Jesus was merciful, He was filled with grace (showing us favor when we didn’t deserve it), and He was loving – all this we know. He was also just plain patient. That’s something wonderful about the Jesus I know and love.

He shared the details of living a human life; to show us how WE can share in the details of each others’ lives; and because of that, we are best suited to invite the world to know and share Him!

When I studied Jesus possessing this characteristic of patience – what I found was that patience stood as the stark opposite to something very dark, and very discomforting and intimidating: judgment.

To be patient means that a person is slow with judgment. That makes sense. To be judgmental would show a lack of patience in allowing a person the time and space to grow and develop and improve, whereas to be patient one would have to overlook a number of offenses and mistakes. Jesus was clearly a patient, long-suffering, person.

There’s an account in Scripture that speaks of judgment. While most of us read it as Jesus being merciful – which the passage clearly shows – I believe it speaks volumes about the patience of Jesus. Turn to John 8:3-11.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “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?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

Can you imagine? Being caught in something quite embarrassing and shameful – then being made to stand in front of everyone – the spotlight on you – all your worst stuff laid out for all to see. . .

The Scripture says: But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. That’s some pretty unusual stuff. Jesus just bent down and started writing something in the dirt.

When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Most of us think of stoning as a group of people throwing rocks at a person until they die. That’s gruesome enough to be sure, but it doesn’t begin to explain the horror of this particular style of Hebrew execution.

The instructions from the Rabbis interpreting Moses’ Law wrote about this in the Talmud. The instructions told that after the accused have been found guilty, the witnesses take the prisoners out of the city to be stoned and hurl them off a precipice a height of two men. If the prisoners didn’t die from the fall, the witnesses must turn the prisoners face-up, and the witnesses together must lift a stone of such a weight that it requires two of them to carry it and then hurl it down upon the heart to crush them. If the prisoner did not die from this, the stoning must be finished by the entire crowd gathered around. Deuteronomy 17:7 says: “The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people”

Jesus has a rabble on His hands – people out to trick Him, and people out to punish the woman caught in adultery. Jesus simply said: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Then, He stooped down and wrote on the ground again. (John 8:3-8) This truly – at its core – is an example of Jesus’ patience. We need to learn about His patience – and how He lived it out – and how we must enact it in our own lives.

There are four parts of the lesson we can learn from Jesus in this passage. The first part of the lesson is that we have to learn to suspend judgment.

1. Suspend judgment

We need to learn to step out of the role of judging people, because it’s not our job to judge. It’s our job to love and to reconcile people to God (John 13:35, 2 Corinthians 5:18). We don’t pass judgment or decide the future of people in spiritual upheaval or those who are out of control with sin in their lives.

In fact, we’re warned NOT to judge. Jesus said: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1) That’s pretty definite and convincing!

To suspend our judgment on someone means we stop looking at them through legalistic eyes; we have to change the way in which we view them. To suspend our judgment on someone means we stop putting our own expectations on them: “Well, I had to give that up, so should they!” “Hey – no fair! They get away with everything!”

No – for us to learn to suspend judgment, we need to do two big things:
1. Realize we’ve all been there at one point or another.
2. Realize we might be there tomorrow.

You’ve heard the old adage: “There, but for the grace of God, go I”? Patient people don’t pass judgment, because we’ve all been given extra chances, had our offenses overlooked, and been allowed to make mistakes and learn from them.

To learn to suspend our judgment requires that we learn from Jesus. Jesus showed us how: The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “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?” (John 8:3-5)

The woman’s clothing was probably disheveled. She was most certainly embarrassed. Adultery required stoning as execution, so she was most likely screaming and crying and pleading for her life. Some of the men were getting some perverse pleasure at this spectacle. You see – the Law of Moses required that both the man and the woman be stoned to death – by the witnesses. Where was the man? No – this was totally unfair and cruel.

They wanted to trick Jesus – and they wanted to force Him to judge! If Jesus said to not stone her – they would accuse Him of not keeping the Law; if He said to release her, He’d be guilty of breaking Roman law by engaging in rendering judgment and holding an unlawful execution.

Any time you and I are hasty with our opinions and judgments, we get ourselves in trouble. If we take the time, and suspend our judgments, we can see the situation in a whole new light.

Jesus saw it in a whole new light. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. (John 8:6b) Jesus didn’t go into “judgment mode.” He didn’t look at the woman with disdain; in fact, the Bible doesn’t mention that Jesus looked at her at all. If He looked at her – and had mercy – would they have said it was because of her beauty or because of the embarrassing situation in which she found herself? Had He acknowledged her and focused on her, then He wouldn’t have been able to do what He did next. . .

He suspended His judgment. He refused to judge her. He refused to be drawn in to the shaming and the ridicule and the opinions. He closed everybody out – and began writing in the dirt. No judgment from the righteous and just judge. He tabled the matter. He suspended His judgment – for a reason. . . and that reason is the second part of the lesson for us: to see people clearly through God’s eyes.

2. See people with God’s eyes

Jesus refused to see the situation through the eyes of the Pharisees or the others who had brought her before Him. He was suspending His judgment – partly because He was simply not going to be drawn into an argument no one could win.

The bible tells us: They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But, Jesus was doing something else – He was viewing the woman caught in adultery, and viewing (in His mind’s eye) the man who was also guilty of adultery but who hadn’t been brought before Him, and viewing the men who had caught her in adultery and brought her before Him – with the eyes of a loving, kind, forgiving God.

He let them wail and yell and try to coerce Him. He let them argue and spit their opinions and froth at the mouth. He let them go on and on – the whole time drawing in the dirt – waiting – thinking about each of them as an object of love and affection.

He was able to see them all as lost children – fighting over toys or food or some other thing – children He loved dearly.

Do this with me: take a large denomination bill – perhaps a $20 or a $50 bill. What is it worth? Now, crumple the bill up into a wad. Now how much is it worth? The same? Throw it on the ground and stomp on it. How much is that bill worth now – after all this abusive treatment? Of course – it’s still worth just as much as when you started!

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the things of life that come our way. We feel as though we’re worthless - but no matter what has happened or what will ever happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes; you are priceless to Him!

To Jesus – everyone in that situation. . . the woman, the Pharisees, the crowd. . . all were priceless to Him because He saw them through God’s eyes!

When we learn to let our opinions about politics dissipate. . .
when we learn to let our pride evaporate. . .
when we learn to let our closely-guarded expectations for others dissolve. . .
when we learn to let our demands fade away. . .
and learn to see people through His eyes. . .
we can love without limit and accept people without conditions; we can be patient with them. . . and become like Jesus to them.

Jesus suspended judgment and saw them through God’s eyes – so He could allow them the room and the time to grow and develop. That’s the third part of the lesson we’re learning from Jesus on patience.

3. Allow them room to grow

You know, Jesus writing in the dirt is a discussion-starter for the ages. What did He write? Why did He stoop down and write when the situation was so dire? I believe one of the reasons Jesus wrote in the dirt was to give everyone involved in this situation the time – and the room – to do some growing. These were adults – perhaps sprinkled with some youth and children – who needed to learn a big lesson. They were hooked on some wrong-headed thinking. . . they needed the chance to work it through and think it out before they acted. . . Jesus was giving them the time. He was disarming the situation by injecting patience!

Paul told us that the Law was put in place to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). We wanted to make a go of it ourselves in the Garden of Eden; we chose the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – so the Law taught us Good and Evil and caused us to desire the things we were not supposed to have (Romans 7:7-25). God sent the Law to baby-sit us while we worked up the understanding as a race of people that we couldn’t do it on our own and that we desperately needed a Savior (Galatians 3:25)! He gave us time to grow! He gave us room to grow!

That’s what Jesus was doing when He was writing in the dirt. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. (John 8:6b-8) He waited. . . then when they pressed Him, He zinged them “Whoever is guiltless can be the first to start killing her. . .” then He waited some more. Again – He gave them time and room to grow. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. (John 8:9)

We learn so much about a person when we give them the room to grow and develop. We learn so much about ourselves when we step back and watch them grow. We find they we grow with them. We change in amazing ways. We pick up a lot of important information about grace and mercy and unconditional love. We also discover that we do some of the same things. The thing we thought we might be able to teach them, we find that they are teaching us!

Billy Graham once said: “Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.” Growth occurs during the times when we’re pressed and stressed – when we’re challenged and stretched. When we have 2x4 moments – as in hit between the eyes with a 2x4 – is when we can grow the most. Jesus allows these moments in our lives to grow us up. We need to be patient with others who are going through their own 2x4 moments. That’s where their fruit is going to develop and grow!

That’s how Jesus does it with us. Listen to what the apostle Paul says to us in Romans 8:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the [children] of God to be revealed. . . And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. . .

God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity [God] restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in [Jesus]. After God made that decision of what His children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. After He called them by name, He set them on a solid basis with Himself. And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun. (Romans 8:18-30 NIV and The Message)

That brings us to the fourth part of the lesson we learn about patience.

4. Send them the right way

This may be the most amazing thing Jesus did. He dismissed the woman and sent her on her way – free of guilt. Oh, she certainly had a tarnished reputation for awhile, and she probably had to face down some nasty comments – but she had been set free by Jesus and no one was going to bring it back up and start yammering at her ever again! This crime that carried the death penalty – was reduced to Jesus simply saying: “Go now and leave your life of sin.” It’s OK. You can go. You’re free. . . just don’t go back down that awful road again. Leave the mess behind.

Make no mistake, Jesus wanted better for her. He in no way was releasing her to go back to a life of misery – or a life of pleasure – or a life of secrets – or a life longing for something she could not have. . . Jesus released her to find new life – without the issues that continued to cause her to be separated from a loving God.

But here’s the most wonderful part: Jesus told her to go a direction that had already been smoothed and prepared for her before she got caught and before she knew anything about Jesus.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

. . . if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! (Romans 5:6-10)

Jesus didn’t – and doesn’t – wait for you to get ready. He walked willingly into a sacrificial death on your behalf when you were far too weak-minded and rebellious and disobedient to do anything to get yourself ready. In fact – you probably didn’t even fully understand what you did wrong or what was demanded of you in terms of the ultimate punishment, so that even if you hadn’t been so pathetic and defiant, you wouldn’t have known what to do anyway!

But God put His love on the line for you by offering His own Son as a sacrificial death while you were of no use whatever to Him. He loved you that much! So, now that you are set right with God by means of Jesus’ sacrificial death, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when you were at your worst, you were put on the most intimate, loving terms with the Father by Jesus’ atoning death, now that you’re alive in your spirit, think of how your life will expand and deepen by means of His resurrection life in you!

Jesus came to show you how to live this life, He died to give you life everlasting, and He sent His Holy Spirit to live in you to coach you in the everyday things – and He did all this when you didn’t deserve anything but continued estrangement from God. “Go and leave your life of sin” was not a command with a hitch or a clause or a condition. He didn’t add: “or else.” He didn’t give a large list of demands that showed that you’d lose out if you didn’t dot your “i” s or cross your “t”s!

He simply showed you the direction to walk – in “Newness of life” (Romans 6:3 – NASB) You are putting on the “new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Colossians 3:10) Notice, it doesn’t say you were renewed once; it doesn’t say you better have your renewal screwed on tight or you’ll lose it; it doesn’t say the renewal might not take. . . it says you are being renewed.

Jesus sends us the right direction – into a life of being renewed and being re-made into the image of Jesus. It’s a life-long, wonderful, exciting journey.

When we learn to be patient with people, one of the hallmarks is that we will lovingly and gently steer them in the right direction, spiritually. Demanding someone go a certain direction usually results in hurt feelings and frustration, but showing them and patiently walking with them lets them know you truly care.

People and sin and judgment and Jesus. . . we’re all in this together. Jesus knows us – He knows about sin – and He’s patient with us in our sinful nature. And, in spite of our sinful nature, He loves us! As Savior, He gives us eternal life; as Lord, He teaches how to live in this world and avoid sin. His patience with us teaches us to be patient with the people in our life.

When Jesus shared life with us, He understood what sin could do in a life, and He was patient with us, and saw us with eyes of love and encouraged us “Go, and sin no more.” Jesus was teaching us patience as a way of expressing love!

When you learn to be patient with people the way Jesus was patient with you, your heart will fully embrace those you used to avoid or reject. Jesus’ example teaches you to suspend judgment; to see people with God’s eyes; to allow people room to grow and time to grow; and, to send them growing in the right direction – towards a life fully devoted to Jesus.