John 8: 1- 12
I Thought It Took Two To Tango
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
As we begin this study I want you to be aware that some manuscripts start off this chapter by saying this, “And they went every man to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives’. For me I do not think that this is any sort of a big deal. After the incidents we read regarding our Lord Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders and the local people, we see that everyone went back to where they were staying. If you lived in Jerusalem you went home. Our Lord did not have a home in Jerusalem so He went to the Mount of Olives to camp out. The Mount had trees to protect from the possibility of inclement weather.
I do pick up one thing that I want to mention before moving on. We are going to read about the woman who was caught in adultery. Now to make this point somewhat pure I would like to say and I think you would agree that it takes two people to dance the Tango. In other words it takes a couple to commit adultery. The question to be asked as we look at this situation is ‘where is the guy?’ What is not shared with us by our Precious Holy Spirit is something which is quite obvious. The religious leaders went and planned to entrap our Lord Jesus by setting up this sinful sexual act. They must have picked a ladies’ man that was able to influence some other man’s wife to have this affair.
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
Back in chapter 1 John under the guidance of our Precious Holy Spirit wrote about the God being the ‘light’ needed for all mankind to be able to see. It is so important that I want for us to read it again so I can bring out a significant fact.
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
In the last chapter we read how the Pharisees argued that no prophet came from Galilee. Apparently these so called scholars must have missed the classes studying the book of Isaiah. For we read in Isaiah 9.1-2 this, “1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. “
It might seem that I am skipping to the end of this Scripture passage to show you the words our Lord Jesus Christ Who declares, “12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Yet it may be that the Scripture stating ‘early in the morning’ is to be seen as significant. As a Galilean our Lord Jesus has come to bring men from darkness into daylight in accordance with the words of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 9, where ‘Galilee of the nations’ is made glorious in the fact that ‘the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light’. Thus it may be being suggested that the early light was not for those who were of the Judean religious establishment, but were for the poor and the meek and the spiritual.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
The point that I made earlier about - where is the man - maybe that he managed to escape from their clutches when they caught the pair, but it is certainly equally possible that they were not really interested in the man, and that he may even have been one of themselves. To them he was irrelevant for he would not serve their purpose, which was not to promote righteousness but to try to show up our Lord Jesus.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
The purpose in their question was not to learn. All really knew what the correct answer was. The purpose was to test Him so that they could accuse Him. If He agreed that she should be stoned as the Law required then He could be accused before the Romans of encouraging disobedience to the Roman law which did not allow the Jews to inflict the death penalty in such a case. If He said otherwise they could accuse Him of disregarding the law of Moses, which would denigrate Him as a prophet in the eyes of the fiercely patriotic people.
Eye witnesses were in fact necessary before bringing a charge of adultery so it was important that she was ‘caught in the act’. The fact that the woman was seen as worthy of stoning may suggest that she was betrothed. If she had been married her punishment would be death by strangling.
Clearly our Lord’s action was intended to calm things down and to take all eyes off the unfortunate woman. At first I am sure the Jewish leaders probably thought that He did it because He was trapped and was playing for time.
We see here that our Lord Jesus’ immediate response was to stoop down and write with His finger on the ground. There is no record of the things He wrote. We will see that the men standing around with rocks in their hands observed what the Lord wrote and wound up leaving from the oldest to the youngest. It is very possible that our Lord wrote down sinful incidents that each accuser had done previously. I believe that our Lord must have glanced up at a certain guy and started writing this particular person’s sin down. When the man saw that the writing pertained to him, he dropped his stones and walked away.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.
They continued to ask Him. ‘Did you hear what we are asking You? Well, what answer do you have? Then He got up off the ground and faced them. He straightens up and looks around at all of them. I am sure some of them started backing up. So, you want an answer from Me do you? Okay, here is My answer. ‘Anyone among you who has never broken the Law should cast the first stone for if you ever have broken the law then you also need the same thing done to you.”
If you were one of the men there all worked up to frenzy and heard this words what would you do? Suppose you threw a rock. One of the other guys might say, ‘Hey Stan you also did this same thing last month.’
” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground
I find it interesting that when a person points his finger at someone three fingers are pointing back at you. But please notice our Lord Is pointing His finger in the dirt which all of mankind in made out of. His three fingers are pointing in possible two directions. One at the person He Is writing on the ground about or it is possible that His fingers are pointing out towards Heaven. Remember what our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 3, “18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
He will soon comment that He Is The Light Of The World. Without Him all mankind is in the dark. How can anyone in the dark be a judge over someone else?
In the Gospel of Luke we see this point highlighted by our Lord Jesus. We read in chapter 6 verse 37, ““Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
We read that the eldest was the first to leave. They above all were aware that they dare not claim to be without sin, and perhaps they were a little ashamed and even the more aware of their own guilt. The younger hotheads took a little longer, but in the end they too realized that they had no choice. They accepted the verdict of their elders and also left, leaving the woman ‘alone’ without any accusers.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
Our Lord stands up again but this time faces the woman. He looked around. He of all had the right to judge her. Put yourself in the position of the woman. Were you looking around? Were you now looking at our Great Master Jesus, or would your head be bowed before Him in shame?
Our Precious Loving and Merciful God asks her to consider the law. You see once the witnesses had withdrawn their testimony the case was legally closed. It was the witnesses who had to cast the first stones. If there were no eyewitnesses there could be no stoning.
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
She replies, ‘no man, Lord’. Here her ‘Lord’ means a respectful and grateful ‘Sir’. It does not mean that suddenly she knows Him as her Lord and Savior. It is probable that John intends us to see in Him the Lord of glory.
The rightful Judge now gives His verdict - ‘Neither do I condemn you.’ His mercy, however, is tinged with a warning, ‘go your way, and from now on sin no more.’ His forgiveness is not to be seen as a license to sin, or as her act was made less of an offense. It is rather an offer of a new beginning to a repentant woman. None in the crowd can doubt that He has not condoned the sin.
The story has an ageless beauty. Jesus did not step back one iota from the standards of purity set by His Father, yet at the same time He has turned the tables on those who are taking the inventory of the sins of others but ignoring their own sins. Nor does He excuse the woman, even though He has shown remarkable concern for her position. On the other hand He also recognizes that she shares the weaknesses of mankind. One mistake can be forgiven. It will be a different matter if she makes a practice of it.
Only our Great and Holy Lord Jesus could have carried this situation off in this way, for He was without sin. That is why He can speak to the woman as He does. Not for one moment does He wish to convey the idea that her sin is unimportant, nor is He saying that as we all sin we can be lax with each other and not be too concerned about sin. Rather He is stressing that we are all guilty. ‘Do not sin again’ would apply equally to the Pharisees, and to us. And while the account also tells us that forgiveness for sin is available, it is important to notice that it is not for habitual sin.
John closes his remembrance of this action by our Lord as an example of the light He brought into the world and shining before and on men. Those who refused to receive the light walked away back into their darkness. But others like the woman were responsive to that light and received it.
It is also a stepping stone to what our Lord Jesus will say later to those men insistent on attacking Him - ‘you judge after the flesh. I judge no man’. For in this incident the judgment of the Pharisees has been shown to be lacking, while, without appearing to judge, His judgment is shown to have been true and recognized by all. He does not need to judge, the light of His life and teaching does the judging for Him. But He will certainly judge in the last day.
