Jesus Flipped Tables- We Need to Oppose Sin
Once upon a time I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a Reel that contained a phrase that said something along the lines of “I have Christian friends who support me and my partner, what makes you you the exception?”
The person who made the Reel was talking about cutting people out of her life who spoke out against her marriage to a woman because she had other “Christian” friends who supported her marriage.
I can see her logic, I can even understand it. How can some people who claim Christian beliefs be against something that others, who claimed the same beliefs, were supportive of?
My question is what makes her friends that support her the exception to what God has said about this particular sin? My question to all Christians— why is it that this sin, the sin of homosexuality, the one that, as a culture, we are willing to bend the rules on? What is it about this sin that seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back? Why is this where we are drawing our lines?
It’s no secret that there is, what has been called, the deconstructionist movement. This deconstructionist movement has had big name faith leaders denouncing God, walking away from Christianity, and picking up the mantels of relativism and secularism. In fact, most people who deconstruct, don’t pick up Jesus or Christianity again. They pick up whatever the world tells them that feels good. I know this because the phrases “this feels good” or “this feels like the truth” have been phrases I see commonly used when people write about or talk about their new beliefs as they walked away from Christianity.
What’s even more interesting to me is that those who talk about deconstruction talk about all the “inconsistencies” they found in the bible. As if they were the first ones to ever have questions and doubts. As if Thomas didn’t doubt that Jesus came back from the dead and demanded the proof. However, those who claim deconstruction and walk away from the faith will say things about how God “isn’t a God they agree with.” They might say that “God isn’t a God I could worship.” As if God has to prove his worthiness to deserve their worship.
From my vantage point, this deconstruction movement seemed to really gather steam or momentum over the LGBTQ community. (I have zero information to prove that this is the exact trajectory, I am going on a common thread that I have noticed across a lot of different stories) I think it is a lot easier to oppose sin when sin is an abstract. It’s easier to oppose sin when we’re reading about it in the bible during biblical times that happened over 2,000 years ago. Once we can start connecting sin with people though, our tolerance for sin seems to change.
It isn’t easy to oppose sin when the sin takes place in people we love. Sins like gossip and lying and coveting are easily overlooked as something we all do. In fact, once sin starts to take shape in those we love and in the humanity around us, we start to rank sin. Sometimes, depending on who is committing the sin, we might even engage in it as well. Hello gossip. Gossip is a really hard one to walk away from when you are hanging out with your friends. Just ask any girl you know.
There are different ideas on whether or not God ranks sin. The truth is, there are sins that carry deeper consequences. Just look at the laws that God gave Moses. There is clearly a system of severity when it comes to the degree of the offense and the degree of punishment. Regardless of whether or not you believe God actually ranks sin, I can tell you one thing that bible makes clear. Any sin is a sin. The thing that separates us from God is sin. That means the sin of gossip takes me away from God just like the sin of murder takers the murderer away from God. That’s why the atonement is so important. We are forgiven under the blood of Jesus. This is not a forgiveness we would have been able to get on our own.
Yet, for humanity, for the Christian world at large, the sin of homosexuality is the sin that is causing division, doubts, questions, and all sorts of issues. This is the sin that has everybody scratching their heads and wondering if they read their bible right.
God makes his stance on homosexuality clear. We see it in the writings of the Old Testament and in the writings of the New Testament. God has defined sin and guess what, we’re all sinners. However, in our quest to be loving to our neighbor and our friends, we have done the most unloving thing possible—we have stopped speaking truth.
A common thread I have seen and heard coming from Christian leaders and those who claim Christianity, is that Jesus would love. We get little reminders of how Jesus loved the least of us. Jesus loved the woman at the well. Jesus loved the blind man. Jesus loved the sinners while in their sin.
Yes, Jesus loved the sinners. Jesus healed the sinners. Jesus also told them to go and sin no more. Let me remind you, Jesus flipped tables and had righteous anger towards those who were using the temple (and God’s sacrificial laws) for financial gain. Jesus clearly opposed sin. Jesus flipped tables!
Christians, we need to oppose sin. It’s simple. Paul writes in Romans that we are to not be conformed by the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. (Romans 12:2)
Now, when the Christian starts to oppose sin and call out sin, the world and other Christians are quick to point out the stories regarding forgiveness. We get told to take the plank out of our own eye before calling out a brother. (Matthew 7:3-5) We get reminded that he who has no sin can cast the first stone. (John 8:1-10)
Christianity today looks a lot like glossing over the ugly stuff to only talk about the good stuff. The problem with that is that we’re taking these stories out of context and using them as a reason for why we cannot call out sin.
Let’s look at the story of the woman who was caught in adultery. This is where Jesus tells the Pharisees that whoever has no sin can cast the first stone to stone this woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Quick recap of this story: Jesus goes up to the Mount of Olives and then the Pharisees bring up a woman and tell Jesus that they caught her in the act of adultery, what should they do with her? Jesus is silent and starts to write on the ground. There are many theories on what Jesus was writing on the ground but the bible doesn’t tell us so I won’t talk about the theories. In Jesus’s silence, the Pharisees are insistent that Jesus needs to tell them what to do with this adulterous woman. That’s when Jesus says, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. (Verse 7) Then everybody leaves, Jesus tells the woman that he isn’t going to condemn her and tells her to sin no more.
Oh, there Jesus goes, telling people not to sin. Did you see that?
This story though gets taken as a reason for why Christians shouldn’t call out sin and that is completely contradictory to what the bible says in other places. It is the easier path to look at this story and say that we cannot call out sin as a Christian. I’m going to challenge us though to take a step back, look at some context and take a deeper look at this story.
In biblical times, the penalty for adultery was to be stoned. That is why the pharisees were bugging Jesus so much about what to do. They were trying to embarrass Jesus and the woman here. If he said she was to be stoned, they might argue that he was cruel and unforgiving. If he let her go, he could be viewed as not knowing or understanding the law. This was a lose-lose situation for Jesus and for this woman.
For a death sentence to be given, there must be witnesses. “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” Deuteronomy 17:6.
Now, adultery is one of those sins that is private. It would be incredibly difficult to have two or three witnesses in order to have the charge of adultery confirmed. In my own study of this story in bible commentaries, these witnesses’ stories have to be exactly the same in order for these sentences to be given out.
Only the woman was brought to Jesus. Adultery is a two person sin. Yet, only the woman was brought to Jesus. Was the man involved in a set up? Was this woman set up? It would appear so with the fact that there were enough witnesses to confirm adultery (and adultery had to be confirmed factually, not just suggestively or based on a suggestive appearance.)
The Pharisees were sinning in order to get this woman caught. Remember that sowing discord against your brother is a sin. False testimony is a sin. We don’t know all the specifics of this woman and her adultery. I’m not saying she is innocent but as David Guzik points out that the pharisees’ sin was greater. Guzik also tells us that in biblical times, the witnesses were the first ones to do the stoning.
When Jesus is telling them that the one without sin can cast the first stone he isn’t talking about sin that happened last week or last month, he is talking about right then. The Pharisees were opposing sin that they helped orchestrate. We are all aware that the Pharisees were hypocrites and liars and sinners. Like the pharisees, we are all sinners. But in that moment, Jesus was pointing to the active sin they choose and were engaging in.
Christian, we cannot call out sin without the reverence and knowledge that comes with recognizing our own sin. We cannot be like the pharisees who were calling out specks without looking at planks. However, we can still oppose sin as we are working through the transformation that God is working out in us. As we say no to sin and oppose sin in ourselves, we can call out sin that we see in the world. We should especially call out sin we see in our brothers and sisters in Christ. These stories from the bible aren’t meant to discourage us from speaking out against sin. In fact, as we are reminded, Jesus tells the sinner to go and sin no more. We should speak out against sin, but not with the attitude of someone who is perfect or doesn’t sin. We all sin and we all need Jesus. We need to oppose the sin of gossip as much we oppose the sin of murder. When we oppose sin, we are not to judge or condemn, our opposition should be rooted in love for change to happen.
It is actually the loving thing to speak truth.
Photo by Rachel Strong on Unsplash