The Bountiful Life: Gentleness
2 Timothy 2:22-26
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. Again, I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.
It was a beautiful fall day in Jerusalem. The smell of falafel and hummus filled the air. It was the last day of the Sukkot. You know, the Festival of the Tabernacles, one of the seven major feasts in the Jewish Calendar. We had been camping all week in makeshift tents with thousands of our closest friends. People from all over had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem – from as far north as the Sea of Galilee to as far south as the Red Sea.
For eight days, we celebrated and remembered the miraculous protection God had provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. It had been an interesting week, though. The Rabbis seemed tense. There was scuttlebutt all week about a Rabbi named Jesus. They didn’t like what He was teaching, especially when He turned the prophet Jeremiah’s words into a teaching about Himself. They were threatened by Him. You could feel the tension in the air, as the Pharisees began plotting against Jesus, wanting to entrap him.
So, there we were… eight days of worshipping God, celebrating the feast, living in tents, lots of wine flowing… some visited each other’s tents… some stumbled into the wrong tents… if you know what I mean… The Rabbis trolled the camping area, and found a woman in a man’s tent. And that man was NOT her husband. They drug her out of the tent, screaming this woman had committed adultery! …. Why they didn’t drag out the man, too? Hmm.
A crowd gathered around as they announced this woman’s greatest sin. They were making a spectacle of themselves, yelling, laughing, grabbing stones to throw at her. And then, they called out to Jesus. “Hey, hey Rabbi! Teacher! Look!”
Jesus sauntered over to the men yelling at the woman, and they pleaded their case:
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
You could see the disdain in Jesus’ eyes. Would He yell? Would He walk away? Would He call down Heaven’s army to smite the men? No. Jesus knelt down to the ground and wrote in the dirt. And you won’t believe what happened next!!
Well, good morning, FaithLink! I’m Ashley Goad, one of your pastors. Matthew is a couple of buildings over preaching in the traditional service this morning. We’re in the midst of a sermon series entitled, “The Bountiful Life,” where we’re discovering how to live abundantly by embodying the fruit of the Spirit. Today’s topic: gentleness. (If you have your bulletin, pull it out, and turn to your sermon quiz!)
Biblical gentleness is described as having a humble heart and being kind toward others. The Greek word translated "gentleness" in Galatians 5:23, where we find the Fruit of the Spirit, is Prautes, and it means "to submit one's strength in a posture of meekness." Gentleness comes from a state of humility. Therefore, someone who lacks gentleness is often prideful and easily angered, or feels the need for revenge. In order to be gentle, we must not view ourselves as better than someone else.
In 2 Timothy chapter two, that Chris read earlier, the Greek word translated as “gentleness” describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting of the occasion - levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness, as Paul wrote to the Philippians, is “evident to all.” Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.
The gentleness of Jesus is described poetically in a prophecy about Him in Isaiah 42. We find it in regards to Jesus in Matthew 12:20:
a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.
At first glance, this seems like one of those blah-blah statements in the Bible that you read and assume you know what it’s talking about, but you don’t really savor it. So, let’s savor this together. Consider the imagery.
First, a bruised reed. A reed is thick, tall grass that grows in marshy areas, kind of like bamboo but not as strong. If you’ve ever handled a bruised reed, one that has been bent and almost broken, then you know it doesn’t take much to finish it off. It’s only hanging by a thread.
The second image we’re given is a smoldering wick. Think about a candle that has just barely gone out. You can still faintly see a dying red ember. There’s a tiny bit of life in there, but it would take less than a good sneeze to smother it completely.
The verse tells us Jesus is so gentle, He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not quench a smoldering wick. What does that mean? Take the most bruised and broken person - a person hanging on by a thread, to the tiny bit of life left within them. And in the tender hands of Jesus, that person will not be harmed. Instead, they will be healed.
And yet at the same time, we’re told Jesus will do this “until he brings justice to victory”. What does this mean? In the wider context of Isaiah’s prophecy, it refers to bringing about justice among all nations. To put it even more clearly than that, Psalm 2:7-9 is where God the Father spoke about His Son:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
This Son is no joke! He’s been appointed by God the Father to have all authority in heaven and on earth, to be the ultimate Judge over all things, to make everything right. And when we cry out “No fair!” as soon as we know how to talk, it shows the sense of justice that He wrote on our hearts. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all waiting on Him to bring justice to victory.
But wait a minute -- didn’t we just say Jesus is gentle? Being gentle enough not to break a bruised reed? And being powerful enough to judge the nations like a rod of iron crushing a piece of pottery? Those two things do not go together! You’re either tough or tender. You’re either the bull in the china shop, or you are the china shop. Unless, of course, you’re Ferdinand, who likes to sniff flowers instead of fight! But then they write a book and movie about you because… those two things don’t go together!
We might think Jesus is just really well-balanced, always able to respond with either toughness or tenderness. But that’s not the case. What Scripture is telling us is Jesus is 100% pure toughness and 100% pure tenderness -- at the same time. In one unified person, we see endless compassion and endless justice. And those characteristics don’t oppose each other; they complement each other.
What does that even look like? It looks like what we see in the story I began with. The way Jesus gently interacts with the woman in John chapter 8 is indicative of how He relates to social outcasts and disciples alike throughout His ministry:
first, Jesus gently disturbs the comfortable;
and second, Jesus gently comforts the disturbed.
So, let’s return to that story. Jesus is following His normal routine while in Jerusalem, teaching in the outer court of the Temple, the place where scribes gathered and taught their students. Scribes were experts in the Old Testament law, and since the Old Testament law governed society at that time, scribes in many ways were like our modern lawyers and theologians. Like the Pharisees, they definitely didn’t have much tolerance for Jesus. So, while Jesus was in the middle of teaching, they did this, beginning in John 8, verses 3-6:
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So, what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Before we can even get down to the bottom of what’s happening here, can you feel the awkwardness of this situation? The scribes and Pharisees detain a woman who has literally been caught in the act of adultery, and they march her right in the middle of crowd in a very public place -- not to mention the center of religious life. Who knows how she’s dressed, if at all. And they interrupt Jesus to announce to everyone within earshot this woman’s deepest, darkest secret. This is a nightmare!
Imagine doing something you know is really wrong…! The last place you’d want to be is in the middle of a religious gathering -- with all eyes on you -- with your dirty laundry aired out for all to see.
But it’s even worse. The Leviticus law said a man and woman who committed adultery must be stoned to death. Now I know that probably sounds harsh in today’s world, but remember, these were God’s chosen people. The law was meant to guide them into a right relationship with God. Adultery was a sin that violated the covenant between a husband and wife, a covenant sealed by God Himself. That was serious business. And according to the law, this woman deserved to die.
But she wasn’t the scribes and Pharisees’ main concern. Verse six tells us they were just using her in order to test, or trap, Jesus. Here’s the predicament they put Him in: If Jesus said, “Let her go,” He would be ignoring the Old Testament law, and He would instantly lose His credibility.
On the other hand, if Jesus said, “Do as the law commands,” it would have contradicted His well-known compassion for broken people.
In other words, they were pitting Jesus’ compassion against His justice. “Which one are you going to choose, Jesus? Be tough or be tender, but either way we’re going to get You.” He’s placed in what seems like an impossible situation…Which brings us to the first aspect of Jesus’ gentleness this story reveals: Jesus gently disturbs the comfortable.
Let’s return to John 8, verses 6-9:
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
The first curiosity that grabs me in this part of the story is: “What was Jesus writing on the ground?” In fact, it’s on my list of “top ten questions to ask Jesus upon immediate arrival into Heaven!” But ultimately, it seems to be the posture He takes that communicates so powerfully in this situation.
I think Jesus bent down because of something we’re taught in Proverbs 6:16-19:
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
You could probably make the case that whereas the woman was guilty of one sin, the scribes and Pharisees were rolling around in the filth of all seven of these things the Lord hates. And! They’re drawing others into their filth! Consider the very first one: haughty eyes, eyes that look down on another person in order to make you feel better about yourself. How easy is it for dozens, maybe hundreds, of people to look at this woman with haughty eyes?! But not Jesus. Although His eyes alone see into her soul with perfect clarity, He drops them to the ground with such humility and tenderness, it draws attention away from her.
Yet the scribes and Pharisees continued to throw their questions at Him. So finally, He rises and says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her,” and then He bends back down to the ground. It’s one of those absolutely unforgettable moments from Jesus’ life. With one short statement, He diffused an impossible situation.
But let’s be clear. He did NOT say, “Hey, everybody, chill out, we all make mistakes.” Instead, He communicated something very specific to the scribes and Pharisees: “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” I believe Jesus here is referring to the particular sin of which they are accusing the woman.
Throughout much of history and still today, there is a common double standard that plays out in our world. When men and women are promiscuous, we tend to condemn the women, and justify the men. The same was true in Jesus’ day. As this story indicates, there’s the woman caught in the act of adultery -- but where’s the man? Did he get away? Or were the scribes and Pharisees just preying on the more vulnerable of the two? I often title this tale, “The Men Caught in Hypocrisy”, as opposed to “the Woman Caught in Adultery.”
So, Jesus’ statement strikes with amazing power at the consciences of these men. And we know it because each one of them walks away… one-by-one.
Jesus has disturbed the comfortable.
But before they leave, Jesus stoops down on the ground again. Why do it again? Haughty eyes are no longer upon the woman. All eyes are upon the scribes and Pharisees and their sin. Jesus doesn’t just disturb the comfortable, he gentlydisturbs the comfortable. This wasn’t a “mic drop moment” where Jesus gave His statement, while the crowd goes wild making fun of the scribes and Pharisees. No, Jesus is now drawing the attention away from them -- and drawing these men unto Himself. He has showed them the weight of their sin, and then shows them the truth of His words:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And surely, this is how He treats sinners like us today, if we will only come.
But Jesus not only gently disturbs the comfortable, he also gently comforts the disturbed.
Back to John 8:10,
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
The first thing we observe here is this: where the Pharisees had stripped the woman of her humanity, Jesus treats the woman like a human being. He sees her. He asks her a question. And the question He asks encourages her to lift her eyes, which, as simple as it may sound, is nearly impossible when you’re under the crushing weight of sin and shame. And while we think Jesus is about to offer pure compassion, that’s not quite what happens.
What we see here is the trial is still going on, and a sentence must be delivered.Jesus doesn’t ask her if she’s guilty. There’s no doubt she’s guilty. When Jesus looks at you, there are no secrets. She responds to him:
“No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on, sin no more.”
Finally, her sentence arrives. The only One who meets the standard of being without sin doesn’t justly throw a stone at her. Jesus gently forgives her. Now this doesn’t mean there’s no justice here. There is.
Only because of justice can Jesus say such a thing - for the law demands that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin. And what is that justice? Jesus would soon be condemned in her place. He’s essentially saying to her, “My sister, I don’t condemn you, because I will be condemned for you. Yes, stones ought to be thrown, but they’ll hit Me instead. Spears ought to be launched, but they’ll go into My side. Thorns ought to be brought down, but they’ll go into Myskull. Come, sister, you are free.”
This is why Jesus died, so He could have this very exchange with you. Yes, you, too, are a haughty-eyed adulterer, whose heart is eager to condemn others in order to exalt yourself. But Jesus, in all His gentleness, combined toughness and tenderness, justice and compassion - HE was condemned in your place. That’s why we can announce from Romans 8:1:
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Friends, this is good news! And it’s the only life-changing reality that prepares you for the second half of Jesus’ sentence: from now on, sin no more.
“What! Now I have to be perfect?!” Friends, you have been given a perfect status with God, and perfect power from God, in the person of the Holy Spirit. Those who know God’s love will naturally want to obey Him. You have the rest of your life to learn how to live that out. We Methodists call that Sanctification – walking onward to holiness. The only appropriate response to such a gift is to live each day wanting more of Him, instead of wanting more of sin.
So, how do we apply Jesus’ gentleness to the new life we have in Him? I want us to end by reading through Scripture together. (Worship team, come on up…)
Seeking to restore broken relationships with gentleness?
2 Corinthians 10:1 says: READ TOGETHER…
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ...
Addressing the sin of others with gentleness?
Galatians 6:1 says: If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
Instructing our opponents with gentleness?
2 Timothy 2:24-25 says: And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
Making gentleness our general posture toward everyone?
Titus 3:1-2 says: Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
And sharing the good news of Jesus with gentleness?
1 Peter 3:15 says: but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
MOVE TO COMMUNION TABLE
And today, we have the gentleness of Jesus on display: On the night He was betrayed, He took bread, and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to His disciples and said to them, “This is my body, which is broken for you; eat this in remembrance of me.” He also took the cup, and after blessing it, gave it to His disciples and said, “This cup is the new covenant marked by the shedding of my blood. For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you announce the Lord’s death until he returns.” Friends, by eating of this bread and drinking of this cup, we are announcing that Jesus Christ was condemned for us so that we could go and sin no more.
Let us pray…O Good & Gracious God, we come before you with gratitude for all that you are, for all that you have given us, for your mercy and grace towards us, for your presence and faithfulness. You created us to reflect your image, and in doing so, to bring you glory. We confess we fail to consistently do this. Every day, we fall short. In our words, our actions, and in our thoughts, we lift up ourselves, instead of you. Thank you for your unfailing patience with us. Thank you for your gentleness with our stubborn and rebellious hearts.
In Jesus, we see what is most needed in our own lives and in the world. You modeled gentleness and humility while you lived here on earth, for you are gentle and humble in heart. You have dealt gently with us in our sin and rebellion. Help us to learn from you and follow your example.
Gentleness is a soothing disposition and meekness from strength. We recognize we need this, Jesus. So many people need a kind word, an act of compassion, a quiet voice of reason, a softly spoken encouragement, a tender touch. Help us, Jesus to be the peacemakers, to be mild mannered, to be careful with our responses and interactions with others.
May your Spirit develop and grow gentleness within us. We know we cannot bear fruit if we are not connected to you, so we cling to you, Lord. By following closely in the steps of our Rabbi, we seek to emulate you. Show us when harshness and bitterness enter into our thoughts and help us to turn from them. Soften our hearts.
And as we seek to remember who You are and whose we are,
And on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,
all honor and glory is yours, Almighty God,
now and forever. Amen.
This is an open table, open to everyone. Our tradition here at Faithlink is to come forward and take a piece of bread and a cup of juice. There will be stations here in the front; one to the left and one to the right. We also have our offering baskets, if you’d like to leave your tithe, and our prayer team will be available to pray with anyone, or simply take time at the kneelers to connect with Jesus. No matter who you are, or where you’ve come from, COME.
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