An Eye Opening Experience

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been posting and collaborating on hitrecord.org, an art collaboration hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. A lot of times, he presents a challenge. In this challenge he sets parameters for what the topic is or how he wants it presented.

One of his challenges was RE: The Bible.

I know, unique and interesting. I had to look into it. One of the challenges was to “remix” a story from the Bible and tell it from a different point of view. That sounded like a great idea to me, so I decided to do it.

So this is it. DTRAiN’s remix of the Gospel of John Chapters 7-8.

Again, I gave a song that I thought really set the scene. I hope you really enjoy this one. 
I enjoyed writing it for you.

RegularJOE made the call. The Bible was the topic.

I have heard from many people that they try to read the Bible, but the can never understand it. Or, sometimes, I have heard people say, “Yeah, the Bible is OK, but I can’t relate to it. Nothing in it has anything to do with me.”

So, I decided to tell a story. Actually, a story that was already told. I would like to mention that in popular culture and opinion, the woman in this story is depicted as Mary Magdelene; however, that is not mentioned. The woman in this story is nameless, so I am not going to buy into popular culture depictions of "characters" in the Bible. I am am going to tell the story as it is presented. That being said, as many of you know, I do enjoy showing illustrations with text, so I tried to use the best ones possible.

The Gospel of John, Chapters 7-8 (a creative narrative)

It was the day after the Festival of Tabernacles. The city was already stirring for what had occurred yesterday. There was doubt. There was dissension. But for Eliezer, there was hope.

There was word that someone had disturbed the festival the day before, but rumor had said that he had left. Why were the High Priests against him so much? Many people called him a good teacher, who taught from the scrolls with knowledge and authority. Certainly, he was a learned man. A Levite? Certainly, a rabbi. Regardless, this man had left the Temple courts, and going to listen to the teachers in the Temple was one of Eliezer’s favorite things to do.

It was not because he was a very religious person, but more because he took a lot of joy in hearing the teachers and rabbis talk of Moses and the prophets, especially during the Festival Sukkot. In many ways, he felt that it was his favorite holiday. His father had told him that he was named in honor of the festival, “my God has helped.” Eliezer had also known firsthand and seen with his own eyes how the God of Jacob and Moses had helped him and his family through the years, especially in these difficult times of the Romans.

Eliezer’s grandfather had told him many stories of how cruel and wicked Babylon was to Israel many years ago, but grandfather had never seen anything to compare to the atrocities that Caesar was doing to God’s people. Israel had been crying out for many years for Messiah to come and rescue them from this existence and restore her to the glory of King David, but Messiah had not come.

It was for these reasons that Eliezer found comfort in going to the Temple courts this day.

As usual, it was crowded. Many groups of people surrounded various rabbis that were reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which was common for the Festival and the upcoming Sabbath during Sukkot. There was, however, one particular teacher that was commanding a large amount of attention off to the left side. Eliezer decided to see what the commotion was about. As he approached, he heard the rabbi reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes as well, but something was different. Usually when a holy man read in the Temple, most people would sit quietly and listen. With this man, people where whispering and pushing to get closer to him. It was very distracting.

That’s when it happened. The crowd opened up so quickly that Eliezer almost fell over. A small child was shoved to the side and pushed to the ground.  Eliezer quickly kneeled to help her up. As he was down on his knees, he looked to his left and saw the mob. It was a large group of officials and the teachers of the law pushing their way through the crowd dragging a woman by her hair. She was stumbling and crying out in pain. The tears had created smears on her face from the dust in the commotion. Still by her hair, they threw her forward to the ground in front of the entire group of people that had been dispersed.

He looked to his right, and noticed the rabbi who was teaching. It appeared to Eliezer that this mob had intentionally brought this woman to the Temple courts specifically to be in the presence of this man. The man put down his scroll slowly. He didn’t seem angry that he was interrupted. The man had an incredible peace and love about his very presence that could not be described. Then he stood up and looked at the mob. Something in the man’s eyes gave away the truth.

He knew. The man knew!

He knew that they were trying to trick him or force him to make a judgement!

He then looked down at the woman.

Eliezer watched this entire scene unfold. It was completely silent in the Temple. All teaching had stopped. All whispering had ceased. The only sound was the woman horribly sobbing on the ground.

One of the main officials stepped forward. He was so proud and pious. No longer did Eliezer see a holy teacher of the law. No, he saw a man that was filled with hate and anger. With sin.

He spoke in a voice that shattered the silence in the room, “Teacher! This woman was caught in the act of adultery.” He spat on the ground as he finished the sentence. This disgust in his voice was obvious. The disdain that he held for this wretched woman was noticed by everyone surrounding the area.

“In the Law,” when he started up again, he pointed at the scroll that the man had just placed down, “Moses commanded us to stone such women! Now what do you say?”

It became clear to Eliezer. This was the man. This was the teacher that had caused the commotion yesterday. This was the man who people were talking about. This was the man who said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

People called him The Prophet.

People called him Mashiach.

He was Yeshua - Jesus of Nazareth.

The teachers of the law stood before Jesus smug, demanding an answer. If he said the wrong thing, they would surely say he was blaspheming the name of the God of Jacob. The room stayed silent.

There was no sound, save the silent weeping of a woman who was aware of her pending death, a death that by all rights of the law would be well deserved. Her adultery was explicitly talked about in the law, and her sentence was clear.

Jesus knelt to the ground and began writing in the sand. Eliezer could not see what was being written, but it was obvious that there were words being spelled. Eliezer pushed forward to catch a glimpse of what was written.

This silence infuriated the Pharisees even more and they began to push the issue. They demanded a ruling on this issue, and still Jesus wrote in the sand saying nothing. Until he stood.

When he did, it felt as if all of the air was instantly sucked out of the room. Even the woman stopped crying. Eliezer glanced at her. There was terror in her face, as she knew that this teacher was about to pass judgement on her. Then Eliezer glanced at the faces of the Pharisees. Their faces betrayed their true emotions, and they were ready to condemn anything that Jesus had to say.

When Jesus spoke, Eliezer instantly felt his heart beat quicken. He felt tears in his eyes. He felt his mouth dry up. He was torn in the sense of wanting to look away, because this man was so different than any other man – and yet, Eliezer couldn’t look away. He was captivated by this man’s voice.

People called him The Prophet.

People called him Mashiach.

He was Yeshua - Jesus of Nazareth.

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” Jesus said.

It was that simple. He knew the law, and he knew that the Pharisees knew the law too, but what did he just say? He told them to stone her if they too were without sin! Eliezer could not believe his ears. There was no one in the room that could throw a stone. Eliezer knew that every sin written in the Torah required a punishment, and yet, these Pharisees were only pointing out the sin of this woman.

Jesus kneeled down again, and began writing in the sand again. At this time, Eliezer was not interested in what was being written; he was focused on the mob that had dragged this poor woman into a public shaming, ready to kill her. The older men in the mob began exiting the area. The Temple courts began to clear out. Many of the men ready to stone her turned and walked away. They could not say that they were without sin. Not a one of them. As the crowd emptied, Eliezer slowly walked away as well, but he stepped slowly to the wall so that he could see Jesus with this woman.

As he finished writing, Jesus touched the hand of this woman, and she looked into his face. They both stood up together. Her clothes were dirty and torn in areas. Her head covering was nowhere to be seen, and her hair was uneven and torn from being pulled and dragged by the men. It was at this time, that Eliezer began to silently weep. He too knew that he could not throw a stone at this woman, and yet, Jesus stood next to her and spoke.

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you,” he asked.

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus turned to where he had put the scroll down, and rolled it back up. Many of the people who had been listening to him returned, and many more joined. Eliezer turned and walked out of the Temple courts. He heard Jesus begin teaching again, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life…”

Eliezer began to run home. He needed to tell his family about Jesus. He needed to tell them the wondrous thing that he had just witnessed. He needed to show them where Jesus was teaching.

People called him Mashiach.

He was Yeshua.

Jesus of Nazareth.