John 8:1-11: Mended sermon series week 3

Have you ever received a speeding ticket? I can tell by some of your reactions that you have. If you drive the same route to work every day you begin to know where the police officers like to sit—right? For me when I was driving into the cities for work, I knew that under specific bridges I needed to be careful. It’s funny to watch people’s reactions when they come around a curve in the highway and the police officer is sitting there clocking your speed. Everyone instantly slows down. As if that’s really going to help! As if somehow you have special powers that make you so quick that you can slow down before the radar gun has reached you. Not really. But I have to admit, to this day I have never gotten a speeding ticket. Now, before you get too amazed and start asking me for my secrets, or come for my autograph, note that I said I have never received a speeding ticket, not that I have never been pulled over for speeding. I have been pulled over for speeding. I remember one time back when I was in seminary I was coming home from work at night. I got off work at 10 pm, I was coming home from work, and I was anxious to get home. As I sped past the car in front of me on the highway, which seemed to be going incredibly slow, I saw the flashing red and blue lights. It turned out the car I sped around was a police officer, and I was caught. Fortunately, the officer was very kind and did not give me a ticket for speeding. Rather, he wrote me up for obstruction of view, as I had something hanging from my mirror. But I was guilty! The law said I should have been fined. But this officer freed me from the law.‌‌ Our story this morning is all about how Jesus mends the brokenness of our sin to free us from the law. Not the physical law, not the law of the government, but the law of God. The law of God declares us guilty. It imprisons us, and marks us as those who have broken it. But as we will see this morning, Jesus mends our brokenness by sin. So as we try to see what this story teaches us, I think the big idea is this:‌‌ Big idea: Jesus mends the brokenness of our sin by offering freedom from the law