Earlier this week, Senior Pastor Lawrence and I were in Philippines to minister to about 2,000 pastors at their national pastors’ gathering. Upon our return, I was very intrigued by the passage in our 40-Day prayer booklet on Wednesday taken from James 2:8-13, which ended with these four words: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” I was very troubled as I pondered if I should caution our faithful disciples not to be too quick to judge. As I was ruminating over it, the Holy Spirit prompted me to recall the story recorded for us in John 8:2-11 of the woman who was caught in adultery.
The woman was brought before Jesus for punishment. The scribes and pharisees who caught her were well versed in Scriptures and knew that Deuteronomy 22:22 (ESV) teaches that “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman.” But instead of punishing her as they expected, Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Hearing this, one by one, the men left the temple until Jesus was left alone with the woman. Jesus then asked her: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” When the woman confirmed that none had stoned her, our Lord Jesus demonstrated the epitome of how mercy triumphs over judgment and told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Dear family, please understand that the Apostle John is not teaching believers not to judge, but to exercise mercy when judging. In fact, he wrote in verse 24 of the preceding chapter that we should “judge with righteous judgment”. Through his recording of Jesus’ dialogue with the adulterous woman, we see that Jesus not only showed mercy, He also taught her to deal with sin in her life by telling her, “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11, NLT)
Church, there are instances when we need to correct and steer a fellow disciple on the brink of sin back onto the right path. But let us always remember to do so with mercy and love.
- Senior Pastor Nina Khong