His Tender Smile

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn He came back to the temple, and all the people came to Him.

Just as He sat down to teach, the scribes and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught committing adultery.

They made her stand in the middle of everyone.

"Teacher," they said to Him, "This woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded to stone this kind of woman. What do You say?"...

But Jesus knelt and wrote down something on the ground.

As they continued questioning Him,

He straightened up and said to them,"The one among you who is without sin, let him throw the first stone at her."

Again, He knelt and wrote down something on the ground.

Those who heard left one at a time, beginning with the older ones first, leaving Jesus alone with the woman.

She was standing alone, shivering, in front of the man who was just getting to His feet.

"Where did everyone go?" He asked, smiling.

"Didn't anyone condemn you?"

"No," she whispered, looking down. "No one, Sir."

He took her chin in one of His hands.

"I don't condemn you either," He said with a tender smile.

Then He became serious.

He spoke as a parent disciplining a child.

"Now go, and stop sinning."

She began to weep, not from shame as before, but from relief.

He had saved her life. He had returned to her what the others... had stolen.

She was sorry, painfully sorry.

At last she had found Someone

who could bear her sorrow for her.

---- The Parable of Joy, Michael Card.

He did not condemn her, because He would be condemned for her.

When we come face to face with this perfect love, it takes our breath away. We deserve to die for what we have done. We should be stoned by an angry mob. Yet not only does Jesus save our life with His own blood, He washes us completely clean. When He looks at us, He doesn't see our failures and mistakes; He sees a new creating--a child of God.

If we allow Him full and complete access to our lives, He gives us the power to repent, walk a different direction, and be made new. When we repent and accept His forgiveness, He can take the sin our enemy meant to use to destroy us and instead use it for His glory. He can take a shattered heart and life and script a beautiful tale of His perfect love.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

Come to the Father, broken hearts, broken hearts, He will take them all.

Everything was done so we would come.