Were taking snapshots of Jesus life and
digging deep to learn what we can about out own lives. First we
saw in the picture a woman who had been perhaps captured or bought
and raised to be a prostitute and we were somewhat overwhelmed by
the grace Jesus showed to her.
This week we look at another woman… also
involved in sexual sin but with a far different background.
John 8:1-11 NIV 1 But Jesus went to the
Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts,
where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach
them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a
woman caught in adultery.
I. Setting the Focus
Now don’t start clucking your tongue and
looking down your nose at this woman. Unlike the prostitute last
week this woman was probably much more like you and I. At some
point she was a young bride with great dreams about married life.
She dreamed of having a husband who (in spite of arranged
marriage) loved her and cared for her. She dreamed of having
children and raising a happy family together. She dreamed of them
all going to the synagogue together and worshipping God and her
children growing up to be Godly lineage like so many of those who
had gone before.
As a girl she studied the stories of
woman like Ruth in the Bible and admired her character and
integrity. She knew that when she grew up she would be just like
Ruth or Easter or maybe she would save her country like Deborah
prophesy like Miriam.
But things didn’t turn out the way the
young girl had planned. Her husband didn’t turn out to meet all
her expectations. Perhaps he didn’t give her the attention she
craved, maybe he took her for granted, maybe she wasn’t able to
have the children she so wanted or maybe when she did they didn’t
turn out like she had dreamed.
For what ever reason her guard went down
and one day she met another man who seemed to care more about her
than her husband did. It was all quite innocent at first; a
compliment, a listening ear; and then one day it crossed the line.
A touch that was just a little to long and a little caressing,
maybe the sharing of a little secret that the other had no right
to know. Both knew they had crossed a line…both knew the danger to
their reputations, their future, and because of God’s Law, even to
their very lives.
Observation:
All sin is a result of wrong choices… little
choices to commit little sins will inevitably lead to bigger
choices to commit bigger sins.
At some point she had made a choice to
walk over the line, then run over the line into the arms of
another man. When she was in her secret world the drudgery of her
other life didn’t seem to exist. She thought about what the
possible effect could be on her children then forcefully
sacrificed the consequences of her sin on the altar of immediate
pleasure.
(Perhaps some of you are living there
right now) She knew this immediate pleasure would have devastating
consequences on her relationship with God… and it did… God was no
where to be found.
The first time she lied to her husband
about where she was going her heart was pounding until she was
sure he would sense she wasn’t telling the truth. Each time it
became easier.
Finally it just seemed so right. (How
could something be so wrong if it feels so right?)
The first time she went to the synagogue
after sleeping with another man she was sure the guilt would be
all over her face. She was sure everyone would know. She thought
God might strike her with a bolt of lightning…. He didn’t… the
people didn’t seem to notice. She even found herself able to smile
at her lover across the isle during the reading of the Scriptures.
II. Caught in the Shutter’s Eye
Then comes the night she feared the most.
She and her lover are together again for more times than they care
to count. The door smashes open! Men have been waiting outside…
and watching. Not only have people known what was taking place…
they have been secretly watching the action. She creams, she
cries, she begs for mercy. The unreal reality she has been living
in for so long is suddenly ripped away. All the excuses and
rationalizations for her sin suddenly don’t sound as logical as
they did when she ran them through her mind just before her next
secret meeting.
Observation : Our persistent sins always
seem so right when we have repeatedly excused their existence …
until we are backed into a corner and the fog in our mind is
ripped away.
As she is being dragged through the
streets of Jerusalem partially wrapped in her sheets, she thinks
she is going to die.
She knew the ten commandments:
"You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus
20:14 NIV)
She also knew the penalty in the Law:
Leviticus 20:10 NIV 10 "'If a man commits
adultery with another man's wife-- with the wife of his neighbor--
both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
The Romans had been trying to stop this
practice by imposing their laws over the Jewish Law but they
weren’t always successful or even around. Trust me, this
adulteresses life was flashing before her eyes.
She then discovers that not only is she
on her way to a brutal death of stoning but her death is being
used as propaganda to bring down a local Rabbi.
3b They made her stand before the group 4
and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of
adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now
what do you say?" 6 They were using this question as a trap, in
order to have a basis for accusing him.
What a tremendous twist in the story…
This raises all kinds of questions:
1) Where is the man that she was
committing adultery with?
2) If he was just let go does that mean
that they really had no concern about the adultery but were simply
interested in using it to bring Jesus down?
3) Did they pick on the woman because she
was the easiest bait?
4) Had they gotten to the boyfriend and
convinced him that he would get of scot- free if they could use
the woman to trap Jesus?
5) How long and how many times did the
men spend looking through the keyhole to verify this terrible sin?
What was sure is that they had Jesus in a
vise….If he was from God like he claimed, then he sure couldn’t
say the Ten Commandments didn’t matter. And these men had done
their homework. Leviticus 20 didn’t leave this woman with a
prayer. They didn’t leave the loophole of not reading the woman
her spiritual Miranda rights.
Deuteronomy 17:6-7 (NIV) 6 On the
testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death,
but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one
witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting
him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge
the evil from among you.
In order to pull this off these men each
had to plan how, then spend stakeout time at the side window to
document how the act was committed. They had to make sure that the
two weren’t just part of a book club. They said:
We caught her in the very act, not we
caught them; we caught her. They had Jesus against the ropes. He
had to support the law of Moses or he was a false prophet, if he
said to stone her he was in opposition to the law of the land.
Here was this very guilty woman,
trembling in fear, perhaps her husband and children, and close
friends on the edge of the crowd, shocked beyond belief.
The accusers, true to Scripture lean over
and pick up stones, others join in fitting just the right stone to
their palms…. Were they going to kill her… no question! She was
second away form the first stone thudding into here stomach,
followed by her face until she would mercifully loose
consciousness.
III. A stone in the hand is
worth…?
Before you get to ticked off at these
guys you need to ask yourself:
1) Have they said anything so far that is
factually wrong?
2) Have they followed the rules in
exposing this woman’s sin?
3) Have they done anything wrong in the
process?
Apparently Jesus thinks so…. He so often
draws a line between:
Sins of the Flesh- obvious sins we all
notice particularly in everyone else
Sins of the Spirit- sins we often simply
excuse in ourselves but were so offensive to Jesus. Sins like
pride, arrogance, self- righteousness, judgmentalism.. This is
Simon the Pharisee in last weeks story of the prostitute, clean on
the outside… filthy on the inside.
Based on this account we need to make an
observation…
Observation: It’s possible to be a “sins
of the flesh” exposer, have our hands full of stones, and be so,
so sinful ourselves.
In the Bible the people who were guilty
of the sins of the flesh usually ran to Jesus for help and Jesus
was ready to forgive and wash their sins away. There seemed to
always be a healthy supply of others who were proud, and
self-righteous who thought it was fine to love God and hate
everyone else and Jesus went after them with a fury. There sin was
just as bad as the people they were accusing and they were too
blind to realize they had any sin at all!
Their spiritual power filled them with
contempt for those they saw as weak. They became as addicted to a
cold heart as this woman was to her secret lover and their sin was
just as black as hers.
What stones do you have in your hand
right now?
I grew up in a church system that
emphasized rules for living. I watched one’s spirituality be
gauged by their ability to follow the rules. If someone’s kid
strayed, everyone reached down to pick up stones. If someone did
anything outside the rulebook everyone got their stone ready, got
their feet planted and got ready to “defend the faith”. As I got
older I discovered that some of these faith defenders had some of
the most ungodly attitudes imaginable, but they could ignore the
“sins of the spirit” as long as they didn’t stray into any “sins
of the flesh.”
Observation: Our stones may be highly
polished but they will kill just the same.
From Phillip Yancey’s book- What’s so
Amazing about Grace: A prostitute came to me in wretched straits,
homeless, sick unable to buy food for her two year old daughter.
Through sobs and tears she told me she had been renting out her
two year old daughter. She made more renting out her daughter for
one hour than she could make all night. She had to do it, she
said, to support her drug habit. I ask if she had ever thought of
going to church for help. Church, she cried, why would I ever go
there? I already feel bad enough about myself… they would just
make me feel worse.
Why is it that people felt so comfortable
running to Jesus with their sin, no matter how awful, but they
were so apt to run away from those who claimed to love God and
follow him closely? Is that still true? Jesus was a sinner magnet!
So there they stand, this woman waiting
to die, her accuser with stones in their hands, and this man
Jesus. “What do you say?” they ask.
But Jesus bent down and started to write
on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning
him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is
without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
Only time in Scripture Jesus is said to
have written anything. What was he writing? Maybe he was doing a
Columbo routine to throw the accusers off track. Roman law said
that a sentence needed to be in writing before it could be carried
out. Maybe he was writing out Lev. 20:10, as the woman’s sentence.
I doubt it…Jesus didn’t come to condemn the lost…He came to seek
and save the lost! I’m guessing he was writing the sins down of
the accusers:
pride, arrogance, self-righteousness,
judgmentalism..
Then he stand up and agrees with Moses
Law: O.K.…go ahead and stone her!
Oh…one more thing… let the person who has
no sin throw the first stone
Thud, thud, thud
9 At this, those who heard began to go
away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was
left, with the woman still standing there.
Again I ask you, what stones do you need
to drop? If Jesus were to write out your sins in the sand what
would that do to the stones you have ready to throw at others for
their sin?
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her,
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
Jesus isn’t really asking where they
are…he’s making a point. You and your accusers aren’t so
different. You’re a broken sinner, now they are realizing that
they too are broken sinners. For all their perceived spiritual
superiority, you’re all in the same boat.
Is their not a single stone thrower to
let you have it?
11 "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither
do I condemn you," Jesus declared.
Oh, and just one more thing….
11b "Go now and leave your life of sin."
He doesn’t pass over her sin any more
than he does ours. His words fill her with remorse because she
realizes that every sordid moment of her affair is known to Him.
His words fill her with hope because she realizes this Man thinks
believes she can be forgiven. His words fill her with faith
because she knows she has a future. His words will ring in her
mind all the rest of her life…
When temptation again crosses her path:
Go and sin no more.
When she gives her testimony to others
she will stress Jesus words: Go and sin no more!
When she warns her children not to follow
her path to sin, she would stress the point to them over and over
again….Sin no more…say no to sin…just say no!
She almost certainly met her accusers
after that day. Now they were openly broken, having publicly
admitted they too were sinners. I can see her sitting down with
them telling them what happened after they left and repeating
Jesus words of forgiveness to them…Go and sin no more!
