John 8:1-11
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. 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.
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, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
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.10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
I read this passage this morning and realized something that I’ve never thought of before. In this passage, we are shown both who we are at the time and who we could be. It’s a perfect demonstration of Christianity in multiple ways. One way, the way of the Lord, is obvious. That’s how we should be. Forgiving.
The men that brought the sinner to him, her accusers, were using her to get to Christ, not caring whether or not they actually stoned her. They shouted and shouted for an answer, likely some shouting to stone the woman for her misdeeds.
The woman caught breaking the holy law, stood, probably preparing herself for her own death. After all, she did break the law and the punishment for that infraction was death. Legally, they were right.
But instead, Jesus calmly asks them to throw stones if they are without sin. Jesus, being the only one that could have thrown a stone after his last statement, simply waited for all of them to leave.
Jesus saves her from the crowd and forgives her and we see our shining example of compassion and love. We identify with that and we reach for that goal and there’s nothing wrong with that, but, I’ve found that in my own life, I’ve honestly identified more with either the accusers or the sinner -- and most times both.
At times, I’m the one in sin feeling awful and wanting forgiveness. All have fallen short, so as Christians, we know we all have been there. Even the Apostle Paul said “For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. (Romans 7:19 AMP)” I particularly like this translation because of the use of the word “practice.” ASV also uses the same word and NIV, instead, says “this I keep doing.” In Proverbs, the Bible states that the righteous will fall seven times and rise again. These verses show the idea that even Christians can and will repeatedly do the wrong thing from time to time with no specification of what that sin might be. Yet, in the past, I’ve acted as if my own sin was not as great as another’s.
At times, I’m Christian in the “Holier than thou” seat and forcing my opinions on someone, trying to get them to agree with me and browbeating them in the process. I believe all Christians have fallen into this trap before. I’ve acted like I could judge before showing compassion and completely ignored a staple passage, Matthew 7:1-2. ““[a]Do not judge and criticize and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly]. 2 For just as you [hypocritically] judge others [when you are sinful and unrepentant], so will you be judged; and in accordance with your standard of measure [used to pass out judgment], judgment will be measured to you." I, again, use that ASV because I like that it goes in depth to explain the thought process while doing such judging, saying “with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge.” Quicker to judge than to love, knowing that the latter was Jesus’ aim. He said it himself that he was not here to condemn but to save. Yet, we condemn others, Christian and non-Christian alike.
At times, I’m both. I’ve stood on my box and preached things knowing that I’m either not following it myself or failing somewhere else. It’s as if I forget my own short comings to “save” someone else. Many of us do this as well. It’s all over the spectrum, anything from shunning a brother or sister to protesting at funerals, none of it is done in love. There is no compassion. However, in the example above we see all facets and should pay more attention to who we are when we strive to be like the model. We need to remember that we have been or are in the situations of the sinner and the accusers.
