There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

One of the most common difficulties that I see in churches (and in my own life) is the balance of two portions of the same passage, John 8:1-11.

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

I have found that the vast majority of public statements by churches and prominent Christians fails to account for the entirety of the narrative. Instead, churches usually embrace one message and forget about the other. Truly, this can be narrowed down to the end of verse 11, but since the first error tends to include verse 7, I have included the passage for that reason as well as for contex t. As I see it, the two errors that we tend to fall into in this passage are either focusing on "I do not condemn you, either" or "From now on sin no more."

The first error is often found in the same messages as "judge not" and "why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye?" It goes something like this: "You can't judge them. Why are you focusing on their sin? You're a hypocrite. You sin, too. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Set aside, for the moment, the fact that there are both explicit and implicit judgments present there.

The second error is less obvious because it can easily be confused with a proper reading of the text. The second error is ignoring the rest of the story in favor of the last sentence: "From now on sin no more."

The error in both cases is ignoring the context of the passage. When the context of the passage is taken into account, it becomes clear that Christ himself DID judge her, that He found her guilty, but did not condemn her. If he had not judged her guilty, then there would have been no reason to say "from now on sin no more." He alone could have cast that first stone. Let me repeat that. Christ could have cast the first stone. He spared her out of mercy, not out of a lack of judgment.

Without justice, mercy is meaningless. If God had not already judged each and every one of us guilty, then the mercy of God would be empty. It is because of our guilt and God's righteous judgment of it that we can understand the love and mercy of God. But His mercy, while free, does not come alone. It comes as a package deal. It comes packaged with grace, adoption, and healing. We cannot take one without the others. When God adopts us as his children, he pours out his mercy to cover our sin, his grace to meet our needs, and his healing to turn us away from that sin.

This hymn, There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, conveys that so very well. It was written by Frederick W. Faber in 1854 and is set to the tune Wellesley, written in 1878 by Lizzie Tourjée. It conveys the message that we have made His love too narrow. I think we've done that in two ways: (1) we've failed to effectively convey to the world that God's mercy can cover any sin, and (2) we've failed to convey the comprehensiveness of His mercy, which not only chooses not to condemn us, but heals us and calls us to holy living. We owe him not all, but more than all.

There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

There's a kindness in His justice,

Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth's sorrows

Are more felt than up in Heaven;

There is no place where earth's failings

Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,

And more graces for the good;

There is mercy with the Savior;

There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands

Of new worlds as great as this;

There is room for fresh creations

In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption

In the blood that has been shed;

There is joy for all the members

In the sorrows of the Head.

'Tis not all we owe to Jesus;

It is something more than all;

Greater good because of evil,

Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! Why will ye scatter

Like a crowd of frightened sheep?

Foolish hearts! Why will ye wander

From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks might,

But is mightier than it seems;

'Tis our Father: and His fondness

Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow

By false limits of our own;

And we magnify His strictness

With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd

Half so gentle, half so sweet,

As the Savior who would have us

Come and gather at His feet?

(Public Domain)