I have been working in my beloved garden this week. Each day I have watched more bulbs work their way out from beneath the cold dark earth, littered with autumn's remains. The garden can often be used as a picture of the spiritual life and as I read the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8, I sensed that connection again between spiritual truth and my lovely flowers coming forth out of the ground. In my mind I could see underneath the ground, just below the surface where it was dark and cold. The bulb was begining to stretch upwards and out of its hiding place towards the light above. A small hole appeared in the ground and a centipede with its many legs began walking up the hard brown soil until it squeezed itself out into day light. I was reminded of sin and how it can bond itself to us in a hundred ways, like the centipede's legs. It doesn't matter how many sins exist, how hideous they are, and how much we are tempted to hide them in the dark of the ground - with the blood of Christ we can bring them up out of the hole and into the light of Christ where there is always forgiveness.
The woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus by the crowd who were ready to stone her to death for her sin. Jesus reminded them of their own sins and their judgement of her. They soon left. Even though Jesus had the right to judge her, even he did not condemn her. In the presence of a holy God the woman found mercy not condemnation. Jesus did not sentence her to death but to life. His only command was that she now go and leave her previous life of sin. Once we have found the light of Christ we are exposed to the reality of sin and can live in the freedom of Christ's life instead. Immediately after this passage, John writes of Jesus' declaration in being the light of the world and that those who follow him no longer walk in darkness but in the light of his life. Again the picture is of sin being something dark and awful, keeping people in bondage and hidden deep underground beneath the light above. When the bulbs come out of their hiding places after a long hard winter, they bloom into beautiful daffodils, crocuses and snow drops. They litter the barren garden with an array of colour and warmth. They are beautiful. Isn't that a picture of ourselves when we have found salvation in Jesus? We no longer belong to the darkness of sin but live above ground in light and beauty. We ourselves are beautiful as we carry the beauty of Jesus within us.
Living above the ground is so much better than living below it. Sometimes sin entangles the Christian again and the dark earth becomes their home for a time, but there is always the hole above with the light beckoning them to come out of their hiding place again. There is always light and life above, always hope, always mercy, always Jesus.
