Five Minute Friday: Escape

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "escape." Usually I wrote non-fiction, but today I thought about trying some fiction again.

Begin.

There was no escape. I was standing there just listening to them. I was trapped, trapped in the middle of those who had been my brethren. But now I just felt like I was on the outside, looking in. It seemed like mania in that room.

The officers were standing there shuffling their feet back and forth, one with beads of sweat forming on his brow, waiting for a punishment to come.

I couldn’t take it any longer. So, I just blurted out, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

Every face in the room turned to me. The chief priests, the Pharisees, and the officers all stared at me intently. After the surprise wore off, a few of the Pharisees knit their eyebrows in confusion, and possibly some in anger.

I really wanted to turn and run. But I held my ground. I stared back and waited for the inevitable; a chastisement was surely coming.

A few of them began to speak in unison, all with the same thought. “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”

It was all I could do to not roll my eyes. I simply said, “Hmmmm” while stroking my beard, trying to appear in thought. This diverted their attention away from me and back to each other somewhat. It was not time for me to give myself away just yet. Who knew what else was to come?

After I lost their attention, I turned to leave the boiler of a room, and walked away with my hands behind my back, mumbling quietly under my breath, “Well Jonah came from Galilee.”

As I walked out the door, I could hear them plotting. “We must trap this carpenter in his own words, expose him before the people. But what can we do?”

End.





*This is a fictional rendering of the events that happened in John 7:45-52, from the perspective of Nicodemus, the night before a woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus in the Temple.

Five Minute Friday: Mercy

Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "mercy."

Mercy seems to be a childhood/childlike quality. When we are children, and our friend hurts our feelings, usually all if forgiven by the end of the day. If not then, then shortly.

I looked up the definition for mercy in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and biblehub.com, and both have compassion as the definition.

So mercy equals compassion. Compassion relates to forgiveness. They are all swirling around each other, and are all part of our emotions.

We can say forgiveness is a choice. All. Day. Long. But your emotions are involved.

This morning I was talking to my husband about a situation in my own life. I could rationally think about the situation all day long. But when he said something that caused my emotions to relax, I felt loved again.

That’s what mercy will do for you.

In the story of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8, we see mercy at play with Jesus and the woman.

The men accusing her wanted the full extent of the law given to her. That was their goal. No compassion. No mercy. So, she stood there feeling ashamed.

But then the Lord steps in, and he extends forgiveness, compassion, mercy to this woman, because that’s who he is. And then all is right in her world. She relaxes, and then...she puts her faith in him. We know this because she calls him Lord.

Mercy is a wonderful thing. It brings things back into the right. It makes things new. It restores hearts and emotions and gives us a sense of peace.

Mercy.

31 Days of Jesus: Why Did He Come?

Today's word prompt for the 31 Days Five Minute Friday Writing Challenge is Why.


Why did he come?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.-John 3:16-17

Read that again.  Let it wash over you.

Jesus came to save you.  He came to save all of us.  If you are in the world, you are a part of that scripture.

The only requirement, according to the above Scripture, is to believe in Him.  That's when you put your faith and trust in Him.

He came to save the world.  That word "save" is a big word.  It is the Greek word "sozo" and in the original language it means to save, heal, preserve, rescue, and deliver as from danger into safety.

As we will see in the Gospels, Jesus did these things during His earthly ministry.  He saved, healed, and delivered many people from danger into safety.

And ultimately, He did the same for you and me through the scourging he endured, being nailed to the cross, and his resurrection from death.

He did not come to condemn you.  And accuser is one who condemns.

In John chapter 8, there is a story of a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery.  Here's her interaction with Jesus.

"Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?"

  She said, "No one Lord."

And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."-John 8:10-11

He is the same always, so He is not condemning you either.

Anytime a voice of condemnation rises up again you, whether another person, or the accuser of our souls, or even our own voice, it is not Him.

He came to give us everlasting life.  Some translations say, "eternal life."

Eternal means age long, unending, as opposing to brief and fleeting.  It never ends.

The word life in that passage is the Greek word "zoe."  That means the God life.  

So, everlasting life is eternal life, never-ending with God.  It was a restoration of what man lost in the Garden of Eden with the fall of man.

He came because God loved us.  Jesus came to demonstrate that God loves us.  

God loves us.  I need to hear this every day.

That is why He came.

 To read more in the series, please go to 31 Days of Jesus.

Women in the Life of Jesus: Woman Caught in Adultery

Scriptures where she can be found:  John 8

Setting: Jerusalem, The Temple

Her Story:

 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.  Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,  they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them,“He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it,being convicted

by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. 

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

 She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

-John 8:1-11

This is one of my favorite accounts of Jesus in the Bible.  I have come back to this story so many times since I rededicated my life to the Lord as an adult.  It has been an anchor in times when I have felt guilty or condemned about something that I have done.  It always brings me back to a place of peace and belonging in my relationship to Jesus.

So, Jesus is teaching in the temple.  The scriptures say it was early in the morning. The Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman "caught in adultery, in the very act."

Now, let's stop right there.  What is adultery? Adultery is having a sexual relationship with someone who is not your spouse. Where was the man?  If she was caught in the act, the man would have been there too.  Religion is hypocritical.

So, they bring this woman to Jesus and sit her in the "midst."  I am assuming that that would be in the middle of everyone.  She is there on public display for everyone to see.  People there probably knew her.  But she was silent.  

Jesus was also silent, but just for a moment.  The religious leaders are questioning Him, and accusing her.  Jesus, just paused, and knelt down to write on the ground with his finger.  

There have been many suppositions about what Jesus was doing. My own personal opinion was that this action was a demonstration of who He was. In Exodus 31:18, the New Living Translation it says this,

When the LORD finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God.

Jesus was saying to them, "Hey boys.  I know what the Law says.  I wrote it."

Apparently they did not get the message, so Jesus stands up and tells them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

Well, they knew this was impossible.  None of them were without sin.  So, they start leaving, the oldest first to the youngest.  I heard a man say one time that the older ones left first probably because they have sinned more.  The only person who had a right to pick up a stone and throw it at her was Jesus.  But Jesus didn't come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.  Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law, so this woman received mercy.

The woman is still silent.  The men are leaving.  They are alone.  Jesus is ALONE again with another sinful woman. This does not seem to deter or bother Him. 

Jesus finally speaks to her and she to Him.  He asks her where her accusers are." Has no one condemned you?" He knows the answer, so why does He ask?  I feel like Jesus often asks us questions, so we will come to a deeper understanding of the answer.  He is the Good Teacher.  He wants her to know what she is receiving from God.

She says to Him, "No one Lord."  Can't you just feel that sigh of relief exhaling from her lungs? It's that same feeling everyone has when they learn about Jesus and come to Him and He forgives them.  We all have that same sigh of relief.  And it continues throughout your Christian walk.

No one in your life has a right to pick up a stone and throw it at you.  The same forgiveness, compassion, and mercy Jesus had for this woman, is the same He has for you.

At the conclusion, Jesus tells her to go and "sin no more."  One version says, "Go and leave your life of sin. (NIV)"  

When you know God loves you and you are forgiven, it will enable you to leave a life of sin.  You will be as this woman, forgiven, loved, and able to move on into a new future.

Many blessings to you as you grow in the knowledge of Jesus,

Beth

 To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.