I Can See You John 8:1-11

Praying Over the City at Golden Thyme on Selby

This morning I got up early and hoped to beat the sun to the steps of the Cathedral. When I arrived, there was an exercise class pounding away, up and down, on the large set of steps in the front. Without my coffee, I was in no mood to join them and taking on the view of all that activity for prayer and meditation was not the vibe I was looking for, so I claimed a corner of the parking lot. I ended up capturing the sun peeking around the corner. Misty and hazy, the merciful light is still there.

My Bible studies this morning also brought me to John 8, and it turns out that the verses 1-11 were not in earlier manuscripts. This intrigued me—why were they missing? So, I did a little research—tiny might better describe my effort—and no one really knows why. It’s the powerful story of the woman caught in adultery, brought forward for stoning, but when Jesus is asked about this, he says very little. He takes his finger and writes in the sand. Then looks at the crowd and says, “If any of you is without sin, cast the first stone.” (John 8:7) The crowd leaves, one by one, and the woman leaves redeemed.

Why this powerful story had been hidden for a while, I don’t know. It really gets us to consider the love, tolerance, and mercy God wants us to illustrate in our daily life, and without question, gets at the very heart (quite literally) of all other commandments, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Like this sun, we can try to hide our sins and our faults. We can peek around the corner, barely touching the surface of what we need to consider of our choices and beliefs that might be hurting others and ourselves. Just as these clouds are blocking the sunlight, negativity in our lives block us from the glorious Sunlight of the Spirit. If we are going to do the real Spiritual work God created us for, we must do the hard work of cleaning up anything blocking us from Him (Her).

I wonder how the men who left that day handled this situation. Did they quietly leave with bitter hearts, continuing to focus in on claiming justified anger? Or did they consider Jesus’ words and have a change of heart? Did they decide to take His lead and offer tolerance and mercy? Because, after all, don’t we all want to be forgiven, loved, and understood? So then, we must offer these gifts to others.

Dear Heavenly Father (Mother), the way you want us to live is sometimes hard. I want a joyful, happy heart and the way to get there is to forgive and love others. To offer them the same mercy you so freely gave to me, but I need your help. Please soften my heart and help me to see others the way you see them. In Your Mighty Name…

If you have prayer requests for me, please bring them forward.