Knowing Him 39: Leadership and Compassion

The Bible says that the Jewish holiday, the Feast of the Tabernacles was coming up (John 7:2). It was at that time of the year when all Jewish men must report to Jerusalem and present themselves at the Feast of Tabernacles, an Old Testament mandated seven-day men’s retreat each year. (If you want to read more about it check out Leviticus 23:33-36 and Deuteronomy 16:13-17.) Jesus’ half-brothers (half-brothers because they had the same mom but Jesus has a Divine Father), James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon were really excited about making this yearly pilgrimage with their older brother, Jesus. Yet they were still struggling to believe that He was not only the brother they had known their whole lives but also the Messiah “[f]or even his own brothers did not believe in him” (John 7:5). We are not sure when Jesus’ half brothers become Christ-followers but somewhere along the way at least two of them, James and Jude, do. We know this because we have a book written by each of them — the books James and Jude. We also know James becomes the first senior leader of the church in Jerusalem and was known as James the Lesser, or “camel knees,” a name given to him because of his passion for praying on his knees around Jerusalem. Maybe the biggest thing James took away from living with Jesus some thirty years was Jesus’ prayer life.

In obedience to the Father, Jesus tells His brothers to go without Him to the feast, which must have sounded odd to them. But they listened and headed off to Jerusalem. Obviously, the Father wanted some time alone with Jesus to talk and then sent Him into Jerusalem undercover. Midway through the feast, Jesus makes His grand appearance at the temple and begins to teach once again about who He is, that He was born in Bethlehem, a son of David, yet raised in Nazareth. (Maybe this is when His brothers become believers. Who knows?) A fight breaks out among the crowd, because of what Jesus is saying and what the people had been taught about the Messiah. There is a fight, a lot of yelling, and Jesus just slips away to the quiet of the Mount of Olives to spend some time with His Father again. This small mountain was obviously His favorite spot to pray when He was in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the religious crowd is fighting as well, and who takes a stand for Jesus but good old Nicodemus! Remember him? He was the guy who came to Jesus at night back in John 3. Nicodemus gets his chance to stand up for Jesus. He makes a calculated risk and decides to ask those gathered a question. Instead of changing minds, he is verbally attacked and ridiculed, accused of being from Galilee as well. Nicodemus recoils and goes back into hiding and continues to be a true believer, a Christ-follower, but not yet a fully committed disciple. We will keep an eye on this Christ-follower, who is somewhat undercover among the religious crowd of Jesus’ day. Do you know any undercover Christians? The kind who says their relationship is something personal and meant to be kept in the privacy of their own thoughts and life? Are you a secret follower?

When Jesus came back from the Mount of Olives, a woman is brought before Him, who had committed adultery. If this was a gathering exclusively of men, what was this woman doing there? And where is the man who was caught in adultery with her? Was he not just as guilty? Why is he not presented as well before Jesus? Why only the woman? I smell a rat. I think a plan had been hatched the night before and it is about to backfire in the faces of those who planned it. The scribes and the Pharisees have heard that Jesus is a friend of sinners and seize the opportunity to use this against Him. They bring this woman, who I am sure is scared to death, and place her in the center of the court, quote the law of Moses to Him and then ask Him, “What do you think needs to be done with her?”

This was obviously a trap, because if Jesus said to stone her, He would be cheered as a law keeper, but when word spread throughout the land, every prostitute and sinner would run from Jesus. It is interesting that in Jesus’ day prostitutes and sinners ran to Jesus for grace and forgiveness and today most prostitutes and sinners run as far away from the church of Jesus Christ as they can get. What’s that about? If you ask them, you will find that they anticipate condemnation and not love, forgiveness, and grace. Where have we gone wrong?

Jesus sniffs out the plot to trap Him and turns the tables. Standing next to the woman, He begins to write in the dirt. I wonder what He wrote. Through the centuries, Christians have debated what Jesus wrote in the sand. Some say He drew the early Christian symbol of a fish. It sounds cool, but it says He wrote something, not drew something. My best guess is that He wrote the Ten Commandments that Moses had given the people, which the religious elders were quoting from when they brought the woman to Jesus. He makes them think back to His teaching from the day before: “‘Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law’” (John 7:19). They persist and refuse to get the point, so He stands up and says, “‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her’” (John 8:7). Then notice what Jesus does. He doesn’t back up or run away, he stays there right beside the woman and continues to write. Maybe He was now writing out their sins: lying, deception, gossip, back-biting, taking vengeance, etc. As Jesus continues to write, the crowd disperses, beginning with the oldest. Not one person threw a stone at her. When all have left Jesus stands up again and says, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin’” (John 8:11). We can always look to Jesus, “… for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23). Leading with compassion, imitating God the Father, letting Jesus live through you — that is my prayer for you today. Talk with others today about leadership with compassion.