grace has a name
Pastor Frank Park | Founding and Senior Pastor
Scripture: John 7:53-8:11
This story is often introduced as the woman caught in adultery. But if that’s all we see, we miss the heart of the moment. This passage is not primarily about sexual sin. It’s about what happens when broken humanity collides head-on with perfect grace.
The woman is dragged into the center of the crowd - exposed, silenced, reduced to her worst moment. She’s not treated like a person; she’s treated like a case study. A prop. A test. The religious leaders aren’t really interested in holiness or justice. They’re interested in using her failure to trap Jesus. And Jesus does something unexpected.
He stoops.
Grace always stoops before it stands. While everyone else is standing over her with stones in hand, Jesus lowers Himself to her level. He doesn’t deny her sin, but He refuses to define her by it. One by one, the accusers walk away, not because the law was wrong, but because grace has a way of exposing hearts before it ever exposes behavior.
When He says, “Neither do I condemn you,” this is not permission to continue in sin. It is pardon before performance. Mercy before movement. Love before change. Jesus does not wait for her to clean herself up before He offers grace, because grace is what makes cleansing possible in the first place.
And then He says, “Go, and from now on sin no more.” This is where we often misunderstand grace.
Grace is not Jesus saying, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”
Grace is Jesus saying, “You’re free now, live like it.”
The grace He gives her is not only forgiveness for her past, but power for her future. Not just rescue from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s grip. Grace doesn’t just cancel guilt; it creates new capacity. It doesn’t merely excuse, it transforms. And grace is not a concept. Grace is a person.
His name is Jesus.
When grace stands in front of you, stones fall to the ground. Shame loses its voice. Sin no longer gets the final word. And the same Jesus who says, “Neither do I condemn you,” also empowers us to walk away different than we came.
That’s the invitation of this story. Not cheap grace. Not shame-based obedience.
But transforming grace and empowering grace.
A grace that forgives and frees.
A grace that meets us in the dust and then calls us to walk in newness of life.
This story is often introduced as the woman caught in adultery. But if that’s all we see, we miss the heart of the moment. This passage is not primarily about sexual sin. It’s about what happens when broken humanity collides head-on with perfect grace.
The woman is dragged into the center of the crowd - exposed, silenced, reduced to her worst moment. She’s not treated like a person; she’s treated like a case study. A prop. A test. The religious leaders aren’t really interested in holiness or justice. They’re interested in using her failure to trap Jesus. And Jesus does something unexpected.
He stoops.
Grace always stoops before it stands. While everyone else is standing over her with stones in hand, Jesus lowers Himself to her level. He doesn’t deny her sin, but He refuses to define her by it. One by one, the accusers walk away, not because the law was wrong, but because grace has a way of exposing hearts before it ever exposes behavior.
When He says, “Neither do I condemn you,” this is not permission to continue in sin. It is pardon before performance. Mercy before movement. Love before change. Jesus does not wait for her to clean herself up before He offers grace, because grace is what makes cleansing possible in the first place.
And then He says, “Go, and from now on sin no more.” This is where we often misunderstand grace.
Grace is not Jesus saying, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”
Grace is Jesus saying, “You’re free now, live like it.”
The grace He gives her is not only forgiveness for her past, but power for her future. Not just rescue from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s grip. Grace doesn’t just cancel guilt; it creates new capacity. It doesn’t merely excuse, it transforms. And grace is not a concept. Grace is a person.
His name is Jesus.
When grace stands in front of you, stones fall to the ground. Shame loses its voice. Sin no longer gets the final word. And the same Jesus who says, “Neither do I condemn you,” also empowers us to walk away different than we came.
That’s the invitation of this story. Not cheap grace. Not shame-based obedience.
But transforming grace and empowering grace.
A grace that forgives and frees.
A grace that meets us in the dust and then calls us to walk in newness of life.