What Happens When Grace Confronts Sin?

She sat there, legs drawn up to her chest, arms tightly gripping her knees, eyes down, and face closed.  My heart was breaking, desperately hoping she would understand the love behind the difficult but forgiveness-giving words being spoken into her life. Tears flowed but it was difficult to know if they stemmed from a conviction of how far she’d strayed from the path she’d set before herself only a year earlier, or if they were tears of relief and overwhelming thankfulness for the love in the room, or if they were tears of anger mixed with shame and guilt at having been confronted with, and called out for, bad behavior.

She was surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than to support her toward making life-giving decisions.

Confronted by such grace, what would her choice be?

As the scene unfolded before me, I couldn’t help but recall the biblical story of the woman who was pulled out of the bed of a man she wasn’t married to and brought forcibly to stand before Jesus.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? (John 8:3-6 NIV)”

This woman stood there. Exposed. Vulnerable. Was she defiant and angry? Or were her shoulders stooped and head bowed in shamed defeat? We don’t know. But we do know that she was not surrounded by people who loved her. She was steeling herself against the pain of that first rock hitting her back.

Imagine the woman’s shock when Jesus didn’t immediately join the angry mob. Instead he knelt down beside her and wrote something in the dirt.  She couldn’t bring herself to look at him for fear of the condemnation she would see in his eyes.

When Jesus stood up, she tensed. But the first rock never came. Instead, she heard him say something about anyone without sin was free to cast the first stone. Then she heard thuds as each man dropped his rock and the scuffle of their feet as they walked away.

In the deafening silence she heard Jesus speak to her.  “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (v10)

She gathered the courage to turn around. To her amazement, no one was there. Just Jesus and a pile of rocks on the ground.

She looked into Jesus’ eyes. There was no condemnation, no accusation. Only kindness. Love. Grace.

“‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’” (v11).

Confronted by grace.  What would her response be?

We don’t know.  That’s a killer isn’t it?

Did she understand the implications of all those dropped rocks? Did she experience relief in finally being free of life lived in the dark places of secrets? Did she accept the invitation Jesus extended and step into the light of new life? Did she embrace forgiveness? I want to believe she did. How could she not? How could someone stare grace in the eyes and reject it?

Not knowing the end of her story beckons us to make it personal. How would we respond?

Heartbreakingly, far too many people, believers and unbelievers alike, do not recognize grace when it’s offered. Or we outright reject it. What influences our ability to recognize and receive grace?

Our heart posture leads the way to grace.

No one likes to be confronted with our bad behavior, especially in public. Our first response is often self-defense. Justification. Blame shifting. These responses harden our hearts. Did you notice that the woman never denied her sin?  A heart posture that even hints admitting responsibility for our sin positions us to recognize grace because it allows Jesus to engage us in conversation.

Our perceptions will either be a roadblock or a conduit for grace.

When Jesus spoke, he did not address the woman first. In an unexpected plot twist, Jesus gives the angry crowd the opportunity to re-evaluate their motives. They could still throw their rock if they found their hearts to be right. But none of them did. For her part, the woman was steeled against the punishment. However, in the silence, she had to respond to Jesus’ question and acknowledge there was no one there to condemn her. Each dropped rock opened up space for grace as she let go of her defensive posture. Our hearts can be predisposed to believe the worst about another’s motivations. We only notice that there are rocks, not that the rocks are in a pile on the ground. Jesus asks us to be willing to look around and reassess our perceptions.

We mistakenly believe that grace does not oppose our sin.

Graces forgives our sin. Grace cleanses us from our sin. But Jesus also teaches that grace not only opposes our sin, grace confronts it and commands us to turn from it. He did not tell the woman to go back to living her life. He said, “go now and leave your life of sin”. Grace demands a response. If we look grace in the eyes and refuse to change, we may as well tell God, “no thank you.”

I never saw my friend again after that day. I can only guess how she is writing the end of that particular story. I know how I pray it will end. The same way I hope the woman’s story ended in the Bible. Confronted by grace, I pray she will understand we were not holding rocks. I pray she will accept Jesus’ invitation to new life.