No One Is Without Sin
Let’s wrap up this study on the Negatives in the Bible. There are many more I could cover, but I feel it’s time to move on, so this will be the last post about it for now. Let’s begin with the story of the woman caught in adultery.
We’re all familiar with the story. This poor woman—guilty of sin—was singled out and brought before Jesus for sentencing. What really gets me in this story is that these “religious” leaders used this woman as a pawn in their plans. They didn’t care about her. They had no problem humiliating her in front of everyone. They were only concerned with their agenda, which was to trick Jesus. But it was Jesus who had the last word.
We don’t know what He wrote in the sand that day, but whatever it was—combined with His previous statement—sent the men melting into the shadows. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Who, in their right mind, would be presumptuous or cocky enough to throw a stone after such a comment? To do so would be an open declaration that the person throwing the rock was without sin, and according to the Scripture, there’s no such thing.
Not once or twice, but repeatedly, God reminds us that none of us are without sin. We all mess up. We all make poor choices. We all tend to serve the flesh rather than the Lord. And sometimes we seem to forget that, especially when we’re busy focusing on the faults of others like the religious leaders were in the story above.
These men were proud of their rank and position and bitter at Jesus for drawing people toward the truth. But they were so busy trying to trip up Jesus, they were blind to their faults. They conveniently caught this woman in the act of adultery (which makes me wonder why they were following this woman around in the first place) and quickly pointed the finger at her sin. Again, no mention of their own crimes. No thought for how often they had failed God. They were too busy casting blame to examine their own hearts, and if we’re not careful, we can do the same.
Most of the negatives we’ve explored in this study have actually been positive messages for us. They have served as reminders that nothing is impossible for God, that He never breaks His promises, and that none of His servants will go unrewarded. Today’s negative, on the other hand, seems to be just that—negative. No one is without sin. That’s terrible news, right? Yes, but keeping that principle in mind is a good thing, especially when we’re tempted to point the finger at someone else. No one includes us. While we may not be guilty of the same sin as someone else, we each have our own faults and failures. How about we deal with those instead of worrying about the sins of others? That was Jesus’ message to the religious leaders, and it’s a good reminder to us.