Another Bedtime Bible Story
This is An Article from Ananias for the July 2017 ONE in Christ newsletter.
My Big Guy was reading me another Bible story before bedtime. This time it was from John’s Gospel. He said it is at the beginning of chapter 8.
Jesus is at the Temple in Jerusalem, and the leaders bring a woman to him. He said that the leaders said the woman had been caught in adultery. I looked at him because I never heard that word before. He said it means to break a real serious promise, the promise people make when they get married.
The leaders said that someone doing this would get stones thrown at them; then they asked Jesus what they should do. It was a test. But Jesus didn’t answer. Instead he wrote in the sand. After a while, he stood up and told them who ever hadn’t sinned can throw the first stone. Then all the leaders walked away, leaving Jesus and the woman, and he told her not to sin again.
I thought about this for a while. I couldn’t understand adultery, but then I thought about the promise My Big Guy made to take care of me. Sometimes, if he is gone all day, I wonder if he is coming back. Once in a while, if he goes away on a trip, I’ll stay at someone else’s house. I worry that he won’t come back, and I’ll be all alone. But he has always come back, and I have to believe that he will always try to come back.
Breaking any promise is going to hurt someone, and hurting someone isn’t something we should do. But people hurt each other all the time. Dogs do too. We do or say things that hurt other’s feelings. Usually we don’t mean to do it; but sometimes we do.
Jesus said that anyone who had not sinned could throw a stone at the lady first. Since no one except Jesus is sinless, no one could throw a stone, so they left.
Before that, Jesus wrote something in the dirt. I wonder what that was. I tried to ask My Big Guy what he wrote. He said that no one knows; some think he wrote the Ten Commandments, others that he listed the sins that the leaders had committed. I don’t know what he might have written. I think it may have been something about people wanting to think some sins are bigger or worse than others.
But I remember My Big Guy told me that sin creates a broken relationship. He told me about an example he was going to use for a sermon example for the kids. He would tear up a paper plate, then ask them to try to put it back together. Even if you tape or glue it, it won’t be the same.
It doesn’t matter if it is a small tear or a big tear; the plate is damaged forever. Our sins don’t come in different sizes or values. A sin is a sin, and we are all sinners.
Whenever we sin, it damages our relationships. It breaks our plate with others. But it never breaks our plate with God. Jesus took care of that on the cross.
You know, I don’t think it matters what Jesus wrote in the dirt. What matters is what he erased. On the cross, he erased all of our sins. That’s the best promise of all.
Love and Licks,
Ananias
My Big Guy was reading me another Bible story before bedtime. This time it was from John’s Gospel. He said it is at the beginning of chapter 8.
Jesus is at the Temple in Jerusalem, and the leaders bring a woman to him. He said that the leaders said the woman had been caught in adultery. I looked at him because I never heard that word before. He said it means to break a real serious promise, the promise people make when they get married.
The leaders said that someone doing this would get stones thrown at them; then they asked Jesus what they should do. It was a test. But Jesus didn’t answer. Instead he wrote in the sand. After a while, he stood up and told them who ever hadn’t sinned can throw the first stone. Then all the leaders walked away, leaving Jesus and the woman, and he told her not to sin again.
I thought about this for a while. I couldn’t understand adultery, but then I thought about the promise My Big Guy made to take care of me. Sometimes, if he is gone all day, I wonder if he is coming back. Once in a while, if he goes away on a trip, I’ll stay at someone else’s house. I worry that he won’t come back, and I’ll be all alone. But he has always come back, and I have to believe that he will always try to come back.
Breaking any promise is going to hurt someone, and hurting someone isn’t something we should do. But people hurt each other all the time. Dogs do too. We do or say things that hurt other’s feelings. Usually we don’t mean to do it; but sometimes we do.
Jesus said that anyone who had not sinned could throw a stone at the lady first. Since no one except Jesus is sinless, no one could throw a stone, so they left.
Before that, Jesus wrote something in the dirt. I wonder what that was. I tried to ask My Big Guy what he wrote. He said that no one knows; some think he wrote the Ten Commandments, others that he listed the sins that the leaders had committed. I don’t know what he might have written. I think it may have been something about people wanting to think some sins are bigger or worse than others.
But I remember My Big Guy told me that sin creates a broken relationship. He told me about an example he was going to use for a sermon example for the kids. He would tear up a paper plate, then ask them to try to put it back together. Even if you tape or glue it, it won’t be the same.
It doesn’t matter if it is a small tear or a big tear; the plate is damaged forever. Our sins don’t come in different sizes or values. A sin is a sin, and we are all sinners.
Whenever we sin, it damages our relationships. It breaks our plate with others. But it never breaks our plate with God. Jesus took care of that on the cross.
You know, I don’t think it matters what Jesus wrote in the dirt. What matters is what he erased. On the cross, he erased all of our sins. That’s the best promise of all.
Love and Licks,
Ananias
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