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 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. 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. 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. 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.” (John 8:1-11 NASB)
The Trap
The chief priests and Pharisees had sent officers to arrest Jesus but to no avail. The officers, having heard Jesus speaking to the multitude found themselves, either unwilling or incapable by the power of our Lord’s words, of carrying out their assignment. Such was the authority contained in those words. Irrefutable Truth that could not but impact, one way or another, the minds and hearts of those who heard.
Perhaps, in their frustration, those same conspirators who so desperately wanted to do away with Jesus lest he lead the whole of Israel away from their influence, took advantage of the night to arrange another means of silencing him. The text does not say so but it is not, I think, beyond reason. A trap is devised. They will bring to Jesus the next day a woman caught in the very act of adultery.
It seems to me that a considerable measure of thought and planning must have gone into the scheme. It is the scribes and the Pharisees who bring the woman to Jesus. Was it mere coincidence that she had been caught in the very act and conveniently made available to them for the occasion? Or was it more sinister, the dark plotting of evil-hearted men willing to see a woman stoned to death if it would gain them the end they so heartily desired: the silencing of God’s human voice in their midst? As can be seen in our own age, humanity will go to great lengths in an attempt to still God’s voice. Yet driven by relentless, unfailing love, God’s voice could not then, nor now, nor at any time in the future be silenced. His Word will accomplish all that he intends.
The Charge
Jesus is once again in the temple. It is early morning. The Lord’s presence attracts an eager crowd and, as is his way, he begins to teach them, to feed them words of life. Light to drive away their darkness. It is in the midst of this setting, the Light of the world teaching in the temple, that a woman caught in the very act of adultery is put forward for all to see and her sin made public for all to hear.
Again I ask, how is it that she was caught “in the very act?” Was it, as I mused earlier, the result of a heinous plot? What thoughts pranced in havoc through her bewildered mind as she found herself dragged from her supposed lover and paraded, by those who sat atop the pinnacle of the religious pyramid, before the crowd gathered in the temple? How her fear must have climaxed as she heard her sin announced aloud and the challenge to Jesus issued, 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?
Scant are the details the text shares with us concerning the woman save that she was married and had allowed herself to be sexually involved with someone other than her husband—neither of whom are with her now. She stands utterly alone with the Law of Moses, a law given to him by God, hanging over her head condemning her to death for her sin. A cold, inflexible law without a shred of mercy or forgiveness in its bloodless veins.
The Verdict
Likewise, we are not told if the woman knew of Jesus or had ever seen or heard him. Who was this man they had dragged her before that her fate perhaps lay in his reply to their challenge? That she was guilty of the charge she well knew. That, as a woman she had often felt helpless before the whims of stern-faced men and considered “lesser” she was likely all too familiar with as well. Faint must have been her hope in the young rabbi before whom they had brought her. She utters not a word.
Jesus, well aware of the motives of those who have sought to trap him into denying the Law remains silent, choosing instead to write in the dust of the ground at his feet. Like you, I wonder what he wrote. Was it simply idle scribbling? I cannot believe it for there is nothing the Master does that is absent of purpose. I like to think that perhaps, given their reference to the Law of Moses he reminds them, by writing out that law that they are one individual short: 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. (Leviticus 20:10)
In his silence, Jesus offers them time to consider what they are doing, a divine opportunity to hear God’s voice written on their hearts and spoken through the soft utterance of their conscience. It is to no avail. They press for an answer. They demand one. They sense they have Jesus cornered. He must either condemn the woman or he himself would stand condemned. The time given to them by our Lord for reflection did them no good. They were too eager to put him away and pressed all the harder for an answer. And so he gives them one: He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
It is an uncomfortable thing to stand behind the letter of the Law but find yourself far from the Spirit of the God who authored that Law. For as Saint Paul rightfully put it, “…the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor 3:6) The letter of the Law would kill the woman that the sin in her might be slain. The Spirit of God would slay the sin that the woman might be made alive.
Again, Jesus stoops to write on the ground, allowing his silence to work in harmony with his words to pierce their hardened hearts. He is in no hurry.
It is the older ones that are the first to leave, their length of years perhaps yielding a deeper awareness of the countless wrongs they’ve done over the course of a lifetime. One by one those with beam-filled eyes depart until none of the accusers remain. He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.
And who is it, save Jesus himself, who stands sinless in their midst? By his own words the Incarnate God alone is qualified to condemn the woman, to throw stones at her that will break her bones and crush her body. But he is her maker and she his child—and will yet grow to become his daughter in the fullest sense of the word. No, it is not by stones that he will free her from sin’s grasp. It is by unfailing, ever-persevering, ever-redeeming love no matter how long or what forms may be needful for love to take.
“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.”
Mercy, that necessary and essential component of justice has come to her in the face of Jesus Christ. Our Lord tells her plainly that he does not condemn her. Neither does his Father for Jesus has come to show us his Father’s heart. And God’s heart is not one of condemnation but the tenderest, fiercest love.
Do not misunderstand. Sin is a terrible evil with awful consequences and leads to death. Yet God would have us possess sound understanding. As shared by author Michael Phillips, “Sin…is now placed in its proper perspective—as a curse from which we must be freed, a virus from which we must be healed, a stumbling-block to childness which we must be empowered to conquer…not a capital crime for which we must be eternally punished.”
Like the woman in our story, each of us is guilty of sin. Caught in the very act. Even so, God does not condemn us. For no sin that we have done will we be condemned. Our condemnation is self-inflicted when we stubbornly refuse to forsake the sin we will not abandon to come to Jesus that we might share his life.
© Michael Kimball 2018 (This writing may be freely copied in its entirety without prior permission from the author.)