Thoughts on Jesus & the Adulterous Woman in John 8

So I preached in our youth service last night and wrote a bunch of stuff down. My notes kind of went out the window when I started talking, but I thought they were worth sharing anyway.


You should probably read John 8 before reading this, cause this kind of picks up in me trying to understand the context of the incident with the adulterous woman..

__________________________

This took place during a Jewish festival, everyone and their mother was in Jerusalem. Jesus had actually been mocked by his siblings to go:

“and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.”13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.

14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.” - John 7:3-15


He was literally risking his life being around, being part of the very festival that he said he wouldn’t attend. He was tuned into God’s timing for his life and he was so obedient regardless of the pressure around him or people speaking about him without knowing who he was. — They literally didn’t know his life. So what did they do? They put his character to the test by placing a sinful woman in front of him. Would he be a man of the people and defend her? Would he condemn her publicly and sentence her to death? No matter what he said he was trapped. Even though the law stated she should be stoned, in their eyes he didn’t have the authority to condemn her, and denying her sin was unthinkable. So what did he do? He wrote on the ground.

I have heard it said that when Jesus was writing on the ground he was writing down all the ways that he could accuse the accusers — he was writing down their own sins. This is just a rumor, but really the only person in the crowd that had the authority to condemn this woman was Jesus. He is the only one in that crowd that knew the Father, the Father they all claimed to know and want to please, but they didn’t know him either.

By saying that “he who has no sin” should throw the first stone, he was demonstrating the way everyone else in that place was not qualified to judge her. He was the only sinless one in the crowd, but instead of bringing condemnation he brought the light. He didn’t bring death, he brought life. He showed just how profoundly different he was and is from the rulers of this world, even from the accusers all around us. Because people don’t have to be Pharisees to be accusers. They could be family members or classmates, so called friends, or teachers, people of influence in our lives, or even ourselves. Our default way of dealing with failure and sin is to accuse, and that actually has a lot less to do with Jesus than it does with the enemy himself. Jesus even pointed this out to the people he was with:

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. 37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”

39 “Our father is Abraham!” they declared.

“No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example. 40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41 No, you are imitating your real father.”

They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”

42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” John 8:35-47


So who are we looking like? How do we respond to the sin and failure around us? I will be the first to say that the church has more often look like the accuser than like the Redeemer, we more often join in labeling and shaming people than picking them up and empowering them to sin no more. If we were to objectively look at our lifestyles, who’s children would we be? Our worst failure as so-called people of God is failing to agree with what He has said and who He is in favor of feeding our own self-righteousness and showing off our own goodness. What would happened if we cared more about actually being obedient to God than seeming right in front of our friends or our church? What would happen if we changed our focus from the crowd to the Father? — that’s where Jesus was looking the whole time, not to the masses or to the accusers but to the will of the Father because his only occupation was to be a good son.

Are we good sons and daughters? — I know you want to say yes, but perhaps the more important question is whose son or daughter are you? Who do you look like? Perhaps some of us need to repent because we are no longer in the woman’s shoes, we have joined the crowds forgetting that we are just as guilty as the person we are wanting to label and stone. I know I’ve been there, and I’ve had my own battles with self-righteousness, where I have been surprised that I wanted to be more religious than Jesus. Jesus is not religious, he is just plain good and just plain holy. What he does is far beyond being reduced to a religion, it is a dangerous lifestyle that leads to many enemies, but also to so much restoration and so much of God that it can only be possible by God’s own power. It’s different, this Christianity thing, it’s not about even imitating other Christians, it’s that we would all spur each other to look more like Jesus not like some cultural icon or an instagram account.

That’s my prayer today and always: God, make me like Jesus! Keep me from the trap of religion and accusation! Help me to fix my gaze on you and not on the crowds (the people around me). I want to burn, I want to proclaim truth even to the point that others become uncomfortable, because that’s the kind of obedience Jesus had and that is who I want to be!