Wednesday in the Word...John 8.1-11...Stones or Savior?

Our Wednesday in the Word today deals with John chapter 8 and verses 1 through 11, which read,

v.1, 2 - But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.

The Festival of Booths is over and hopefully this Jesus will leave for good is probably the thoughts of the Pharisees and the scribes.  Jesus goes out of town for the night but then is back the next morning.  He is in the temple where He cried out that He was the living water.  The people are coming to Him to hear more of His teachings.  Jesus is in the "rabbi position" of sitting down which is a position of authority so His disciples and "would be" disciples could take in what he was saying.  

I can't help but think of seeing my mother sitting down on one of those little wooden chairs and reading a story to her kindergarteners around her.  They are looking up at her and taking in every word she was saying.  Jesus has a captive audience of willing listeners.

v.3-6 - The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"  They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him.  But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

There are many interesting things in these 4 verses.  The first is that we have the motive of the scribes and the Pharisees.  They were testing this rabbi Jesus to see if He really was a rabbi.  They have done this before and they will do it again.  

The second is that they bring in the Law that Moses wrote down, the Torah, which is the first 5 books of the Bible.  Leviticus 20:10 says,

If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:22 says,

If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Who is missing from this picture?  We have the woman caught in the act of adultery but not the man.  Why is not the man here also?  The Law that Moses wrote down includes them both.  The scribes and Pharisees' motives are being revealed because they quote the Law but they only have half of the verse present.  They are great a setting up things for Jesus to respond to like planting a man needing healing in the synagogue on the Sabbath to see if He will heal (work) on the Sabbath.  This smells like another set up and while the woman wasn't innocent of breaking the law, she was also used to "catch a bigger fish" namely Jesus.

The last is the imagination that has grown over time of what Jesus was writing in the sand.  Was it the man's name?  Was it the sins of those who brought the woman?  Was it the sign of the cross?  This is one of those things that will have to wait for heaven to reveal.

v.7, 8 - But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

They were asking this question of Jesus over and over again.  They broke into His teaching session with His disciples.  They disrupted His classroom and demanded an immediate answer.  The teacher stands up.  This usually means business.

Jesus is not saying that the stoning shouldn't happen.  Jesus is not saying that adultery is not a sin.  Jesus is addressing their sin of setting this all up to trap another.  Should the one who sinned stone the sinner they used?  Who should judge this woman?  Should it be them who sinned in the way they brought this woman to Jesus?  

This was all that Jesus was going to say to them indicated by sitting back down.  Again, He is drawing in the sand.  His eyes are not on them.  He is giving the international sign that this conversation is over.

v.9 - When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.

You can paint the scene in your mind.  The men have stones in their hands.  The words of Jesus ring out throughout the temple.  His authority kicks in and the oldest ones who have had the longest life and most opportunities to sin start dropping their stones and walking away.  The younger ones are watching this and they too drop their stones because they also could not meet the qualifications that Rabbi Jesus gave them.  There was no one in the temple area without sin but One alone.

Jesus was saying that they could stone her, condemn her to death, if they were without sin.  The One was there who fit that description and it was Him.  What would He do?  The scene ends with He alone with the condemned sinner in the center of the temple court area.

v.10, 11 - Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they?  Did no one condemn you?"  She said, "No one, Lord."  And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either.  

Go. From now on sin no more."

Jesus gets back up to look now at the woman and address her.  He asks a question of her so that she can respond.  Her response is to look at Jesus and call Him, "Lord."  She is like the thief on the cross looking at Jesus on the center cross and calling the hanging Jesus a King.  Jesus looks into her heart and sees a repentant sinner.  He goes from righteous condemnation from a perfect judge to righteous redemption of one of His sheep.  He could condemn but He doesn't condemn those who call Him "Lord."  The famous Romans 8:1 says,

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus acknowledges that she did sin along with all the others but her repentance needs to be followed by the command to live a different life from now on, a transformed life.  This new life lived was to be one that proclaimed about a Savior who literally saved her, not only physically but spiritually.  She fits John 3:17 which reads,

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

We are already condemned.  We are already judged by our sin.  Jesus steps into the world at this time to save us from our already judgment and set us on a different path.  

This is a passage, controversial in its placement in the Scriptures, gives us a lot of think about and is reinforced by other words of Jesus that support the outcome of this event.  May we use our energy to drop our stones and rather speak of the Savior who saves.  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, what a scene is painted here.  Sin abounds on every front.  We are quick to point the finger at others when You make us point it back at ourselves.  May we call You 'Lord' and may we 'go and sin no more' because we are speaking of You more to others.  Amen."

Pastor Adam