Sat, Nov 1st - 4:16AM
Book of John Chapter 8
In chaptter 8 Jesus reveals Himself to be the Light of life. Man is viewed as gripped by sin. Man is pictured as being critcal, condemnatory, self-righteous, and adulterous. In the woman taken in adultery man is seen as adulterous and guilty; living a life of darkness without purpose and meaning and significance. In the hypocritical religionists man is seen as deceitful, critical, condemnatory, selfish, self-righteous, and loaded with guilt. Jesus reveals Himself to be the Light of the World, the One who brings liberty, forgiveness, purpose, meaning, and significance to the life of man.
"Jesus went to the mount of Olives. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in their midst, They said to Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned: but what do You say? They said this tempting Him, that they might have excuse to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He had not heard them. So when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. And He again stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard Him, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus stood up and saw none but the woman He said to her, Woman, where are your accusers? has no man condemned you? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more." (8:1-11)
Here we are given a picture. Jesus quiet and worshipful life versus the turbulent and judgmental lives of the religionists. Jesus is drawn within the turbulence to calm, settle, and even leaven it. We can apply this picture as being drawn of the Christian life as quiet and worshipful versus a turbulent and judgmental world. What was Jesus' calm and peace? He got alone to be with God. He often went to the mount of Olives to be alone with God. It was a place where He could be alone with God and His disciples, a place of quiet. Jesus began teaching early in the morning. People kept coming to Him and He kept teaching them. He demonstrated how our ministry ought to be. Each of us ought to be worshipping God, teaching and ministering to people. Everyone needs to be taught.
We are also given the example of the guilt of the woman and some unknown man to picture man's guilt and sin. Both people were guilty of the sin of adultery, a sin that today affects so many lives. Under Jewish law the punishment was death by stoning.(Leviticus 10:10). All sin is a work of darkness. Most sin is actually done under the cover of darkness as an attempt to hide it from wife, husband, mother, father, employer, or friends. Most people who commit sin, thinking that no one will ever find out, are found out. Especially today where so many people have smartphones in hand every where they go. God always sees the sin being committed. In this case, the adultery took place at the time of the Feast, where the atmosphere was very party-like and men and women were brought together by drinking and dancing. Temptation filled the very air.
Perhaps there were some witnesses of the sexual act who were offended by the woman particularly. Jewish law required two witnesses in order to convict a person. It is highly unlikely that the religionists witnessed the adultery taking place, they would not have been in such a "defiled atmosphere." Did the Pharisees and scribes hire some scoundrel to trap this woman? Again, most unlikely since plotting a sin of the flesh does not fit in wih the nature of these religionists. Their sins were more of the spirit, much much deeper, but less visible to the general public.
The reality here is that the two witnesses were themselves great sinners. They wanted to publicly expose her. She was unmercifully dragged before the public to expose her sin, to shame and humiliate her while trying to use her to entrap Jesus. Why wasn't the man who was also guilty of adultery not exposed? Perhaps he escaped. Perhaps he bought off his potential accusers. Perhaps he was someone to be feared. Perhaps he was released because sin by men was more acceptable than by women.
So here is the woman dragged out into the public eye to be brought before Jesus. If Jesus said the woman was not guilty He would be breaking Jewish law and be leaving Himself open to the charge of being too lenient wth sin. If Jesus said the woman was guilty and should be killed, He would be breaking Roman law which did not consider adultery a sin worthy of death. He would also be criticized as lacking mercy and love, compasion and forgiveness. Please recognize several things about the nature of man that are revealed in this passage. There was a spirit of self-righteousness that lacked forgiveness, of criticism that lacked love, of judging that lacked compassion, of censoring that lacked understanding, of condemning that lacked sympathy, of punishing that lacked restoration, of savagery that lacked curing, of destroying that lacked the second chance. There was hypocrisy. These men felt that they were better than this woman, free from any sin serious enough to be exposed. None of thm "loved their neighbor as thyself." They failed to embrace and pull the woman from out of the sin and hurt gripping her. They should have set about a ministry of restoration and reconciliation to God and man.
Jesus did ignore these men for awhile. But then He arose, faced their sin, and judged it. This woman was guilty of a very serious sin and the people were "legally" justified to stone her. They all needed to be corrected and rebuked. "He that is without sin throw the first stone." No person is without sin. Jesus never told them they couldn't throw stones and kill her. He simply placed a limitation on throwing the stones. Throwing stones is based upon moral goodness and perfection, and no person has ever achieved that.
Thus we arrive at the revelation that only Jesus has the right to condemn and forgive people. This woman is everyone. Each of us stands before Jesus naked and stripped of all righteousness. There are no accusers among men. Christ Jesus aone is worthy to stand in judgment. But we still must note this:
1. Jesus did not condemn, but gave a second chance.
2. Jesus wished to forgive and did forgive.
3. Jesus challenged but warned: Go, and sin no more.
The warning is clear to all of us: repentance is essential for forgiveness. (John 5:14; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:12; I Corinthians 15:34). Before we begin "throwing stones" at people we had better do some self-examination of ourselves first.
Next time we consider mankind's great need.
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Name: Eric Rajaniemi
