In chapters 8 & 9 of John we see the revelation of Jesus as the light of life. Tonight we will see that light revealed in the first 11 verses of John 8. Here’s a general overview of these 11 verses.
Jesus reveals Himself as the Light of Life. Tonight we will see man being gripped by sin in two ways—first, by the woman taken in adultery and secondly by the hypocritical religionists. Man is pictured as being critical, condemning, self-righteous, and adulterous. Every single person is sinful.
In the woman, man is seen as adulterous and guilty—living a life of darkness, without purpose and meaning and significance. In the religionists, man is seen as deceitful, critical, condemning, selfish, self-righteous, and loaded with guilt.
Not a single religionist is seen to be free from the darkness of sin. 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.
Tonight we will see a picture of Jesus. We’ll see man’s dark guilt, man’s dark nature. But in the end we will see the great revelation that Jesus alone has the right to condemn and forgive.
READ 1-2. Here is a glimpse of Jesus’ life. We see a contrast of Jesus’ quiet and worshipful life with the turbulent and judgmental lives of the religionist. Things were quite turbulent from Jesus standing and crying out during the FEAST. Now Jesus is drawn within the turbulence to calm it all down. We, too, can contrast a Christian life that should be quiet and worshipful as contrasted with a turbulent world. As a Christian, can you say you live a quiet and worshipful life, separated from the turbulent world?
You might note the secret to Jesus’ calm and peace—He got alone with God. He often went off into the mount of Olives to be alone with God. It was a favorite spot of His, a place where He could be alone with God and His disciples, a place of quietness where God could meet with Him face to face, strengthening and encouraging Him.
Note also that Jesus began His teaching early in the morning. The Greek for the words “gathered” and “teaching” are continuous action. The people kept coming to Jesus and He kept teaching them. His mission in life was that of worshipping God and teaching and ministering to people. Jesus is showing us how we should all walk through life; worshipping God, teaching and ministering to people. When you think about it, everyone needs to be taught and everyone needs the ministry of others during the trials of life.
READ 3-6. Man’s guilt and sin are pictured in all the parties involved.
1. There was the guilt of the woman and some unknown man. They were both guilty of the serious sin of adultery, a sin that affects so many lives. Under Jewish law it was considered so serious that the parties were to be stoned to death. My question is, “What happened to the man who was with the woman?” The sin speaks to the sin of every person.
- The sin was a work of darkness. Most all sin is done under the cover of darkness. An attempt is made to hide it from wife, husband, mother, father, employer, classmate, or colleague.
- This man and woman thought what we all often think—that their sin would never be discovered—that no one would ever find out. But they overlooked two things that we all ignore; in most cases, sin has been discovered, and sin is always seen by God.
- The sin took place at the time of the feast, where the atmosphere was party-like and where men and women were brought together by drinking and dancing and the indulgence of the crowd. That type of atmosphere will even corrupt those with the best intentions and the highest morals.
2. We also see in this passage the guilt of some witnesses, some people who were offended by the woman in particular. Jewish law required two witnesses to convict a person. It is very unlikely that the woman and her male companion were seen by the religionists. They wouldn’t have been in such a defiled atmosphere. The Pharisees and Scribes were too strict in their rules.
Some believe that the religionists had some scoundrels set a trap for the woman in order to drag her before Jesus to trap Him. However, this is unlikely because plotting a sin of the flesh doesn’t fit in with the nature of the Pharisees and Scribes. We have to give them SOME credit. Their sins were more of the spirit, much deeper, but less visible and less condemning to the public.
The point is this: the witnesses who caught the woman in the act of adultery were great sinners as well.
- They were vindictive and revengeful. They wanted to get back at her. She was publicly exposed. She should have been held in custody in some private place until judgment was passed, but she was unmercifully dragged before the public to expose her sin and to shame and punish her. Why? Apparently she had hurt her husband or some loved one so much that he struck out at her. Public exposure was his way to strike back at her. Are you familiar with the reality show “Cheaters?” Same thing.
- As I said already, the man who committed adultery with her wasn’t exposed. Why? He could have escaped before they grabbed him. He could have been an official that was feared or he could have bought off his accusers. He could have been released because, as is the case in so many societies, misbehavior or sin by men was more acceptable than by women.
3. Then there was the guilt of the religionists AND the public. When the accusers dragged the woman to the religionists, people all along the way joined in, as the case so often is. The religionists saw a chance to test Jesus, so they took the woman before Him, hoping to discredit Him
- If Jesus said the woman wasn’t guilty, He would be breaking Jewish law and be leaving Himself open to the charge of being too lenient with sin.
- If Jesus said the woman was guilty and should be killed, He would be breaking Roman law which didn’t consider adultery a sin worthy of death. He would also be criticized as lacking mercy and love, or compassion and forgiveness.
Let’s note several things about the dark nature of man seen in theses religionists and in the crowd who joined in the public exposure.
a. First, the sinful spirit was among all these involved. And this same sinful spirit will affect us the same way. If our spirit is:
- self-righteousness then we will lack forgiveness
- criticism then we will lack love
- judging then we will lack compassion
- censoring then we will lack understanding
- condemning then we will lack sympathy
- punishing then we will lack restoration
b. There was hypocrisy. They felt and claimed that they were religious. They felt they were better than the woman. They felt that they were free from any sin serious enough to be exposed. They even used Scripture to condemn HER sin and TO SUPPORT their right to condemn her.
c. There was a complete failure in loving your neighbor as yourself—a complete failure to do what we all need sometime, to be embraced and pulled out of the sin and hurt that grips us. There was a complete failure to be quiet and talk only to the one caught in the sin and to set out a ministry of restoration and reconciliation to God and man. Any comments so far?
Now let’s talk just a little about Jesus writing in the sand. Many questions arise from this, one being what did He write? That’s not important. What IS important is that Jesus ignored sinful man as long as He could. He bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger, saying nothing. He was silent for a long time.
We’re not told why Jesus stooped in silence or what He wrote on the ground. Some commentators say it was to allow Him to think through the situation. Some say it was to force the accusers to repeat the charges. By doing so, they and the public would begin to see and sense their lack of compassion. Still some say that He wrote Scripture or some of the sins of those standing around, hoping to convict them.
All these suggestions make good sermon topics, but the important thing to note is that Jesus ignored them in all their sinful, critical, self-righteous, hypocritical spirit. But He ignored them only for a time telling us that Jesus will not ignore nor allow sin to go on forever. He will arise, face it, and judge it.
READ 7-9. The woman was guilty of a very serious sin. The law said she was to be condemned to death. Her accusers and the people were right, legally justified in their charge. If they were to be stopped from killing her, something phenomenal would have to happen. It did in verse 7. READ. No man is without sin. Every one of the men standing there knew it, and every one of them was convicted within his conscience. They all left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone.
Jesus said that stones could be thrown at the sinner, but only by those who was without sin. The only one there who could have thrown a stone was Jesus. Now let’s meddle. Throwing stones is not based on how much Scripture you know, or how great your calling or gift is, or on the position you might have. It is based on moral goodness and perfection, and no person has achieved that. Think about that the next time you want to throw a stone.
READ 10-11. Here’s the great revelation. Jesus alone has the right to condemn and forgive. The picture of the woman is a picture of every person. When it comes to sin and judgment, every person stands alone before Christ. They stand naked and stripped of all righteousness because there are none righteous.
There are no accusers left in this crowd. No man can condemn the woman nor anyone else. The only righteousness and the only perfection, the only One who is not guilty of sin, is Christ and Christ alone.
He alone is worthy to stand in judgment. But here’s the good news for the woman and for us as well.
1. Jesus didn’t condemn her but gave her a second chance. There’s our example. Jesus said if someone sins against you even 7 times, forgive them.
2. Jesus wanted to forgive and did forgive.
3. Lastly, Jesus challenged, but also warned, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Stop your sinning—make a clean break right now—do it no more. The warning is clear: repentance is essential for forgiveness.
So in all this we see the revelation of Jesus as the light of life. Only He has the power to judge and forgive. So the next time you catch yourself judging someone by the way they dress, or speak, or teach, or sing, or pray, or whatever, ask yourself, “What right do I have?”
