I love the teaching of Jesus found in John 8:1-11. Commonly known as the story of the woman caught in adultery, this story delves into what it truly means to be forgiven of sin and restored in the sight of God.
The story starts with Jesus teaching in the temple in the morning to a crowd of eager listeners. Soon, a commotion overpowers His words. Jewish religious leaders known as scribes and Pharisees are dragging a woman into the room, shouting and making a scene. They approach Jesus directly, rudely interrupting Him, and claim that this woman was "caught in the act" of commiting adultery. Then, they remind Jesus that the law of Moses (Leviticus 20:10) required that she be stoned to death for the "crime" of adultery. What do you have to say about this, Jesus?
These guys thought that they were being slick with their intent. If they could trap Jesus into speaking against the law of Moses (surely He wouldn't condone the death penalty for this) then they could reduce His influence and maybe even shut Him up once and for all. But their plan didn't work. In fact, it was an epic fail.
You see, this story really isn't about the proper punishment for a crime or even about adultery. It's about an incredible forgiveness that only comes from the Savior Himself. Let's break this down a little further to see the progression forgiveness takes.
First, this woman was caught in her sin. The circumstances surrounding her being discovered weren't the most wholesome in themselves - were these men spying on her in order to catch her in the act? How did they know she was involved in such a thing? Yet here she is, thrust into the middle of a group of religious leaders with her shame exposed for the world to see. Since she was caught in the very act of adultery, it's possible she didn't even have time to get fully dressed when they dragged her away to Jesus.
Just as this woman could have been standing there physically exposed, her sin was fully exposed as well. Of course the crowd now knew of what she had done, but their knowledge isn't what's important. We can't hide anything from God but we try all the time. However, once we are confronted with what we've done we all must stand before God with our sin fully exposed before Him. Here this woman stood, her life in shambles and her current marriage certainly over. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. And to make matters worse, she was being judged in the court of public opinion. Sin always carries with it devastating consequences that often are magnified at the moment of our sin's impact.
But then this is where the story gets good. Really good. As this woman and all her accusers stood before Jesus, He did something very unusual. He stooped. I believe He did so because He didn't want to align Himself with this woman's accusers, all who were standing there to enact an unholy agenda. Then He began to write on the ground as if He were oblivious to the crowd before Him. The Bible doesn't tell us what He wrote, but there is a good chance He could have written the words of Leviticus 21:10 in the dirt. You see, this verse says that when a man and woman are caught in adultery, they both must be brought before to face their judgment. In this instance, these religious leaders only brought the woman, therefore blatantly disregarding the law themselves and further revealing their shameful motives.
The crowd of accusers became restless, and they persisted in demanding that Jesus render some kind of opinion. It was then that He stood up and uttered an amazing statement: "The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her." Don't you love what happened next? Jesus stooped back down and wrote some more in the dirt, again refusing to be part of their hateful scheme. Each man, starting with the oldest, dropped their stones and walked away. Confronted with their own sin they refused to come clean before God that day, instead choosing to walk away from confession and repentance to continue in their immoral lifestyles. The only ones left were Jesus and the woman, the original sinner.
After the crowd left, Jesus stood again. Did you get that? He stood up. Beside the woman. As her advocate. You see, when Jesus comes to our defense before the Father, He is always pictured as standing (see Acts 7:56 when He rose to stand at the right hand of God to welcome Stephen into heaven). And then Jesus looked into her eyes and told her that He didn't condemn her. Instead, He forgave her. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Only forgiveness. The woman was admonished to go and sin no more, words that could only come from One who has already offered His forgiveness.
Did you catch the progression of forgiveness? It starts with being caught in sin and then having it exposed. Jesus didn't condone the woman's sin, yet He also wasn't interested in the world's condemnation of her either. He knew she sinned and by standing before Him she was acknowledging it too. But that's exactly the point in time when Jesus stands beside us and offers us forgiveness. Mercy there is great and grace is free. The religious leaders walked away from it. This sinful woman embraced it. And for all of us Jesus freely offers it.
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