Has No One Condemned You?--December 30, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 89:1-18, 89:19-52, 93
Isaiah 25:1-9
Revelation 1:19-20
John 7:53-8:11

II. Selections

Psalm 89:50-51
Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted;
how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples,
with which your enemies taunt, O LORD,
with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed.

Isaiah 25:8
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.

Revelation 1:19
Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.

John 8:10
Jesus straightened up and said to [ the woman caught in adultery], "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

III.
"Has no one condemned you?"

We who think ourselves righteous
are expert in condemning the guilty,
but you write with your finger in the dust
while we wait for you to join our condemnation.

What do you write there in the dust, Lord?
What you have seen? And what is?
And what is to take place?
We can't make it out.
 
All at once we realize how much we resemble
your enemies, the ones who taunted you,
who taunted your very footsteps;
and we walk away in shame.

For you do not enjoy condemnation. You would rather wipe away the tears
from all faces, and take the disgrace
of your people away from all the earth.