The Bible account can be found at John 8:3-11. You should read this first to refresh your memory.

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The following is from the book “Speaker for the Dead” by Orson Scott Card

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A great rabbi stands teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife’s adultery, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death. (There is a familiar version of this story, but a friend of mine, a speaker for the dead, has told me of two other rabbis that faced the same situation. Those are the ones I’m going to tell you.)

The rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him the mob forbears, and waits with the stones in their hands. “Is there anyone here,” he says to them, “who has not desired another man’s wife, another woman’s husband?”

They murmur and say, “We all know the desire. But, Rabbi, none of us has acted on it.”

The rabbi says, “Then kneel down and give thanks that God made you strong.” He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, “Tell the lord magistrate who saved his mistress. Then he’ll know I am his loyal servant.”

So the woman lives, because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder.

Another rabbi, another city. He goes to her and stops the mob, as in the other story, and says, “Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone.”

The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. Someday, they think, I may be like this woman, and I’ll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her the way I wish to be treated.

As they open their hands and let the stones fall to the ground, the rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman’s head, and throws it straight down with all his might. It crushes her skull and dashes her brains onto the cobblestones.

“Nor am I without sin,” he says to the people. “But if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead, and our city with it.”

So the woman died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance.

The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startlingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis, and when they veer too far, they die. Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.

I heard it again… “It’s better to give than to receive.” I’m sure that you’ve heard it also, or at least some version of it, right? However, I think it’s only partly right…

Giving IS important. But there is something to be said of receiving. It takes a receiver to make the gift important and worthwhile. I remember a Christmas years ago – I was under ten and was still in the gimme mode. My sister and I each received a single pack of gum from people we didn’t know, but they were relatives from out of town who would be stopping by the next day. Now, a pack of gum meant about as much then as it does today. Next to nothing. I said so. I am so thankful they were not there. Dad then sat us down and explained how poor they were and that the present represented something very significant compared to what they could afford. With this understanding, we were able to appreciate it properly and receive the gift in a gracious manner. It was the best gum I ever had.

This year, give the gift of receiving well to someone.

Talking about gifts, whether you want it or not, God has given a gift to you and it is His one and only Son. In a few months we will remember the gift his Son gave to you as well… His death on the cross brings a gift of salvation for you. Two gifts, intertwined, begins with his birth and ends with his death. Have you received this gift?

Years ago I was faced with this question. When I asked the
pastor what the Bible said about this he wasn’t able to point to
anything that related. His answer was “follow your heart”. Hmmm.

I was fortunate and choose not to and I still have that friend
nearly forty years later. But that question remained with me.
As I read and learned more about the Bible I ran across passages
that made me wonder if I had asked the right question. Let me
point out two of them.

Read through Genesis 20. Essentially Abraham passes his
wife off as his sister and the King took her to be his own. God
comes to King Ablimelech in a dream and tells him who Sarah
really is. Since the King did not have intercourse with her, God
said that he had not yet sinned. Hmm, does this mean that it’s
not the ceremony that establishes “marriage” but really the
sex act? Something to think about.

Let’s back up a bit to Genesis 2:24. It talks about the man
and woman becoming united as husband and wife and becoming
one. Once again it appears that it is not the ceremony that
seems to be the one that matters to God.

The world uses the ceremony to mark the event while God appears
to use the sex act. Two different definitions.

So now when I am asked about premarital sex I tend to say
that there is no such thing. It’s a much bigger question.
Having intercourse seems to me to set up what we normally call
“a marriage”. Are you ready to live up to the responsibilities
that are usually associated with a wedding ceremony? With
this frame of reference this no longer is something to be done
simply for the enjoyment of the evening. It’s a lifelong altering
of the relationship you have with the other person.

Of course, this is how I view it. It’s your decision.

I like chocolate. What about you?

I have long thought about how to “justify” eating chocolate as a
health food and I have finally come up with the proper explanation!

First we need to consider the expanding universe that we live in.
In this universe we have in existence things that we call black
holes. They pull in all the energy around them so much so that
even light is absorbed. So they are very dark, the darkest
anything can be.

Now we can take this scientific fact and apply it to chocolate.
Consider that there are many shades of chocolate ranging from
white to very dark. It is the dark and very dark chocolate that
become interesting. Just like the black holes that absorb energy,
the dark chocolate functions well as a calorie absorber. The darker
the chocolate the more calories it absorbs.

So, now you can have ice cream as long as it has chocolate
chips in it and if there are enough chocolate chips it is calorie
neutral. The same goes for chocolate chip cookies, chocolate
chip pancakes, etc. Just make sure it is the darker variety of
chocolate and you’ll be fine.

WOW!! This could be the next diet phenomenon.

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PS – Most people at work smile and walk away when I give them
this explanation.

Smile. Then walk away. Be sure to give the smile away.

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If you believe the Rippenian Theory then we need to meet,
I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell…..

Now for some background reading…

The genealogy of Jesus according to Luke 3:23-38 New International Version

1. God
2. Adam
3. Seth
4. Enosh
5. Kenan
6. Mahalalel
7. Jared
8. Enoch
9. Methuselah
10. Lamech
11. Noah
12. Shem
13. Arphaxad
14. Cainan
15. Shelah
16. Eber
17. Peleg
18. Reu
19. Serug
20. Nahor
21. Terah
22. Abraham
23. Isaac
24. Jacob
25. Judah
26. Perez
27. Hezron
28. Ram
29. Amminadab
30. Nahshon
31. Salmon
32. Boaz
33. Obed
34. Jesse
35. David
36. Nathan
37. Mattatha
38. Menna
39. Melea
40. Eliakim
41. Jonam
42. Joseph
43. Judah
44. Simeon
45. Levi
46. Matthat
47. Jorim
48. Eliezer
49. Joshua
50. Er
51. Elmadam
52. Cosam
53. Addi
54. Melki
55. Neri
56. Shealtiel
57. Zerubbabel
58. Rhesa
59. Joanan
60. Joda
61. Josech
62. Semein
63. Mattathias
64. Maath
65. Naggai
66. Esli
67. Nahum
68. Amos
69. Mattathias
70. Joseph
71. Jannai
72. Melki
73. Levi
74. Matthat
75. Heli
76. Joseph
77. Jesus

Hi, still with me? A genealogy list is not my favorite reading but it does have a purpose. Here in Luke he traces Jesus back to God the Creator. Important to know… if there was a break in this chain then we would have something entirely different wouldn’t we? Perhaps no Jesus? We would know Gods salvation plan under different terms to say the least.

Another story, more interesting and you probably know it. This story comes from Genesis 22. I’ll summarize the first part, but read the whole thing for yourself sometime. Here we have Abraham getting instructions from God to sacrifice his son Isaac. And Abraham did something I couldn’t do which is to take Isaac up to the mountain. He built an altar, laid out the wood for the fire, then bound up Isaac, and pulled out his knife to kill his son.

Then what?

I expect that you know what happened next. As Abraham was ready to make the final killing move an angel interrupted him saying “Abraham, Abraham, Do not lay a hand on the boy.” The event was over. Isaac was saved to provide the link that preserved the genealogy list.

Finally we are back to the original question — Does God care if we are punctual?

Ask yourself, what if the angel was late?

Christianity entirely dependent on an angel being punctual.

Yup, I think God cares. What do you think?