Shining a Light on Hypocrisy
“They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’” - John 8:7
We live in a dark world, a world that wants to dim our light and put it out for good. But Jesus models for us what it means to remain lit in the midst of life’s darkness. The first thing He teaches us through John 8 is that in order for our light to “stay lit,” we must expose hypocrisy.
Jesus made this statement about being the light of the world after the scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman they said was caught in the very act of adultery. They made her stand before the people in the temple while they debated Scripture and discussed whether she should be stoned to death.
The irony in light of their moral pretensions is that they really weren’t concerned about this woman’s life. According to verse 6, their only interest was religious politics so they could bring a charge against Jesus. These men were using this woman and her body as a site to pursue power. For if they were really concerned about her marriage and morality, they would have brought the man she was allegedly caught with to be stoned as well.
Noticing this interesting omission, Jesus calls their bluff and says, “Okay...you can stone her, but he who has not committed this sin can cast the first stone.” That’s how verse 7 should be translated. Not just he who is without sin, but he who is without sin in this manner can cast the first stone.
That’s when things got quiet. I suspect that they had to drop their stones one by one because they had been with her themselves. They were hypocrites. And so when Jesus says He is the light of the world, He is saying that His light exposes the hypocrisy in the world.
Yesterday, I asked you, “What do you stand for?” Not just what are your values, but what will you actually stand for. If you want the light of Christ to shine in your life, you can’t be afraid to call out hypocrisy. That is what it means to stand for something. Will you stand for what you believe? Jesus did.
We live in a dark world, a world that wants to dim our light and put it out for good. But Jesus models for us what it means to remain lit in the midst of life’s darkness. The first thing He teaches us through John 8 is that in order for our light to “stay lit,” we must expose hypocrisy.
Jesus made this statement about being the light of the world after the scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman they said was caught in the very act of adultery. They made her stand before the people in the temple while they debated Scripture and discussed whether she should be stoned to death.
The irony in light of their moral pretensions is that they really weren’t concerned about this woman’s life. According to verse 6, their only interest was religious politics so they could bring a charge against Jesus. These men were using this woman and her body as a site to pursue power. For if they were really concerned about her marriage and morality, they would have brought the man she was allegedly caught with to be stoned as well.
Noticing this interesting omission, Jesus calls their bluff and says, “Okay...you can stone her, but he who has not committed this sin can cast the first stone.” That’s how verse 7 should be translated. Not just he who is without sin, but he who is without sin in this manner can cast the first stone.
That’s when things got quiet. I suspect that they had to drop their stones one by one because they had been with her themselves. They were hypocrites. And so when Jesus says He is the light of the world, He is saying that His light exposes the hypocrisy in the world.
Yesterday, I asked you, “What do you stand for?” Not just what are your values, but what will you actually stand for. If you want the light of Christ to shine in your life, you can’t be afraid to call out hypocrisy. That is what it means to stand for something. Will you stand for what you believe? Jesus did.
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