Following the fourth Wiseman- Where have they taken Him?

April 15, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Our traveler begins to lead his camel out from the city. He feels defeated. He will return home after all these years having tales to tell of a man. A great man. But if He had been the Messiah as our traveler and so many others had thought, then how could they have killed Him. He chose to go to see where they had laid Him one more time before leaving the city. Suddenly two men run past him and our traveler has to restrain his camel. He recognizes them. They had been deciples of the Messiah. Our traveler urges his camel to follow him at a trot as he runs after the two men.

John 20:1- 6 ESV
[1] Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
[2] So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” [3] So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. [4] Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. [5] And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. [6] Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
As the two deciples leave our traveler decides to go and see what they had seen. Why was the stone to the tomb moved? As he approaches a wave of fear and excitement washes over him. The tomb is empty. There had been rumors that He had made statements suggesting that…. our traveler is hesitant to think it. It seems so strange. Could He have risen from the dead, just as He raised others?

Image they moment. Jesus. The man they saw crucified. Now gone from the tomb. Imagine being there. A thousand thoughts would go through your mind. Where was He? Did someone move Him? Was this a cruelty of the Roman’s? Perhaps this was a trick by the pharisees? Then a word by Jesus twinkles like a weak flame in the back of your mind. Something He had said that you did not understand so you had shoved it away as not important. In three days. He had told them so many times that He would need to die but that He would rise again. They just did not understand. Now they still did not understand, yet things were beginning to unfold and show the answer to their questions. We won’t always understand. But Jesus does always have a reason.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- I will raise this temple again in three days.

April 13, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Our traveler sees the soldiers bring down the bodies from the crosses. A man comes whom our traveler does not know, and the man has his servants carry the body of the Messiah away. Our traveler sees the man Nicodemus follow and quietly goes to join him. The man looks at him.
“What is that in your hands?”
Our traveler looks down at the cloth. Something he had once thought was of great worth, “a gift, for Him.”
Nicodemus touches our traveler’s shoulder and they walk together to where the Messiah would be laid.

John 19:38-42 ESV
[38] After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. [39] Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. [40] So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. [41] Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. [42] So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Nicodemus looks at our traveler once again. “Did you hear what He said? Before the earth shook?”
Our traveler shakes his head.
“He said, ‘Father forgive them.’ He asked for God’s forgiveness for us despite all that pain.”
Our traveler feels his heart tearing apart inside him. “It is kind. We are all to blame.”
“If we believe the prophecies. Then yes.”
“Did you know this would happen?”
“No. But now that it has, the words of the prophets return to my mind, and I feel like I understand a little.”
“Then you are better off than I am. For I understand nothing.”
“Perhaps that is why we met. So when thos day came, I could be here with you. He said something strange.”
Our traveler laughs, “everything He said was strange. Yet, so true.”
“Yes but. Now I recall hearing that he had said if we destroyed the temple He would raise it again.”
“Yes, in three days. It made some of the… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It made some of us religious leaders angry. But now I wonder at what He meant?”
“Why now?”
“I’m not sure. It just seems to be important somehow. Now more than ever.”

Sometimes God will bring someone you never expected into your life to help you through the worst times. Sometimes it’s someone you don’t like. Sometimes it’s someone you don’t know. Sometimes it’s a friend or relative. It is always amazing to see how God uses people in our moments of Sometimes. The saddest part of the cross was that Jesus was alone. He died alone. Yes, there were people who loved Him near by, but God turned His face from Him. No matter how surrounded by friend we are, without God we are truly alone. In the same light, it does not matter how alone we are, with God we are never alone.
Jesus was buried for three days. He fought the devil, took the keys and freed those lost to death. For three days He was in a battle and on the third He left the grave victorious. We can also leave the grave in victory, if we choose to die to our old selves and to live with Christ.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- He must know what He’s doing….right?

April 11, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Our traveler rushes to follow the crowd that follow the Messiah. Our traveler can not see Him and has not seen Him since the trial. The shouts of the crowd and the violence they give is frightening to our traveler as he ducks and dodges through the masses. Why were they in such an uproar? The Roman guards stood at the ready.
“This could turn into a riot.” Our traveler heard one of the guards whisper. “What has the man even done?”
The other guards eyes were red as though he held back tears, “my brother’s son, who was very ill, this man healed him.”
The first guard looked at him, “really? I remember his illness, they thought he would die. Why kill a man who would do such good things?”
A small shine touched the other guards cheek as a single tear managed to make it’s way past his resolution. “Why indeed.”
Our traveler rushes on past the guards and almost collides with a woman who is in near hysteria. Our traveler recognizes her. She was the woman at the well that day. She sees our traveler and grabs him, “they can’t do this! You must make them stop!” She shakes him and cries.
Our traveler pulls free, “I know. I am trying to get to Him.”
She steps away and let’s him pass. Our traveler sees the glimpse of figure huddled on the ground, a cross laying in the dirt next to Him. His body so broken it tears our traveler’s heart in two. He tries to push past the people who were crowding around but can’t make it. Finally the heaving of the masses pushes him to the top of the hill. He’s too late.

John 19:16-19, 23, 25-27 ESV
[16] So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, [17] and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. [18] There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. [19] Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

Our traveler looked at the sign and shook his head. He was so much more than simply the king. Laughter broke the hush that had fallen upon our traveler. It was so out of place that it frightened him. He turned to look.

[23] When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom,

Our traveler clenches his fists and then a voice tears his attention back to the horror of the cross.

[25] but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. [26] When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” [27] Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

So this was it. He really was going to die here. All they had hoped for and waited for. The pain in his heart and anger in his mind was too much for him and our traveler screams and falls to his knees. It was not an uncommon sight at that hill so no one pays attention to him. He buries his face in his hands and cries openly.
A hand rests on our traveler’s shoulder and he stands with a start. He sees the man who he had met under the olive tree. His newly seeing eyes, full of tears.
“You knew Him too my friend.” The man says.
Our traveler nods, “I searched for Him for most of my life. I’m silly old man! What do my prophecies amount to now!”
The man who had once been blind and now could see, turned his new eyes upon the savior in agony on the cross. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I can say is, He must a purpose, even for this.”

When tragedies strike we question everything. We question our motivation. We question our friends. Our family. Ourselves. Most often we finish by questioning God. We searched for Him so hard and long. We longed for His embrace. We have given Him our time and our lives. Then we feel like He has failed us. We fail a big test. We have bad news about our health. We lose our job. Our child runs away. Suddenly God is no longer in control or else He is no longer good.
But even if not, He is still good. Recall the three Hebrew boys saying that? Even in the bad times when we don’t understand, He is still good.
Even when we fall hard He is still good.
Even when He is on the cross when we think He should be overthrowing our enemies and taking over as King, He is still good. In fact, He is better than good. He is working something new and amazing for our lives. Even if we don’t see it at the time.
We cannot know God’s plans, all we can ever know for sure is that, even in the worst, most heartbreaking, most confusing times, He must have a purpose.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- How dirty are my feet?

April 8, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

We pick up again with our traveler as he bends to lift his foot to a cloth. He has walked so long that upon entering the house he would stay in for the night, the owner insisted he wash his feet twice. Our traveler smiled. He had heard and odd story about the Messiah. It had been told to him by a young woman who had brought bread and drink up to a gathering of people who were at her master’s house for the night.

John 13:1-10 ESV
[1] Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. [2] During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, [3] Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, [4] rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. [5] Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. [6] He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” [7] Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” [8] Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” [9] Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” [10] Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

Our traveler wondered at what the Messiah had said. “Why were not everyone of them clean? Who was still dirty?” Our traveler finished drying his feet and went to his room. “Does it mean something specific that the Messiah said this?”
Our traveler blew out his candle and went to sleep.

You and I know that Jesus was speaking of Judas when he said not all of you are clean. I read something a few years ago that I have never forgotten.
“Jesus washed the feet of His betrayer.” I think it was Max Lucado who had done a sermon on this. However it was the first time I had thought of it. Jesus washed the feet of the man who would sell Him out, and He knew it. He knew Judas would betray Him and yet He washed His feet anyway.
Jesus knows who will betray Him. He knows who will walk away and stop loving Him. Yet He died for them anyways. For every person who said, “there is no God.” For every man who shouted, “I don’t need anyone but me!” For the girl who said, “I am the queen of my life and no one else.” For every person who walked away from Jesus and sought their own life a life without Him, a life not even half full, Jesus died for them. He washed their feet too. The brokenness of this world does not surprise Jesus, but it makes Him sad. We can hate Him and betray Him and He still loves us enough to wash our feet. If your feet are going to be dirty, let them be dirty from the dust of the road as you follow the Messiah.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- A false palm branch

April 6, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

We find our traveler once again being pushed and jostled by a crowd. He had heard people shouting, “Hosanna!” and knew in his heart that it had been because of the Messiah. Our traveler followed the voices and now he found himself in the midst of a crowd standing near the gate to Jerusalem. A woman bumps into him and looking at his hands she says,
“You do not have a palm leaf to lay down. Here, take one of mine.” She hands him a green branch and head on her way.
Our traveler looks with interest at the branch. Then he notices that people are waving the branches and placing them on the road. Our traveler rushes to the front of the crowd and adds his branch to the others just as the shiny young hooves of a donkey colt step past him. He looks up, “blessed….” he begins to say and then stops. The eyes that rest upon him are red with tears, but the face still smiled at him. The moment so enveloped him that our traveler forgot why he was there. He had been within speaking distance of the Messiah whom he had sought after for some 30 or so years, and he had been so sad at the pain in His eyes that he had forgotten to speak. To give his gift. To say “may you be blessed.” The moment had passed and the chance was gone.
“I did say blessed, I suppose that’s something.” Our traveler says to himself as He walks away.
Later he recalled all he had seen and had heard of the day.

John 12:12-16 ESV
[12] The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. [13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [14] And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, [15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” [16] His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
We always see the triumphant entry as a happy moment. I mean, it literally called triumphant. Yet, it was a sad moment for Jesus. He had so badly wanted to see the people of Jerusalem change. He had wanted to love them. Yet they doubted Him. He rode in to cheers of the crowd, yet He knew their hearts were still cold. He fulfilled the prophecy. Yet it broke His heart. Hosanna. Save us we pray. How often do people shout Hosanna. Shout, save us. And don’t actually want to be saved. Save us, but let us stay how we are. Save us, but don’t change us or our lives. Save us, but leave us here to stay cold and dead inside. The people shouted Hosanna and then only a little while later shouted, crucify Him. How many false palm branches have we laid? How often have we shouted to be saved and not actually mean it?
Jesus came to save us in a very specific way. He did not overthrow the government. He did not kill the enemies of His people. He did not restore the earthly kingdoms. He came to save us from ourselves. To save us from our sins. Hosanna. Save us from the devil Jesus. Save us from falling into hopelessness. Save us from us.
Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- The rarest of perfume

April 5, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

The strong fragrance of the perfume wafted from the booths as our traveler passed by. The scent was so strong it blotted out everything else. On a table he saw a beautifully handcrafted bottle and lifted the dropper. The scent was lovely.
The seller smiled at our traveler. “Do you like it? It is one of our rarest and most expensive blends.”
Our traveler nodded, “I have never met it’s equal. At its price though, in this area, you nust not sell many bottles.”
“That’s what you think.” The seller snorted, “Why, just the other day a young woman came and bought an entire bottle, just to wash a man’s feet.”
Our traveler was instantly interested, “a man’s feet you say? Do you know who?”
“Buy a bottle and I may tell you.” The seller countered.
“A small one then. Please, tell me what you know.”

John 12:1-8 ESV
[1] Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. [2] So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. [3] Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. [4] But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, [5] “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” [6] He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. [7] Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. [8] For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
The seller wrapped the perfume and handed it to our traveler. “It’s an odd tale isn’t it?” She asked as our traveler paid her.
“It would be, if I did not know the man for which this was done. I worry about what it might mean.”
“I doubt it means anything. The wealthy have odd tastes of amusement.”
“Perhaps.” Our traveler stated and walked away.

You and I know the significance of Mary washing Jesus’s feet with the perfume. She was symbolically preparing His body for His death to come. However, imagine being a person living nearby at the time. It would sound the eccentric act of a wealthy group of friends. Judas would certainly not have been the only one who scoffed at this. Yet Mary, who chose to listen at the feet of the Savior, and learn all He had to teach, somehow in her heart she knew something was going to happen and she chose to forsake her money, Enough for a man’s wages for a full year, and to wash the feet of her Savior with her hair. It was a gesture of full humility and love, and we can tell from what Jesus said that He was moved by her actions.
What are we willing to pour out at the feet of Jesus? Dreams? Desires? Needs? Wants? Hopes? Security? What is worth an entire year’s wages to us, that we are willing to pour out on the feet of Jesus?
The best part of it is that when we pour out our silly earthly trinkets, Jesus blesses us with His gifts. His gifts of peace and joy. These thing will only bring us pleasure for a day. Jesus will bring us hope for eternity.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- dead man called by name

April 4, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Our traveler shivers as he stands at the door to the tomb. He looks in. Empty. Just as he had been told. He had heard that his Messiah had raised a man from the dead, but despite the prophecies, it was hard for him to believe. Yet, there it was, and empty tomb. This should have caused great joy among the people, and some were very happy, but others were angry and it worried our traveler.

” Who am I to worry?
What can they do to a man who can raise the dead?” Our traveler said to himself.

John 11:43-44 ESV
[43] When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” [44] The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The death and resurrection of Lazarus is something that we all know, but we don’t always realize the significance behind it as a sign, one of the Main signs that nobody could fake. A sign that would prove that Jesus was the Christ was the raising of the dead, it had been prophesied that this would come to pass. The pharisees and the sadducees were trying to defame Jesus and claim that his miracles weren’t real and then all of a sudden, He raises the dead.
That was something they couldn’t argue with or disprove, it trrified them and made them very angry.
We have something in common with Lazarus. We too are people that Jesus loves and weeps over when we go astray.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, just as how Jesus raises us From the death of pur sins. He calls out our names, and then has us unbound, from our garments of the dead and braces us as we walk stumbling Into the daylight of the living. We have all been dead at one time. Maybe you still feel dead. Walk out to join the living. Go to Jesus when He calls you. He is ready to show you the light once again.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- The wool of the sheep

April 3, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

The soft wool of our traveler’s vest brushes against his cheek as he tightens his collar against the cold night air. The bleating of a far off flock reaches his ear and he recalls the words of the Messiah. Words he had been told by another who had been blessed to hear the words first hand.

John 10:11-15 ESV
[11] I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12] He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13] He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Our traveler smiles. What beautiful words. What a comfort to know that the King is willing to become a shepherd so that His lost and frightened and confused flock, will hear His voice and follow Him.

Jesus referred to Himself as the ‘good shepherd.’ He often used sheep and shepherds as His metaphor. Being from Bethlehem, and most likely returning there for the census from time to time, Jesus would have seen lots of sheep. In this He saw their simple and wayward ways and how they were like His people. He saw how the shepherd would take on injury and hardship for the sake of his sheep, and how the shepherds were like Himself in this manner. Many will come and claim to care about us, but when true hardships come they abandon us. They are not our shepherd. Some may stay by our side, but they are not the shepherd either. They might even fight for us. But they are still not Him. No, the shepherd is the one who dies for His sheep. All of them. Even the ones who run away. Even the ones who spit at him and kick him. Even the ones who nail Hin to a cross. The shepherd loves His sheep and will never leave them alone.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- Seeing the tree for the first time

April 2, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

The day is hot. So hot that our traveler has to seek shade. He finds an olive tree and goes to sit under it. Another man is there, staring at the branches. As our traveler sat near him he noticed that the man stared with such wonder that he was like a child seeing something for the first time.

“May I ask, why are you staring at the tree?” Our traveler inquires.

“Sir. It is the first time I have ever seen such a tree.”

“An olive tree? But they grow many places and in great numbers around this area.”

“Yes. But you see, I have been blind. May I tell you part of my tale?”

“I would love to hear what you have to say.”

John 9:1, 6-7, 32-41 ESV
[1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
[6] Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud [7] and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Our traveler felt tears warm his eyes.

“That’s not all!” The man stated. “Some people brought me to the Pharisees to speak with them, but they refused to accept my testimony.”

[32] Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” [34] They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

The man smiled even brighter. “I was very upset about this at the time. How could they react in such a way? But then I had a blessing come from my trial, Jesus came to me when He heard I had been cast out!”

[35] Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” [37] Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” [38] He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. [39] Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” [40] Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” [41] Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

The man slapped his knee. “So you see, I am experiencing this tree for the first time, and it’s so beautiful!”

Our traveler looks at the tree and touches it’s bark, “I never noticed before. But yes, it is beautiful.”

Jesus heard that the blind man had been cast out of the assembly where the pharisees were, and He came to him.
So many want to complain that the church was unkind to them. And that because of this, I don’t want anything to do with the church or with Jesus or with Christians. Let’s start with saying that. Not all churches are like that, and even in a church that is like that. Not all of the members will be like that, so don’t throw the church away because of a bad experience. You may find a church that accepts and loves you. And helps you to grow and to become closer to Christ. You just have to not give up. The second thing I want to say on this is that when the man was cast out of the church, cast out by the pharisees, Jesus came to him. Jesus did not look at this man and except that he was thrown away. He looked at him as someone He cherished and when he was cast out by the religious leaders, Jesus went and found him. We may be cast out of a lot of places due to our love of Jesus and our belief in him. We may even be cast out of our church because we refuse to deny the truth of the Bible, the whole Bible. However, we are never cast out from Jesus. There will come a day when those who are not Christians or those who are false Christians are removed, from those who are true Christians, as odd as that sometimes sounds. But we who are members of the body of Christ. We who love Jesus. We who are part of Him. Will never be cast out. We will always have a place where we belong and that place is with the Savior.

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Following the fourth Wiseman- The writing in the sand

April 1, 2025 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Our traveler is weary. He has walked so many days and sene and heard so many things that his brain can no longer comprehend. It has been so much study, so much wonder that he almost needs a rest. He stops walking, in front of him, sitting on the ground, is a woman. She looks up at him, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Did you hear Him?” She asks.
“Hear who?” Our traveler replies.
“The teacher.” She runs her hand across etching in the sand.
Our traveler stands straight and looks around. The Messiah had been there. He must have just missed Him.
“What did He say?” Our traveler asks.
“Let me tell you.” The woman answers.

John 8:3-11 ESV
[3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst [4] they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. [5] Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” [6] This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [7] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. [9] But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. [10] Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” [11] She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]
Our traveler reaches down and throws aside every custom He knows. He takes the woman by the hand and lifts her to her feet. He gives her his hankerchief. She takes his hand nervously.
“I know what I am in the eyes of the people, and I do not say they are wrong, but….He, He gave me a chance to change. Who does that?”
Our traveler pats her hand like a dad patting the hand of a nervous child, “The Messiah does that.”
He smiles and walks away.

The writing in the sand. The woman whom no one could throw a stone at. Jesus. We all recall the account of one of Jesus’s most famous lines. “Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.” Yet that is always where we stop. We don’t know what Jesus wrote. It’s frustrating that the deciples did not think to record it. What we know is that Jesus saw a woman who had sinned and was about to be killed. No chance for redemption. Yet, He offered her forgiveness and a second chance. This shows the difference between the law before Jesus came and the law after. Because much of the law is still relevant. However, before Christ law, said that this was sin and she was to be punished by death. After Christ law, said that she had sinned and was to be given an opportunity through the blood of Jesus to be forgiven. She had a chance to try again and this time to do better. Jesus said He did not condemn her and that she was to go and sin no more. Did she? We don’t know. She might have gone and went back to her old sinful life and then died without hope. Or she might have changed her life completely and become the woman God had meant her to be and then died with the promise of eternal life through Jesus’s forgiveness. Where she went after her meeting with Jesus we will never know. What we know is that Jesus saw someone who was broken by sin and He have her a chance to change. Just like He gives each of us a chance to change. He does not condone our sin, He gives us a chance to stop sinning and to become all we can be through Him.