A Whore and Grace

The Gospel of John has a story found in the eighth chapter that has long been a questionable tale of grace, judgement and righteousness. Many scholars debate it’s validity and question whether it actually happened. That said, the story provided an interesting premise for grace.

^1-2 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. ^3-6The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

^6-8Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

^9-10Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”

¹¹“No one, Master.”

“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”

First, let me say, the woman was in fact caught in adultery. She was in fact destined to be stoned in accordance with law. The religious scholars and Pharisees were in fact justified in wanting to stone her. Jesus was in fact breaking the law as the culture of that day understood it.

Now that being said, here’s that part where some cringe. I began merging this concept of the adulterous woman with the old saying many attribute to Augustine or Luther, “the church is a whore, but she is my mother”. Throughout history, the church, the glorious Bride of Christ has been referred to as a whore. This idea of whoredom being associated with God’s children is interesting to say the least. Even the Prophet Hosea was told to go and marry a whore name Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim and have children with her. Even though she “is loved by another man and is an adulteress”, Hosea buys her back and marries her again. It is a strange, yet beautiful metaphor of God’s frustration and grace towards Israel.

So the question is, if the church is a whore, is she forever a whore? No. In the story of the adulterous women, she no longer commits the acts she had become quite famous for. She went and sinned no more. The Prophet Isaiah says (64:6), “We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves—sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind.” The “we” is referring to those outside of the will of God. The beauty of the story in John is the grace shown by Christ to the woman. The jagged pill to swallow is the grace shown to a “repentant” sinner. It seems unfair and a bit gross. I’m sure the onlookers were physically disgusted by Jesus’ actions. In the second chapter of Hosea, we read God’s plan of redemption in relation to Israel as the whore.

^14-15 ”And now, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to start all over again. I’m taking her back out into the wilderness where we had our first date, and I’ll court her. I’ll give her bouquets of roses. I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope. She’ll respond like she did as a young girl, those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.

^16-20 ”At that time”—this is God’s Message still—”you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’ Never again will you address me, ’My slave-master!’ I’ll wash your mouth out with soap, get rid of all the dirty false-god names, not so much as a whisper of those names again. At the same time I’ll make a peace treaty between you and wild animals and birds and reptiles, and get rid of all weapons of war. Think of it! Safe from beasts and bullies! And then I’ll marry you for good—forever! I’ll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness.Yes, I’ll marry you and neither leave you nor let you go. You’ll know me, God, for who I really am.

So, whether you believe the church is a whore, “who sells her favors to the highest bidder” or whether you feel as though the church is redeemed and on the other side of grace is a simple matter of action. Does the church continue to sell herself out? Is she of the world and not simply in it? Does she commit acts that harm herself and those around her? Does she find comfort in the night?

I am hard pressed to find individual followers of God prostituting themselves to those around them intentionally. We do, however, see this practice many times in the modern church’s polity and demeanor. We will probably not see these actions written in her bylaws, vision statements and fundamental beliefs. We may see them however in her actions.

Now that said, I am not here to cast a stone, albiet deserving. I have found myself to be a whore at times in my life. My hope and prayer is that the women we affectionately refer to a mother, would recognize her beauty and stand strong as the glorious bride. My prayer is that I would not be an onlooker, but one who kneels down to pick her up.

I love the story of Hosea in relation to the story in John. It paints of picture of a God who is not ashamed to be in an intimate relationship with a whore, a disgrace, a sin-infected, sin-contaminated bride. A God who is not satisfied with her remaining that way. A God who cares for the illegitimate children of sin as though they are His own. A God who embraces what society disregards.