Last Sunday was national sanctity of life day. Hundreds and probably thousands of pastors across the US preached against abortion. I joined my brothers and sisters in this important Biblical agenda, however, I took an approach that was probably quite different than most pastors. Based on my experience, most Christians want to talk about the Biblical truths that life is created by God and begins at conception, abortion is wrong, and it is murder. Of course, all of these things are true, but the reality is that most people listening to these messages already believe this. Last Sunday we looked at a passage in the Bible that has the potential to empower churches to radically and dramatically decrease the amount of abortions happening in their local contexts.

Even though John 8:1-11 deals with a woman caught in the act of adultery, this text offers us Jesus’ strategy for stopping sin. In the story, you’ve got these hypocritical religious fanatics who bring an adulteress before Jesus to see if He agrees that she should be killed. Like most religious people, they have a hidden agenda. They want to trap Jesus, in order to prove their point, that He isn’t God.

So, they basically say this: “God hates adultery and says this woman should be killed! We hate adultery and think this woman should be killed! What do YOU say Jesus!?!?! ” They throw the ball into Jesus’ court, which isn’t a very wise strategy if you ask me. Jesus takes the ball and whips it right back in their faces. He writes in the ground, which is incredibly significant. He is most likely symbolizing the prophecy of Jeremiah 17:13, whereby Jeremiah says that those who forsake God will have their names written in the ground. Without saying a word, Jesus is screaming at these religious knock-offs, “You THINK you are passionate about truth. You THINK you love righteousness!?! You don’t. You just love being right! You are not My people because You don’t love people. You just like surrounding yourselves with these little groups. You get together and feel super-righteous because you agree on certain issues. So what?!?! This woman here, who just committed adultery… she doesn’t want anything to do with you. The multitudes of people like her… they don’t want anything to do with you or Me either, and that’s LARGELY YOUR fault! You are not reaching my people! Your names are written in the ground, not the book of life… get out of My face!”

So, they leave the scene, and it’s just Jesus and the adulteress. The first Word out of Jesus’ mouth to her is this: “Woman.” Not “whore”… not “slut”… not “you prostitute”… not even “you adulteress”… but “woman.” “Woman”… the very same word Jesus uses for His own mother in John chapter 2. He speaks to her with dignity, respect, and in a tone of love. Then He forgives her, calling her to a new life. He doesn’t say, “Hey, I’ve been watching you humans for thousands of years now, and I’ve decided that adultery isn’t that big of deal.” No, He says “Don’t do it again.”

Jesus hated sin! Nobody hates adultery more than Jesus. Nobody hates abortion more than Jesus! If you took all the hatred in the world, it wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket compared to Jesus’ hatred toward sin. He hates it! But He LOVES sinners.

Jesus was on a mission to deliver people from sin, to get people to stop sinning. He’s on a mission now to get adulterers to stop committing adultery… to get abortionists to stop committing abortion… and this is how He does it. He hates the sin, but He LOVES the sinner.

He speaks to the religious hypocrite very sternly… but to the woman who wants nothing to do with the church, He speaks with incredible tenderness.

When it comes to abortion, Christians have been fighting it for decades, and haven’t been very effective. We’ve thrown lots of stones and put the majority of our hope in the government, thinking they will solve the problem for us. What would happen if we followed Jesus’ strategy? I’m ready to find out! I hope you will join us, and our true brothers and sisters around the world, as we passionately live out the strategy of our Savior!

The next time some woman tells you she wants to have an abortion, don’t get all red in the face or wince or anything stupid like that. Hate the sin, but love that woman so much that her world gets turned right-side up! In fact, don’t wait for these women to come to you, go to them. Find them. Relate to them like Jesus did. Hang out with them like He hung out with prostitutes, drunks, corrupt politicians, and even people as messed up as you and me.

What are your thoughts on this?