Fifth Week of Lent | Tell Me Something Good

Sunday

Jesus tells the Pharisees that the most important part of the law is not simply following the rules, but enacting justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). What does this interpretation teach you about our faith?

Devotional 33

Monday

Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone’s mercy? How did it impact you? How can you pay that forward?

Devotional 34

Tuesday

What rhythms and rituals help you cultivate a life of faithfulness?

Devotional 35

Wednesday

We often think of justice on a macro scale. Are there ways to practice justice through small, daily acts? What comes to mind?

Devotional 36

Thursday

When you think about justice, mercy, and faithfulness, which one feels hardest for you to live out? Why might that be?

Devotional 37

Friday

What does it mean to you that Jesus protected someone others were ready to condemn? (John 8:2-11) How might that shape the way you live today?

Devotional 38

Saturday

What area of your life feels complicated right now? Could justice, faithfulness, or mercy help you find your way forward?

Devotional 39

Go deeper into Rooted in justice, mercy & faithfulness

Art and poetry inspired by and "I am rooted in what matters most."

Scripture

John 8:2-11

Jesus refuses to condemn a woman

Then early the next morning he went to the temple. The people came to him, and he sat down and started teaching them. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses brought in a woman who had been caught in bed with a man who wasn't her husband. They made her stand in the middle of the crowd. Then they said, “Teacher, this woman was caught sleeping with a man who isn't her husband. The Law of Moses teaches that a woman like this should be stoned to death! What do you say?” They asked Jesus this question, because they wanted to test him and bring some charge against him. But Jesus simply bent over and started writing on the ground with his finger. They kept on asking Jesus about the woman. Finally, he stood up and said, “If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!” Once again he bent over and began writing on the ground. The people left one by one, beginning with the oldest. Finally, Jesus and the woman were there alone. Jesus stood up and asked her, “Where is everyone? Isn't there anyone left to accuse you?” “No sir,” the woman answered. Then Jesus told her, “I am not going to accuse you either. You may go now, but don't sin anymore.”

Early in the morning He came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center of the court, and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” [Deut 22:22-24] They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” [Deut 17:7] Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]

Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?” “No one, Master.” “Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”] Note: John 7:53–8:11 [the portion in brackets] is not found in the earliest handwritten copies.

Scripture

Matthew 23:23

Justice, mercy, and faithfulness

You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the important things you should have done, though you should not have left the others undone either.

“Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you give a tenth (tithe) of your mint and dill and cumin [focusing on minor matters], and have neglected the weightier [more important moral and spiritual] provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the [primary] things you ought to have done without neglecting the others.

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

Sacred Art

Epilogue

T. Denise Anderson

John 8:2-11 · 14"x18" Acrylic on canvas

I often wonder about the backstory of the woman from John 8:2-11. What were her circumstances? How did they "catch" her in the act of adultery? In flagrante delicto? Was it less graphic than that? Was she allowed to explain herself? Did she protest? If she was about to be stoned, what happened to th…

Fifth Week of Lent

the good news is… rooted in justice, mercy, and faithfulness

Epilogue

by T. Denise Anderson

Inspired by John 8:2-11

14"x18" Acrylic on canvas

Whatever her story, the Pharisees bring her to Jesus expecting him to uphold the law's punitive prescription. Jesus knows it's a trap. If he concurs with the law, he initiates and must bear witness to an act of extreme brutality that would traumatize anyone who had to watch. If he counters the law, he's a heretic and should probably be stoned himself. But he outsmarts them and turns their self-righteousness and rage back onto them.

In what should have been the end of her life's story, this woman now finds herself standing. Whole. Alive. Freed to a new future. And through it all, Jesus is just drawing on the ground—like you do!

I wanted to show this woman standing in her wholeness, right after the crowds have dispersed and right before Jesus rises to meet her as an equal. She's backlit in a way that suggests the sun has set, indicating the end of a saga. What will she do at the end of a nightmare with a new life ahead of her? What decisions do we face at the dawn of a second chance?

—Rev. T. Denise Anderson

Look

Contemplate the woman in the image. What do you imagine is her backstory? What do you dream for her future?

Epilogue

T. Denise Anderson · John 8:2-11

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There Is Good

Hannah Garrity

Matthew 23:23 · 18"x18" Hand-dyed and collaged newspaper with paper lace overlay

Fifth Week of Lent

the good news is… rooted in justice, mercy, and faithfulness

There Is Good

by Hannah Garrity

Inspired by Matthew 23:23

18"x18" Hand-dyed and collaged newspaper with paper lace overlay

In this series of scriptures, gathered crowds drew my attention. Jesus always drew a crowd, but so did the voices of hate in his time. In our current historic moment, this dichotomy of crowds for justice and crowds for injustice confounds me. Are all crowds worthy of joining? In the background of this piece, I dyed and collaged together torn newspaper, representing the fabric of the world, to portray the cacophony of crowds gathering. What is drawing them in? Is everything that compels us to gather right and good? No.

The clarity comes in this scripture: "For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith" (Matthew 23:23). Most especially, in the context of Jesus denouncing the scribes and Pharisees, the crucial point is that gathering to enact justice is good and gathering to enact injustice is not.

The crowd depicted in this artwork is inspired by the 100,000 who gathered strong in Budapest, Hungary, in June, 2025. The Hungarian parliament had outlawed Pride as part of a larger systemic effort to take away the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community in Hungary, and a "wider effort to curb democratic freedoms ahead of a hotly contested national election next year."

In the four corners of the artwork, symbols of justice, mercy, and faithfulness echo the clarity of Jesus. Gathering for justice is the work of the gospel.

—Hannah Garrity

Look

If you could place yourself in this image, where would you be and why?

There Is Good

Hannah Garrity · Matthew 23:23

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Poetry

Weekly Video

The Things That Matter Most

by Rev. Sarah A. Speed

I wrecked the family car, an old gold minivan that had traveled every inch of I-95. It had worn cushions and an old school map in the glove box. It held a folder full of mix CDs under the passenger seat and every memory of every family trip, and I wrecked it. …

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Fifth Week of Lent

the good news is… rooted in justice, mercy, and faithfulness

The Things That Matter Most

by Rev. Sarah A. Speed

I called the tow truck while the engine hissed and smoked. I called my dad, my own apologies tripping over themselves to get to the front of the line. I expected to be grounded. I expected a “How could you?”

But when I got home that night, my dad held me close and said, “A car is just a car, but you are my child. The only thing that matters is that you are okay.”

And I knew it for what it was. It was mercy. It was love. It was the thing that mattered most.

Poem by Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

Download this poem Download all poems

Fifth Week of Lent

The Things That Matter Most

the good news is… rooted in justice, mercy, and faithfulness