John 8:3-11, The Woman Caught in Adultery Continued

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

I once asked my son, “Since Jesus was tasked by the Father to fulfill the law, and the penalty in the law for adultery was the death penalty, then why did he not have the woman stoned to death?” His perceptive answer was “Because he died in her place on the cross for her sin. He took the penalty for her. That way he could fulfill the requirements of the law.” This fact should cause all of us to take pause and consider what Jesus does for all of us. He takes the penalty for us. He dies in our place.

Faced with this intentional trap set for him set by the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus bending down to write on the ground with his finger is a curious response. This is the only instance in the gospels of Jesus writing something. We cannot help but be reminded that God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone with his finger. What Jesus wrote is unclear but his response to these men is not: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” The witness and accuser of this crime is supposed to be the one who throws the first stone. He, in this case since only one woman is present in this misogynistic affair, is required to have neither connived in any way in this sin nor intentionally held back in preventing it. Since this person is not identified and the male participant is conspicuously absent, it is possible that this group helped frame the woman to test Jesus, meaning they were guilty of sin. It could be some reference to their sin that Jesus wrote on the ground. We simply do not know.

Slowly the men depart in response to Jesus’ permission to stone her, beginning with the older men, who have lived long enough to know they are sinners indeed, unlike some younger men still caught in the allusion of their own self-righteousness. The only one remaining is the only man who has never sinned, and he says to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” As John Stott writes, “Here is the miracle of the grace of God. There is no greater wonder than this. . . . In this sentence, and in the heart of mercy which lay behind it, is all our hope and all our salvation for ever.” Jesus calls her to a new obedience, and she walks away a forgiven woman known and saved by her Creator.

This story is a snapshot of the gospel. It is brilliant in its composition, intrigue, and depth of meaning. How do you see God working in your life the same way? How do you see yourself walking away free after being told to go and sin no more? How do you apply it to yourself? I don’t know about you, but this is the God-man I want judging me on the great day of judgment at the end of time.

Father God, I confess I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. I have offended your holy laws, not loving you with my whole heart or my neighbor as myself. I repent. For the sake of your Son, Jesus, have mercy upon me, forgive me my sins, and help me ever to walk in the way of Jesus, my Savior. Amen.