the law.
And apparently, our blessed lord was caught because he either frees the woman and then violates the law, or he condemns the woman and and then violates his reputation. Condemns So they thought they'd really had him. One way or the other, he had he was a lost cause. Now notice, our Blessed Lord didn't see the woman taken in adultery. He isn't the one who accused her.
So when he straightens up and looks around and the men who had seen the act and had accused her of the act were no longer there, where are the people to accuse her? There are no witnesses. There's no case. Our lord was pretty smart, wasn't he? There is absolutely no encouragement here for sin.
There's absolutely no encouragement here for people to take a light view of immorality of any sort. None whatsoever. Our Lord doesn't minimize at all the sin of adultery. All he does do is to follow the law. And apparently, he perceives that the woman, I suppose most people who were taken in that kind of a situation, when they are facing the probability of being executed, they would be pretty contrite.
Anyway, the good woman apparently was remorseful. However that may be, our blessed Lord says, your sins are forgiven. Stop doing this. This is a tremendous, tremendous incident in our Lord's life. Just remember this.
Take in take go back in that text that we read three or four times. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil. Please notice the present tense. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil. There is no suggestion here that you're going to get out of the valley of darkness, that you're going to walk into bright open sunlight.
None at all. All it says is while I'm walking in the valley of darkness when I can't see my hand before my face, when I'm scared to death of what's going to happen next, I have no reason to fear. The Lord is with me. And remember, in all of the New Testament, there's not a single instance where our blessed Lord condemned a sinner, not one, except hypocrisy, hypocrisy. He never had a good word for any hypocrite.
So this story this morning should inflame our hearts with love with gratitude to Jesus Christ. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil. Why? This is the important part because we're all gonna walk in the valley of darkness more or less off and on. You're not going to escape it.
The question is, will you or will you not fear no evil? Why? Because the lord is with you. Name of the father, and of the son, and of the Amen.