Jesus Says, "Not Guilty!"

You may not have heard of Rebecca Thompson before but surprisingly, typing “John 8:1-11 sermons” using Google Search brought out numerous Christian blogsites with articles about her. Quite remarkably, they all tell the exact same true but harrowing story ad verbatim.

Rebecca (right), Amy (front)

Image Source: trib.com

Rebecca Thompson was eighteen when she was abducted together with her younger 11-year-old sister, Amy, and brought 40 miles out of town where she was brutally beaten and raped.

She pleaded with the two men to not hurt her sister and while she succeeded in convincing them, they threw the both of them over the Fremont Canyon Bridge into the narrow canyon.

The 112-foot drop killed Amy instantly. As for Rebecca, she slammed into a ledge and ricocheted into the deep cold waters. With her badly fractured hip, she somehow – miraculously – managed to pull herself ashore and waited out the night for her rescue while she could still hear her killers guffawing above.

Image Source: casperjournal.com

She was treated and physically recovered. Her attackers were arrested and given death sentences. That was in 1973. Nineteen years later, in September 1992, Rebecca returned to the Bridge, to the same spot and flung herself to death in the presence of her boyfriend and her 2-year-old daughter. Many Christian commentators called it, “her second death.”

“The sun never dawned on Rebecca’s dark night,” and as such, “the first fall broke her heart; the second broke her neck,” said one.

“Was it guilt? Some think so. Despite Rebecca’s attractive smile and appealing personality, friends say that she struggled with the ugly fact that she had survived and her little sister had not.

“Was it shame? Everyone knew and thousands she didn’t had heard the humiliating details of her tragedy. The stigma was tattooed deeper with the newspaper ink of every headline. She had been raped. She had been violated. She had been shamed. And try as she might to outlive and outrun the memory… she never could.”

The length of the verses in John 8:1-11 tells us the story of Jesus and the condemned woman caught in the act of adultery and thus awaiting certain death but death did not come to her. Despite the Pharisees looking for fault lines in Jesus’ approach, they never found one. Instead He said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Following the departure of her accusers, Jesus asked the woman if anyone had condemned her to which she replied, no.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.

“Go now and leave your life of sin.”

The biblical story teaches us that overcoming the past takes faith and perhaps even courage. Our problems and past mistakes can be insurmountable if we allow them to hijack our potential that God has gifted us with. The need to be able to dream and achieve new heights in our lives depends very much on how we relinquish our past of shame and darkness.

Image Source: findagrave.com

Whether privately sought or publicly open, shame is always painful and unless dealt with, it scars permanently. In Rebecca’s case, the dawn never came because she didn’t get the help that would have had her turn out so differently.

The fact is there are many Rebecca Thompsons around. Though you may not see them easily or know them personally, they are as common as the many Fremont Canyon Bridges in every town.

Therefore if you’re wondering how God reacts when you fail, frame these words and mount them where you can read them all the time:

Then Jesus says, “I also don’t judge you guilty. You may go now but don’t sin anymore.” (v.10-11)

Read them always. Reflect on them. Soak them in. Stand before them and allow Jesus’ words to cleanse your heart’s conscience and heal your wounds.

Let Him journey with you back to your canyon of shame one more time and then listen carefully as He writes and leaves a message not in the sand but on the cross; not with His hands but with His blood. 

The two-worded message says, “Not guilty.”

The above article is loosely based on the chapter ‘Finding the Courage to Overcome Your Past,’ in the book entitled, “He Still Moves Stones,” © Copyright Max Lucado, 1994.