United Church of Christ Daily Devotional 21st August 2025 Wednesday Message
Drop It Like Your God.
By Kaji Douša
Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” – John 8:10 (NRSV)
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The mob brings him a woman, caught in adultery. Now they require a judgment.
Instead of standing tall in his authority, Jesus bends low. He kneels. He writes in the dirt.
They keep pressing. So he rises and confronts the crowd: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.” Then, again, he kneels.
This choreography – the up, the down – it’s not incidental. Jesus doesn’t stay elevated, nor does he stay low. He gets up when he must speak truth to power. He kneels when it’s time to wait, to de-escalate, to protect.
Jesus is Lord. God incarnate. And so, this text teaches me: God is not rigid. God moves.
Jesus rises to interrupt violence. He kneels to refuse spectacle. He stands again, only when it’s just the accused and himself left, and asks, “Where are your accusers?”
From that same ground, he offers the woman a way forward.
This is who God is. Not a distant judge on high, but one who gets low when we are vulnerable. Who rises when the crowd needs confronting. Who meets us exactly where we are.
Prayer
God, help me to move like you do. The world needs me to rise with courage, to kneel with compassion, and to never stay stuck. Where am I in the world’s need? Where is the world in mine? Teach me the dance, my Lord and my God. Amen.
About the AuthorKaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.
