At The Nick Of Time
During our family devotion, we began to read about an interesting story from John 8:1-11. It was a story of a woman that was caught in the act of adultery and the Pharisees conveniently used her as their guinea pig to trap or should I say, try to put Jesus in a very and I mean, very tight spot. I can just imagine them planning behind the scenes and discussing amongst themselves on how to trap Jesus in his words and one of them might have stood up and said, ‘‘Guys, why are we stressing ourselves, you all know Lady A that sleeps around with married men. I found out from the gossips in town that she would be meeting married man B at Hotel C. Why don’t we use her as bait to trap Jesus in his words, since he talks so much about forgiveness but also says He did not come to abolish the Law of Moses. Let’s see how he will come out of this trap?’’.
Fast forwarding, At the Nick of Time, she is caught right in the act of adultery with a man and brought right in the middle of Jesus’ teaching, where loads of crowds were. Wow, I can imagine the height of humiliation and shame this woman might have felt! In those days, it was their custom to stone a woman that was caught in the act of adultery but this time, the Pharisees decided it was going to be a perfect trap to see what decision Jesus would make. This lady’s life was hanging by Jesus’ decision. If he chose to follow the Law of Moses, which they quoted, she was going to be stoned! If He decided to let her go, the Pharisees would accuse Him of abolishing the law of Moses, which would contradict His saying in Matthew 5:17. These Pharisees really had it figured out, but little did they know that Jesus’ wisdom is not earthly but divine. So, He stoops down, writes something on the ground and despite their pressure for an answer, later stands up and says “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7). At this point, they knew this was a failed mission. With their tails in the middle of their legs, they began to leave one after the other until none of them was left. Neither did Jesus condemn her but told her to go and sin no more.
At the Nick of Time, the Pharisees caught the woman in the act of adultery. At the Nick of Time, this was finally the perfect trap for Jesus. At the Nick of Time, it was the perfect scene filled with a huge crowd, to accuse Jesus depending on either of the two decisions He makes. But At the Nick of Time, she met her Redeemer! The same day she could have died by stoning was the same day she was redeemed by Jesus. The same day her accusers caught her in her wrong, was the same day her redeemer saw and saved her! The Guinea pig of the Pharisees became the Lost sheep that Jesus Christ rescued!
You may feel you have done so much wrong in life and the accuser, the devil, keeps reminding you of such sins. Today can be your day of redemption. If you surrender totally to Him, He will wash away ALL sins and make you a brand new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
By Pastor Ibukun Adewusi