John 8:1-11, 56-59
SS Lesson for 09/24/2023
Devotional Scriptures: Isa 41:10-13
The events and teachings recorded in John 7 and 8 occurred during one of Jesus’ visits to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles (see John 7:1-2, 37; 8:20). God instituted this festival for two reasons. First, it was a time of thanksgiving during the season of the olive and fruit harvests (the September-October time frame). Second, it was a time to remember deliverance from slavery in Egypt (see Leviticus 23:33-44). As something of an object lesson, many who celebrated this festival would live in tents (“tabernacles”) outside the city to reenact the 40 years that the Israelites had lived in tents while wandering in the wilderness. “Then they all went home” (John 7:53) closes the day before the events considered in the first half of this lesson. The second half of this lesson begins in John 8:56. In John 8:12-55 (not in our printed text), Jesus responded to questions from a crowd of both laypeople (some who believed him, others who did not) and Pharisees. Of particular interest to the following episode are the conversational threads about being Abraham’s descendants. Despite the Jews’ confidence that they were Abraham’s family, Jesus declared that their own actions revealed them to be children of the devil (John 8:44; compare 1:13)! No crowd would respond well to being called children of the devil, and this crowd was no different. They went so far as to claim Jesus must be demon-possessed to think that if Abraham and all the rest of the prophets died, Jesus’ own followers would not (8:52-53). We do well to note that the contrast Jesus set up can apply broadly to anyone who claims to be a child of Abraham (and therefore chosen by God, including Christians today) but acts in evil ways that contradict this heritage. Neither Jesus’ words here nor anywhere else justify violence against Jews, past or present.
She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
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."
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.
16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
16 But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?
7 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths;
11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." 14 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. 6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
30 I and the Father are one." 31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him,
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
The members of the Sanhedrin have gone home, frustrated and angry that they can neither silence Jesus nor even manage to arrest Him. They are also deadlocked over how to deal with Him. While Nicodemus will not profess faith in Jesus, he does insist on dealing with Him legally, and this means a public trial, not a private execution.
When the council members go to their own homes, Jesus and His disciples go to the Mount of Olives. Jesus also goes there in the latter days of His ministry to avoid being an easy target for assassination or arrest (see Luke 19:37; 22:39). Early in the morning, Jesus makes His way to the temple again. He most certainly has prevailed and is neither silenced nor sent away in fear. The people begin to gather around Him, forming a crowd, and He begins to teach them.
Suddenly, there is a commotion. Heads turn as a group of men rudely push their way through the crowd. They are the scribes and Pharisees. We do not see these two groups paired elsewhere in John, but it is common in the Synoptic Gospels.77 Some wonder that we would find them here. To me, it is logical and predictable. Both the scribes and the Pharisees are self-confident, even arrogant, in their opinion of themselves as interpreters and guardians of the law. In the Gospels, their opposition comes quickly and lasts long (Matthew 5:20; 12:38; 15:1; 23:13ff.; Mark 2:16; 11:27-33; 12:28-34; Luke 6:7; 11:44). Furthermore, the “Moses question” has been prominent lately in the teaching of Jesus. It has also played a significant role in the opposition of the religious leaders to Jesus, especially in regard to Sabbath-keeping. Everyone else has failed to physically lay a hand on Jesus. These fellows are just arrogant enough to try to outwit Jesus intellectually by making use of their greatest strength, their mastery of the Law of Moses.
The group does not come alone. They have with them an unwilling accomplice—a woman whose sin the law condemns, a sin for which she deserves to die. If, indeed, she is caught “in the very act of adultery,” she may be only partly clothed, if at all. I suspect they do not gently bring her along, but probably drag her “kicking and screaming.” No doubt, the woman is in tears, humiliated by her guilt and her exposure. Worse yet, she is stationed before the One who knows no sin—and at the same time, before the eyes of the crowd gathered at the temple.
I cannot imagine a more horrible experience for anyone, and the scribes and Pharisees do nothing to make things easier for her. With self-righteous indignation, these men go about their mission, using this woman no less than a rapist does, and perhaps much more so. The worst is that they are not really interested in this woman, in her sin, or in her execution under the law. They are seeking to make an accusation against Jesus, which we are told clearly in verse 6. This is a sham, no less so than our Lord’s “trial” before the Sanhedrin will be a few months later. The scribes and Pharisees are attempting to manipulate matters in a way that (as we say in Texas) puts Jesus “between a rock and a hard place.”
These scribes and Pharisees claim that they caught this woman “in the very act of adultery.” Given the stringency of the law on how such matters were to be handled, it seems that two witnesses would have had to observe this woman and her partner in such a way that there was no doubt about what was taking place. In our day and time, the video camera makes such evidence possible. In that day and time, it would have been very difficult to convict a person of adultery, which is why many suspect there is a trap or a conspiracy here:
If the conditions required by Jewish law were as stringent as J. Duncan M. Derrett maintains this can scarcely indicate anything other than a trap deliberately set. All the more is this likely to be the case in that the man was not present. Why not? Since the woman was taken in the very act there should have been two sinners, not one, before Jesus.78
With smug satisfaction and confidence, the scribes and Pharisees press Jesus to pronounce a verdict regarding this woman’s guilt and punishment:
They made her stand in front of them 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?”
They set Jesus against Moses, thinking that in so doing our Lord will be trapped, that He can do nothing other than condemn Himself by opposing the teaching of the law and of Moses.
How can they be so confident? Why are they so bold as to carry out their confrontation is such a public fashion? From experience, they know that Jesus has compassion on sinners. They expect Him to be compassionate toward this sinful woman, and for good reason. Jesus said that He came to call sinners to repentance (see Luke 5:27-32). It was Simon, the Pharisee, who objected to our Lord’s acceptance of a woman very much like the woman brought before our Lord at the temple; Jesus rebuked Simon and said to the woman: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:36-50). It may sound far-fetched, but our Lord’s opponents are also convinced that Mary, His mother, conceived Jesus by a similar act of immorality (see John 8:41). How then can Jesus condemn this woman? If He cannot condemn her, then (they assume) He must disagree with Moses and the law. They have Jesus just where they want Him.
Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7 When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied, “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. 9 Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
As elsewhere in the Gospels, it appears that Jesus is caught on the horns of a dilemma. When, for example, Jesus is asked whether the Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not, it looks as though there is no way out for our Lord. If He answers “Yes,” then He is in trouble with the people, who hate paying taxes to Rome. If He answers “No,” then Jesus is in trouble with Rome for treason. But where His enemies err is in thinking He is limited to their answers. Jesus is not.
Here, it seems that the scribes and Pharisees suppose they have Jesus trapped, too. If Jesus votes to condemn this woman, then He will be acting against His stated purpose of seeking and saving sinners. If, on the other hand, Jesus proposes that this woman be shown mercy, He will be contradicting the law of Moses, which requires that both partners who are convicted of adultery be put to death (see Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18:20; 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:18; 22:13-29). It seems that Jesus is indeed trapped. Whatever His answer, it will condemn Him, and His enemies will win.
Our Lord ignores His adversaries, responding to their challenge by His silence. How badly His opponents misinterpret this silence. They think His silence is because they have Him stumped.79 His silence achieves several things. With John Calvin, I believe our Lord’s silence is intended to shame His adversaries:
By this attitude he intended to show that he despised them. Those who conjecture that he wrote this or the other thing, in my opinion, do not understand his meaning. … For Christ rather intended, by doing nothing, to show how unworthy they were of being heard; just as if any person, while another was speaking to him, were to draw lines on the wall, or to turn his back, or to show, by any other sign, that he was not attending to what was said.80
If our wives are offended by our reading the newspaper while they talk to us, imagine the offense of having Jesus refuse to look at His adversaries, appearing not to hear them, and instead occupying Himself by writing (or drawing) in the dirt!
Our Lord’s silence should shame His enemies, but in fact, they are not at all ashamed—at least not yet. Jesus’ silence gives them the impression that they have Jesus at a disadvantage, that He either cannot or will not answer them. So, they intensify their efforts. I suspect they raise their voices and press Jesus harder, demanding that He give them an answer. They put on a show for the crowd to see. All of this simply sets the scene for what our Lord is about to say. They could not have given Him a better introduction.
Before we consider our Lord’s verbal response, let me pursue our Lord’s silence further. I believe our Lord’s silence (and His writing in the dust) accomplishes something else, something very gracious. It is my opinion that this woman is only partially clothed. She has been caught in the very act of adultery. If she has been dragged along naked, or nearly so, it only serves to make the point of her accusers. Such was a way of shaming men (see 2 Samuel 10:1-5) and women (Genesis 9:22-23; Deuteronomy 28:48; Isaiah 47:3; Lamentations 1:8; Ezekiel 16:37; Nahum 3:5; Habakkuk 2:15). I believe that when our Lord stoops down to the ground, ignores His adversaries, and writes in the dust, He not only is prevented from looking upon this woman’s nakedness and shame, but He also attracts the attention of the crowd to Himself, rather than to her. I admit no one I have read has come to this conclusion, but it is just like our Lord. The scribes and Pharisees want to put this woman on display, shaming her in public. Jesus seems to take the spotlight off of her and onto Himself. Can’t you see the crowd fixing their eyes on the ground, stooping to see what Jesus is writing?
It is interesting to read all of the speculations concerning what our Lord writes in the dust. One suggestion is that Jesus writes the names and the sins of those who are accusing this woman. Like A. T. Robertson,81 I disagree with this suggestion, but for a different reason. I don’t think there is enough dirt available for our Lord to do so! The fact is that we are purposefully kept from knowing what Jesus writes (or draws) on the ground. The message to this woman’s accusers (and our Lord’s accusers as well) is not what He writes, but what He says: “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.”
The scribes and Pharisees think they have Jesus cornered, with no way of escape. Even though Jesus claims that Moses bore witness to Him as the Messiah, and that He also would be their accuser, they seek to use Moses to indict Jesus. What a bad mistake! Masterfully, Jesus deals with their challenge. First, our Lord does not deny this woman’s guilt. As an adulteress, she is condemned by the law, and she does deserve to die. (Our Lord does not deal with the matter of the other guilty party here, as this is a setup.) Jesus does not plead for mercy. He even agrees to an execution, one I’m not sure they want or intend. There is just one problem—who will be the first to cast a stone?
Jesus in no way seeks to set aside the law or to diminish its role in this situation. After all, He is the One who has come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17-18). Our Lord’s response is a response from the Law:
6 “Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 17:6-7, NKJV).
The scribes and Pharisees boldly insist that this woman should be executed in accordance with the Law of Moses. They seek to force Jesus to differ with the law and thus become guilty of violating the law Himself. Instead, Jesus presses this same law even further than His adversaries. It is as though He says, “You’re absolutely right. A woman who is caught in the very act of adultery is condemned to death under the law. She should be stoned, here and now. And since we are all so concerned with the keeping of the law, let us be sure that her execution is also lawful. The law stipulates that the guilty person must be stoned, and that those who cast the first stones are those who testified against her. These witnesses must, of course, be guiltless in all of this. Now, to fulfill the law, who will be the one to take up the first stone and cast it at her? Who is sinless in this matter? Who is guiltless before the law?” Oops. The law was more exacting, more demanding than they reckoned. It says too much. It not only condemns this woman; it condemns them all.
The question is not whether this guilty woman should be punished. The question is, “Who is sinless in this matter to be qualified to condemn her?”
“But Jesus stood up and invited any one among them who was sinless to throw the first stone. This answer completely disarmed them. It could not possibly be construed as a rejection of the law. Jesus specifically enjoined that a stone be thrown. But His limitation on who might throw it effectively prevented any harm coming to the guilty woman. The saying ‘does not deny that she may be stoned, but insists upon the innocency and therefore the competence of whoever stands forth against her as accuser and witness.’”82
The words of Jesus are both an appeal to conscience and a warning to the hearers that their own lives might very well be at stake. If they stoned the woman they must be very sure of the witnesses.83
Our Lord returns to His previous posture, commencing once again to write (or draw) in the dust. I am not certain whether it is out of conviction of guilt, or due to their failure to prove Jesus a law-breaker, that His adversaries shrink away silently, beginning with the oldest.84 Our text tells us Jesus is left alone with this woman. Many understand these words to mean that those who leave are all of her accusers—the scribes and Pharisees who so rudely interrupted, trying to find fault with Jesus. They believe the crowd remains. I have doubts about this. I wonder if those in the crowd are not as condemned as the scribes and Pharisees. Would they not also be required to participate in this stoning? Who in the crowd is able to cast the first stone?
Not until they all leave does Jesus address the woman, for the first time. Jesus does not ask her about her guilt. He knows. He simply asks her where those are who a short while before seemed so eager to condemn her. Does no one remain to condemn her? Then if there are no witnesses, there can be no condemnation, no execution. The scribes call for an execution, and no one stays for it—no one is willing to cast the first stone.
She is a free woman. She is not an innocent woman, as seen from our Lord’s words to her. Jesus will not condemn her, either. He does not tell her that her sins are forgiven, though I would not be surprised if she later came to faith in Jesus as her Messiah. He does tell her to go, and from then on to give up her sin.
What an amazing turn of events. A woman is probably dragged through the crowd and cast at Jesus’ feet, overcome with guilt and shame, the object of attention. Her sin that seemed such a private matter only moments earlier is now known by the whole city. Her accusers boldly accuse her and virtually dare Jesus to disagree with their verdict. Jesus agrees with them and takes the law even further than they do, exposing their sin in the process. When it ends, her accusers leave with heads hung in shame, silent at last. She leaves a different person, I believe, and she will never be the same.
(Adapted from URL:https://bible.org/seriespage/18-savior-and-sinner-john-753-811)
Jesus was completely within his rights to condemn the adulterous woman, but he chose to offer mercy with his call to repentance. Jesus could have refrained from revealing himself as I am, but he chose instead to make himself known. We certainly benefit from Jesus’ self-revelation and his merciful call to turn to him. Considering who Christ is and who he calls you to be, what repentance is necessary in your life? What “stonings” will you divert because of your love for Jesus? What rejoicing will you spread?