It’s finally the warm months here in northern Indiana. With it, at least for the Ruths, brings more time outside. More walks. Beach trips. Making food on the grill. Cookouts. And… time spent making our front yard look good. You know, mowing the yard diagonally, planting flowers, laying down mulch and fertilizing the grass. For the Ruths, we do what we can to make our front yard look good… or at least presentable.

Our backyard? That’s a bit of a different story. We have a couple of dogs, so we don’t fertilize the backyard. We have weeded less. And there are piles of sticks and branches that we need to burn. I know, that at some point, we’ll have people over. And that means that, in the summer months, they’ll see our backyard. So we’ve begun to make it look better. As I was out in the backyard cutting down tree-weeds, I walked past our shed. And, Jami, knowing that I had cut down some not-so-lovely-tree-weeds, said, “Doesn’t behind the shed bother you too?” “What? Behind the shed?” I hadn’t looked behind the shed since last fall. So, when she asked that question it made me stop and think. And then, I went to look behind the shed. You guys… what I saw… it was awful. It literally looked like a junk yard. Check it out… guys… I’m not lying!

Our front yard looks fine. It looks pretty good. Outside of a mole that’s been terrorizing us this year, our front yard looks good. We’ve got people fooled. When they walk or drive by, they see our nice flowers, diagonally-mowed grass and our American flag. If only they knew what was behind our shed. The literal trash that sat behind there for so long. They would know that our front yard was… well… a farce. All for show to make people think we’ve got it all together. To make it so we aren’t living in embarrassment.

Behind the shed.

We’ve all got a “behind the shed.” I’m not talking about a physical shed now. I’m talking about the metaphorical shed that’s found in each of our lives. We nicely manicure ourselves and our social media to make it look like we’ve got it all together, only to have a mess behind our shed, afraid of what people would think if they only knew. Well, you might not. But I definitely have been there. And as we read the Bible, there’s a story of a woman who had people find out about the mess behind her shed. Check it out:

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 8:2-11

The woman had what she hid behind her shed shown for everyone to see. I mean everyone. Jesus wasn’t just teaching to a group of five people. No, He was in the temple courts where he was likely speaking to a large crowd of people. Can you imagine, literally being dragged down the street. Past onlookers walking by? Past person. After person. After person. Wondering where you’re being taken. And as you look up, trying not to look at anyone in their eyes, you see a large crowd. Now, as you pass through the back row of people, you’re being bounced off of people who are listening to someone teach. Crying and scared, you’re continuing to be pushed to the front of the crowed for all to see. Can you imagine? Everything that she has tried to hide… all of the trash behind her shed is being put on display for all to see. Can you imagine?

The Bible doesn’t tell us anything else about this woman. Only that she was caught in adultery. What was her life like? Who was she married to? Did she have kids? Did people respect her? What was her life like? How long did she try to hide the mess she was living in behind her shed? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions. In reality, the answers to these questions probably don’t matter. What we do know, is that the mess… the trash behind her shed was put on display for everyone to see. EVERYONE. Can you imagine the shame and guilt and embarrassment she felt as she was being dragged past people she probably knew? And then, as she was finally being dragged to the front of the crowd, her head hanging low… she sees the feet of the one who was teaching. The man everyone came to hear. Jesus. And they made her stand in front of Him and everyone else.

“Jesus,” the Pharisees said. “This woman, she was caught in the act of adultery. The Law says to stone women like her. What do you say we should do?” And as we picture this scene in our mind’s eye, the Bible gives us two simple words in response to the question the Pharisees had… in response to all of the mess and trash behind this woman’s shed. Two words. Eight letters. That would lead to a life changed and renewed. The two words?

“But Jesus”

A life filled with embarrassment… “But Jesus.” A life filled with shame and guilt… “But Jesus.” A life filled with fear and hurt… “But Jesus.” A life filled with pain and sin… “But Jesus.” This woman… was brought out into the public… dragged by people she probably knew… through a crowd of people… the Pharisees, filled with hate… hate for Jesus… and hate for this woman. They wanted to make an example of her in her shame and guilt and hurt and pain… and was willing for her to die by stoning… But…

“But Jesus,” out of His compassion, instead accepted the woman in her shame and guilt and hurt and pain… He accepted all of the mess behind her shed… and didn’t condemn her but forgave her sin. You see, all of the Pharisees who brought her in front of Jesus… who brought her in front of the crowd of people to humiliate her… they too had things behind their shed that they didn’t want anyone to know about. Because when Jesus asked for any of them without sin to throw the first stone, they one by one walked away.

You see, when it comes to the things behind our shed… the things that we would be embarrassed about if people were to find out… it doesn’t phase Jesus. We don’t have to get pretty to come before Jesus. He accepts us as we are… with all of the mess and trash behind our shed. But He doesn’t just accept us as we are… it’s not just that He doesn’t condemn us… He also wants to help us clean up our lives behind the shed and live a life that chases after Him.

The Bible says that all of the Pharisees walked away until it was only Jesus and the woman who was left. But, when I sit and think about that woman’s story, I can’t help but think about how many in the crowd who were left, stunned by what they just witnessed. Sure, none of the Pharisees were left. But in a crowd that size and where they were at, I believe there were still onlookers who witnessed a life saved and changed. And in each of our lives, as we come before Jesus with the mess behind our shed, you can bet that there will be people who will witness your life saved and changed as well.

We all have things that are hiding behind our shed… “But Jesus” will meet you where you’re at and help make your life new again.