Beyond the box of chocolates series
Love is a gift of personal sacrifice freely given. That is what it is. But the way that gift can be offered can vary greatly. Love can be expressed any number of ways. The truth of the matter is that ‘Our ability to express love is limited only by our own imaginations.’
That being said; There are different factors that affect how we offer the gift of love. One, is ourselves. Who we are, our experiences, our imagination, all play a part in the ways we offer love to other people. Another factor is our relationship with the other person. For example, you are not, I hope, going to display love to a new friend the way you might display love with your spouse. Or the way you show love to your children differs from the way you show love to a coworker. Yet another factor is what love language do we receive and offer best.
So, what love looks like to one person, may not always look the same to another person.
“Sacrifice, motivated by genuine love and concern is extremely difficult to discount.” -Unknown
“But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” -Ruth 1:16-17 NASB1995
“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 down 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.” -John 8:2-11 NASB1995
In the book of John, in chapter 8, is the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Here is a woman caught in the act of adultery, she gets drug out into the public eye, in who knows what sort of condition. She gets dumped on the ground near Jesus, who had been just sitting there on the ground, teaching people. My guess would be that there was a good sized audience in there between Jesus teaching and whatever else was going on. There was potentially quite a crew of people there to watch this woman’s humiliation as well as Jesus’ response.
Here we have the scribes and Pharisees, all standing there, around this woman. I imagine they have these somewhat fierce expressions that are just a hair away from turning into glee as they hope to get Jesus to say something to condemn His own self. They are probably ready, poised to take an action, to condemn not only this woman, but also Jesus Himself.
So here we have Jesus, sitting there calmly on the floor, with His followers, this broken woman, who I imagine is probably half laying on the floor crying, surrounded by these gloating men who are just so pleased with themselves to have ‘outsmarted’ this ‘imposter’.
Then one of them, likely the ringleader of this stupidity, calls out to Jesus. “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman; what then do You say?” And Jesus just leans over on the ground and starts writing in the dirt. Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us what Jesus wrote, but I’ve always imagined it being the Ten Commandments. My thought being that He would have written whatever was going to make the biggest impact on the men He was talking to. Therefore logically, it would have to have been something that was already being taught, something that would directly affect or impact them. Ten Commandments seem the most logical. It might not have even been all of the commandments. It could have just been whichever ones that He knew would have the greatest effect on the people who were talking to Him. If I was going to hazard a guess, I would lean towards the not coveting, not stealing, and not bearing false witness. Or, the other possibility that I’ve thought, was maybe he was writing out their sins so everyone to see.
As He is writing, these guys keep pestering Him. Maybe they weren’t even paying that much attention to what He was writing at first. But then, when He straightens up and says, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Which strikes me a little bit, because if you stop and think about it for a second, Jesus was the only one who could have thrown a stone at her, with those provisions. He was the only one without sin. And whether these guys saw something written in the dirt that day that spoke to them or not, something about what was being said caught them. Maybe on some level they realized that they were sinners, and since throwing the first stone at her would have then resulted in them bearing false witness to themselves…. They were convicted by the words of their own law. And so, one by one, they were convicted and turned away. Leaving this woman with Jesus, the only one who could convict her by the terms the He Himself set. I don’t know if this woman knew who He was or not. But He lets her go. He was the one person who could legitimately condemn her, but instead He tells her, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
In that moment, I imagine, He looked to her, knowing that He was taking the burden of her sin on Himself, and He intentionally released her. His love was an act of sacrifice freely given.
Now, Jesus could have been angry at her for adding to the burden He was going to carry. Because at that time, that was still in His future. That makes it seem worse somehow. It seems like it would be easier to forgive someone after you already endured, than it would be to forgive them in advance. How much worse would it be knowing that in your future, you are going to suffer for the sins of others? How could you look at them with love and forgiveness, knowing what it will cost you? Somehow, Jesus could and did. His love for this woman outweighed the cost that He would be taking upon Himself.
In this passage the love that Jesus shows goes beyond that moment. Not only does He not condemn her when by His own stipulation He fully could have, not only does He save her from immediate death, but He knowingly and intentionally chooses to take her sin upon Himself, even unto death. This is truly love at its purest.
In part two of What Does Love Look Like? We will look at examples of what love looks like from a viewpoint of romantic love, parental love, platonic love and releasing love.
Please share your thoughts and comments below.
To see more Beyond The Box Of Chocolates Series, check out the posts below.
Image created by Mel Seeley in conjunction with Gemini.
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