00:02When we open the scene in John chapter 8, we step into a moment so raw, so human, so painfully
00:14honest, that if we listen long enough, we eventually hear our own name somewhere inside it.
00:21The religious leaders drag a woman into the temple courts, thrown down in front of Jesus like an object, like
00:32a problem, to be dealt with rather than a soul to be loved.
00:37Now, Scripture tells us she was caught in adultery, but it never gives us her name.
00:46It never records her family.
00:49It never offers a hint of her background.
00:53It only describes her shame, her exposure, and the circle of men standing around her with stones in their hands.
01:03She is introduced not as a child of God, not as a story in progress, but as a sinner on
01:14trial.
01:15And maybe that silence about her identity is the very first clue that this moment, well, this moment is meant
01:25to reach deeper than history.
01:28Maybe the missing name is an invitation for us to see what God is truly showing us.
01:38Because when you look closely, the question is not who she was.
01:44The question becomes, who are we in this moment?
01:49What part of the story claims us?
01:52Are we the crowd, quick to condemn, armed with sharp objects, ready to throw rage at a person instead of
02:02extending redemption?
02:04Are we the scribes and Pharisees, so focused on catching others in the act that we never notice the fractures
02:13in our own hearts?
02:14Or, are we the woman, overwhelmed by mistakes, exposed in the worst possible moment of our life, unsure what Jesus
02:27will say when we finally collapse at his feet?
02:32Scripture never offers her name.
02:35Because her story, well, her story is larger than one identity.
02:41Her name is left open so that every person who has ever failed, every person who has ever been judged
02:49unfairly,
02:52every person who fears they have gone too far or messed up too deeply,
02:57can step into that space and discover what grace sounds like when it speaks directly to them.
03:07Now, the story becomes even more beautiful when we see Jesus Christ kneeling down, tracing something into the dirt.
03:18For centuries, people have speculated about what he wrote.
03:23Some say he wrote the sins of her accusers.
03:28Some say he wrote the law itself.
03:32Some say he wrote the woman's name.
03:34But the text leaves his words in the dust.
03:40I believe intentionally erased by time.
03:44Because, again, the point here is not his inscription.
03:49The point is his posture.
03:54The Son of God kneels beside a woman the world called unworthy.
03:59He lowers himself to the level of the broken.
04:03He places himself between her and the stones.
04:08And he shows us that grace, well, grace does not shout from a distance.
04:15Grace gets low.
04:18Grace draws near.
04:20Grace enters the dirt where our lives have fallen apart
04:24and writes a new beginning where everyone else sees only a tragic ending.
04:31And then comes the sentence that silences centuries of self-hatred and fear.
04:39Let the one who has no sin be the first to throw a stone.
04:47One by one, they drop them.
04:50You can almost hear the clatter of resignation hitting the ground.
04:55The sound is not just stones falling.
04:58The sound is every accusation losing its power.
05:03That sound is shame losing the trial.
05:08That sound is condemnation bowing to compassion.
05:12And when the dust settles, the woman looks up and sees that every voice that wanted to destroy her has
05:22disappeared.
05:23And the only one left standing is the only one who ever had the right to judge her.
05:30And he does not.
05:32Now, this is where the story turns from ancient memory into personal revelation.
05:41Jesus looks at her with eyes that see her past, but are not limited by it.
05:49He sees her sin, but is not controlled by it.
05:53He sees her shame, but is not intimidated by it.
05:58And he says,
06:00Where are your accusers?
06:03Has no one condemned you?
06:05And when she whispers,
06:09No one, Lord.
06:10He responds with the truth that has set billions of souls free since that day.
06:17Neither do I condemn you.
06:20Go now and leave your life of sin.
06:24He does not excuse her sin,
06:28but he does something far more powerful than condemnation.
06:32He cancels the power of it.
06:35He does not define her by her worst moment.
06:39He calls her beyond it.
06:42He rewrites her identity with mercy.
06:46He restores what shame tried to erase.
06:50So, who was she?
06:54Her name was not given because her name could be mine.
06:59And it could be yours.
07:02She is every person who has ever made a decision they wish they could undo.
07:07She is every person who has ever feared that God's patience might run out.
07:14She is every soul who has ever walked into a moment certain that judgment was coming,
07:21only to discover that mercy got there first.
07:27If you have ever carried guilt that felt too heavy, I have.
07:33If you have ever believed your story was over, I have.
07:39If you've ever looked at your life and wondered if God still wanted you, I've done that too.
07:46Her silence is the scripture's invitation.
07:51Step into her story and listen to what Jesus says to the condemned.
07:58And the most breathtaking part of this entire moment for me is not just that he forgave her.
08:07It's that he lifted her future out of the dirt.
08:11He showed her that the God who knows everything about you does not walk away from you.
08:18He showed her that the God who can expose every secret chooses instead to heal what is hidden.
08:29He showed her that when the world wants to throw stones, heaven wants to restore destinies.
08:39And there are so many people today who still believe the lie that God is waiting for a moment to
08:46condemn them
08:47when in truth he is waiting for the moment when they finally collapse at his feet
08:53so he can show them a love that no failure can outrun.
09:01Now for me, this is why this story has never lost its power.
09:06It tells us that the ground at the feet of Jesus is the safest place a guilty person can stand.
09:16It tells us that every accusation eventually falls silent when we listen to the voice of the one who came
09:25not to condemn but to save.
09:29And it tells us that the same Jesus who wrote in the dirt that day is still writing grace across
09:37human hearts.
09:39Still lifting lives out of shame.
09:43Still restoring the very people the world has given up on.
09:48The woman may not have a recorded name.
09:51But she has a recorded destiny.
09:55A future that began the moment mercy entered her crisis.
10:01So who was she?
10:04She was loved.
10:06She was forgiven.
10:09She was restored.
10:12She was lifted.
10:14And if you're listening today, and there's any part of your story that has ever felt like hers,
10:22hear this with clarity and tenderness.
10:27You are not the worst thing you've ever done.
10:31You are not the accusation spoken over your life.
10:36You are not the sum of your failures.
10:41You are the reason Jesus gets down in the dirt.
10:47You are the one he steps towards when everyone else steps away.
10:53You are the one he protects from the stones meant to destroy you.
10:59And you, well, you are the one he speaks life over when the enemy wants to write your ending in
11:08shame.
11:08And maybe her name was never recorded because heaven wanted to write your own name there.
11:17Maybe the unnamed woman is the perfect reminder that God's grace is not reserved for a select few,
11:27but offered to every soul who stands trembling before him with nothing left to hide.
11:34And if that's you today, then hear this truth that echoes across 2,000 years of grace.
11:44When everyone else walks away, Jesus stays.
11:50When others condemn, Jesus restores.
11:55When shame says you are finished, Jesus says your story is just beginning.
12:03And when your past tries to name you, Jesus calls you by your future.
12:12My name is Douglas Vandergraaf, and I believe in Jesus Christ.
12:19God bless you, my friends.
12:22Bye-bye.
12:25God bless you, my God bless you.
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