THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE: JOHN 8:1-12
PREPARATION: You will need: sweets for the first game, Bibles, paper, pens and a way of showing the clip.
WARM UP
5 mins
If your group needs an icebreaker, start by getting them in pairs standing opposite their partner. Give them each some Crunchie Rocks or Cadbury Pebbles (or another stone-related food) and get them to try throwing them for their partner to catch in their mouth. Pairs can compete against each other to see how far away they can stand and still catch them.
STARTING OFF
10 mins
Read the passage as a whole group, getting people who are comfortable to read some verses as you will be stopping after small sections. Read the first five verses and then pause, asking, ‘What would it have felt like to be that woman?’ Explain that it was not only humiliating, but this woman was scared for her life – stoning was a death sentence: they weren’t little rocks like we were just throwing, she was expecting to be killed for this. Read verse six. Say that Jesus’ response was a bizarre one: he doesn’t leap to her defence or her judgement and it’s a bit of a mystery – no one knows what he actually wrote on the ground! Discuss in small groups what you think he might have written before feeding back to the whole group.
BACKS, SAND AND STONES
5 mins
Get the group into pairs. Give one member of each pair a message to write on the other person’s back; tracing the words. The first pair to guess the message wins a prize.
Read verse seven. This is one of the most famous biblical sayings. It’s so powerful yet so simple. It acknowledges her sin, but it also indirectly challenges them about the way they were living their own lives. Without the nasty tactics of judgement and humiliation that they tried, he convicted them.
KEY POINT
Jesus brings conviction and forgiveness - not judgement.
JUDGEMENT DAY
10 mins
Ask the group to discuss how they normally respond when someone tells them off. Then, for an illustration, turn the lights off.
Say: let your eyes get a bit accustomed to the darkness. Look around… do I need to tell you you’re in the dark? No, you know that – it’s stating the obvious. It’s only when you turn the light on (switch the lights back on) that you notice what you were missing. Have any of you got glasses? Often it’s only when you’ve put them on do you realise how bad your sight was before.
That’s kind of what Jesus did in the passage. He didn’t convict her by stating the glaringly obvious and judging her for it. He just lived differently, which spoke louder than words. Equally importantly, he showed kindness to her.
BIBLE STUDY
10 mins
Read verse eight. Say: writing on the ground isn’t particularly threatening. Jesus didn’t confront them or judge them, he just spoke truth and let them respond. It convicted them.
Read verse nine. Say: it’s interesting that they dropped off one by one, the oldest first. Ask the group: do we respect our elders’ wisdom and follow their lead? Or do we try to lead the way with innovative thinking?
Read verses ten and eleven. Jesus tells the woman that he doesn’t accuse her, in fact he says very little, but he does tell her to sin no more. Jesus doesn’t need to labour the point, but even though it feels like she has learned her lesson by everything that has gone before, he just tells her that he doesn’t judge her, but that she needs to change.
REFLECTION
10 mins
Encourage the group to get into a comfortable position while you read out this reflection. Ask God to reveal things to us that convict us, spend some time thinking and writing on paper or your phone. Remember, Jesus doesn’t judge us – he just reminds us that we need to stop it. As a sign that you want to stop doing that, that you’re forgiven and moving on from it, screw it up or delete it from your phone. There is no judgement: only conviction and forgiveness.
JUDGING OTHERS
10 mins
Are there times when you judge others for the way they behave? Watch the clip from Benefits Street from the link section and then ask the group:
• What are your initial reactions to this couple?
• Do you judge their behaviour, choices or lifestyle?
• How do you think the Pharisees would have treated them?
• How do you think Jesus would treat them?
KEY POINT
The way to convict is to live differently: to live as salt and light in the world.
ACTION
10 mins
Get the group to create a mind map on a big piece of paper of the types of people that are usually judged by the Church. After you’ve done that discuss how we can show love and forgiveness to them. How can we convict them in the kind of way Jesus did? By living differently, and by being the light.
Encourage the group as individuals to choose one person they know who is usually judged by others for their behaviour. Encourage them to write that name down on a post-it note to remind them to pray that God would help them to show his love and give them the strength to live differently around them – shining like the light. Read verse 12 out loud all together to finish. Repeat a few times to allow it to sink in. This is our challenge for the week – to live like Christ as light in the world.
