Daily Reading: (John 8:3-6):
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.”
Today we’ll find that cancel culture is nothing new and it is actually an ancient practice, at its core is contrary to the Spirit of Jesus.
So, what is cancel culture? Webster’s dictionary defines it as: the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.[1] In Scripture we will see the ancient practice of engaging in an attempt of mass canceling (someone) by exerting social pressure to do so in John chapter 8.
“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.” (John 8:2-4).
Now if there ever was a Biblical moment where someone has been publicly shamed with the intention of permanently canceling someone else this is that moment. Did this woman do something wrong? Absolutely! Should her entire life be over because of it? The crowds think so.
Are things that are called out publicly today about what others have said or done in the past wrong too? Yes! In the same way, the women caught in adultery was also guilty.
“In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” The question for us should be how should we respond as well?
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7b). Jesus uses the Law as it’s intended purpose, to expose sin, to show us up that none of us in ourselves was righteous.
Jesus essentially says, “go ahead, you self-righteous religious leaders and cast the guilty verdict by stoning her if you yourself aren’t guilty of violating the Law too.”
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The word “condemnation” in the original Greek means “condemning sentence”. That is exactly what the cancel culture brings- they are after something they can condemn someone else with.
How different would it look like if our desire when someone has messed up would be that they move forward as a changed repentant person of the wrong they did, instead of trying to oversee their destruction? Jesus has a message to the people who just witnessed cancel culture 2,000 years ago” “When Jesus spoke again to the people (the very same people), He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus is the Light that brings the lost out of darkness (John 8:12).
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The only reason we are not condemned is that we are in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the only requirement to remove our condemnation. So, Romans 8:1 only means something, when you have done wrong, because that is when the gift of no condemnation matters to you when you should be condemned. God’s desire is for us to not live a lifestyle of sin, “go now and leave your life of sin” The power to do this comes when you first receive the gift of no condemnation.
The only way for people to go and sin no more, wouldn’t this be what you want cancel culture? The only way for people to be empowered in their life, to walk in peace, joy and faith, and to live the abundant life that Jesus came to give us is to understand that there is now no condemnation in Christ. When we understand that God does not condemn us in Christ, it allows us to stop condemning ourselves. And then when we understand that God does not condemn us in Christ, we will stop condemning others.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cancel%20culture
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