One thing we are discovering in our study through the book of John is, Jesus had a message. He was a man on a mission. He didn’t avoid controversy and he constantly made the religious elite mad; not just mad, but angry. He confronted them on every side about the truth of who He was, and what the implications of that truth would mean to them and their future.
When Jesus heals, he does it publicly, on the Sabbath, at major festivals, outside the temple courts. He preaches and teaches that He and His Father are One, that if they knew God they would know Him. In our study today, a group of religious professionals got together to try to trap Jesus by bringing a woman caught in adultery. If He lets her go, He’s condemned. If He condemns her then He’s taken the authority of the Jewish Sanhedrin – accused either way. Yet the Master Teacher had a masterful response to those who tried to trap Him. Read it and you’ll understand that Jesus constantly made people mad by telling them the truth; the truth about who He was and how life would change now that the Messiah has come; the truth about why He came, but most of all the truth about themselves.
Notice what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery. He said, “I don’t condemn you.” But He had another message for her. Think about it. Ask yourself this question: “If Jesus were speaking to me today on my worst day, what would he tell me?” Would He say, “Peace, be still. You’re forgiven”? And what instruction would He give me to change my life? The truth is, Jesus makes people mad in order to heal them and set them free; confronting the truth and then allowing His grace to cover it, redeem it, set us free, and love us back to life. Yea God! Yea Jesus!