Jesus reveals God the Fathers perfect goodness. In the pages of the scriptures we can see Jesus and the outworking of His goodness. Jesus rescues, heals and speaks truth to the broken.

In the book of John chapter eight we read about Jesus and the woman who  had been caught in the act of adultery

…. but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery^. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8: 1-11)

This event is a perfect example of the outworking of Jesus goodness. The woman had been caught in sin and the religious leaders of the time think that it is God’s plan for her to die because of what she has done. They stand in judgement of her and want to carry out a death sentence by throwing stones at her. They claimed to have known God and believe that this is what He wanted them to do to her.

The religious leaders dragged the woman before Jesus and make their case. Jesus gives them permission to kill the woman but he says “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (Romans 8:7)

Jesus is saying that they can follow through with their judgment and stone her, but only the one who is without sin can carry out that sentence, only that person has the right to judge her.

Nobody there could even lift a stone to throw. I could only imagine that there would have been a hushed silence that fell upon the crowd as the realization set in. The only person who had the right to judge her was Jesus himself, He was the only one without sin. And the only one who can kill her, forgives her instead. He showed her mercy, mercy triumphs over judgement.

Would you wanted to have thrown stones at the woman? Remember these words, the only one who can kill her forgives her instead.

As followers of Jesus, we should be the kind of people who are like Him – living in His goodness, reproducing His goodness and showing love to everybody. We should be seeking to be a reflection of Him, mirroring His love and affection towards others.

When we read the word of God we come with our own ideas of what goodness is but we need to let who Jesus was define the goodness of God. We need to read what Jesus did throughout the scriptures and invite Him to settle the issue of Gods goodness forever in our hearts.

And when the matter of God is good is settled in our hearts then when we experience hard times or difficult circumstances our faith does not waver. We will have a deep understanding that God is good, all the time, even in the midst of our terrible circumstances God is still good and will work ALL things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28)