Jesus Surrendered His Right

What Did Jesus Do?

“Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
John 8.7

I believe that the scene from The Passion of the Christ that most moves me is the one that I'm in. “What, Jim was in that movie?” Well, no, not in the movie. But I certainly played a role in Christ's Passion. You see, I am responsible for some of the stripes on his back, way too many of them actually. And the blood shed by the Lord? I don't want to think of all the drops that fell for my sake.

By any measure, especially by the Law of Moses, I am as guilty as they come. If anyone should know God's wrath, it would be me. In fact, I am pretty sure that if I had been an ancient Israelite I would have died under a hail of stones, and deservedly so. All this is why the scene from the movie means so much to me. Do you recall it? In a dusty city square an angry rock-toting crowd stands armed and ready to execute the death sentence. Then, into the foreground a sandaled foot strides, and someone kneels down and begins to write in the sand. And as the finger writes the mob all drops their stones and departs. This is where I come into the scene. For, haltingly, a trembling hand stretches out and reaches for the sandal, desperately seeking to touch the one who has delivered from death. I realize that in the film the scene depicts Mary Magdalene as the woman caught in adultery from John 8. But in real life, it was me who Jesus saved.



Something tells me that I might not be the only person who recognizes himself or herself in that scene. It ends, of course, with the Lord tenderly reaching out his own hand to us and lifting us up from the dust. His touch, his forgiving embrace—words cannot express what we experience in that moment.

What just might be the most impressive thing about the scene is that Jesus willingly surrendered his right to condemn and execute, and instead chooses to save. You see, alone out of all humanity, Jesus is permitted to throw stones, for he alone is without sin. Yet, alone out of all humanity, Jesus would not even pick up a stone, much less cast it at us. Rather, he willingly took our place. He accepted the lashes that should sting our backs. He received the nails that should justly hold us to the cross. He was bruised and broken by the stones, so to speak, that should strike us down.

The thing is, though I am the last person in the world who should ever presume to pick up a stone, I have hurled malice laden missiles at others many times, and done so believing that it was my right! Though a sinner, I've thrown stones, yet Jesus, pure and sinless, never went around exercising his “rights,” and in fact gave them all up so that, by grace, sinners like you and me might be saved.

Since first seeing the film, I have found that whenever I have an urge to hurl a stone at someone, it is helpful to first recall my “role” in the scene. You see, it is all but impossible to pick up and throw and stone when one is lying face down in the dust desperately reaching out for the Savior. The prone position, however, is very conducive to taking the hand of another sinner, and leading them to the Lord.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4