If you
read and study the Bible, you know there are many instances in which future
events, especially the coming of Jesus and his actions, are foreshadowed or
sort of preparing us for the Messiah. I recently finished Jesus’ Family Tree and came across scripture in which Joseph found
out that Mary was pregnant.
“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous
man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to
divorce her quietly”
Matthew 1:19. In Jewish custom, Joseph and Mary were considered married, though
the marriage had not yet been consummated. The point is that they had not been
together physically and yet, she was pregnant. Jewish law allowed, because of
her perceived unfaithfulness, that Mary could be placed before the elders for
judgment and stoned to death. But Joseph wanted a quiet divorce. This is before the angel comes to him and tells him the
wonderful news about Mary and how she became pregnant. So Joseph must have been
hurt and may have wanted vengeance or justice, rightful under Jewish law. Yet,
he chose mercy or grace.
Compare
to the story from John as the Pharisees test Jesus and the adulterous woman. “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. But
Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they
kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of
you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:3-7
Of
course, Jesus was both God and human on this earth, but Jesus showed mercy or
grace to a woman caught in adultery. Though Mary and this woman are not the
same, the perception of the Hebrews of both would have been equal for the
elders would have seen both as adulterous women who could be stoned under
Jewish law. Yet Joseph and Jesus (of course) showed mercy or grace.
We are
faced many times throughout life with people who deserve to be stoned, yet how
do we react? Do we throw those stones? Or do we think about the log in our own
eye while looking at the speck in other’s eyes? Maybe it’s even a log in their
eye, but never forget our eyes stay permanently logged. If not for the grace of
God and his son’s death at Calvary, we would deserve our own stoning.
