A man was involved in an accident and his shoulder was slightly injured. He decided to fake a much greater injury thinking he could stick the insurance company for a nice bit of money, so he hired a lawyer who would go along with the plan. When the trial began the insurance company’s attorney called the “injured” man to the stand and asked him, “Mr. Smith, please show us how much your shoulder was damaged in the accident by extending that arm upward as far as your injured shoulder will allow it to go.” Smith obliged by raising his arm to a horizontal position and stopped. “That’s as far as it can go.” he said. Then the lawyer said, “Thank you. Now, Mr. Smith, will you please show us how far you were able to raise that arm BEFORE the accident?” Without thinking, Smith obliged and raised his arm so it was pointing directly toward the ceiling. Oops! The judge pounded his gavel and said, “Case dismissed.” I’m sure that CC and Bob would tell us that this is a tactic lawyers often used in suspicious law suits like this. They set a trap to try and catch a person in a way that brings the truth to light.
Well, Jesus was very familiar with this legal tactic because the 1st century version of lawyers—also known as the Scribes and Pharisees—these guys used this tactic on Him all the time. Of course since Jesus was Who He claimed to be, these traps never worked. In fact, they always backfired on His critics and gave further validation of Jesus’ claims. Let me share a couple examples.
In Matthew 22:17ff, it says that the scribes and pharisees came to our Lord and asked, “Jesus, what is Your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Now—I’m sure Christians down through the years have wished Jesus had said, “NO—My followers are not obligated to pay taxes!” But He didn’t. Verse 18 and following says, “Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap Me? Show Me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought Him a denarius, and He asked them, ‘Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then He said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.”
Another example of this is found in John chapter 7 — our text a couple weeks ago. These religious “lawyers” had accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath law by doing the “work” of healing a man and in John 7:23-4 Jesus said, “You circumcise a man, dealing with [the healing of] one part of his body, even if it’s the Sabbath. You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with Me because I made a man’s whole body well on the Sabbath? Don’t be nitpickers; use your head—and heart—to discern what is right.”
I could go on and on citing examples like this because, as I said, the scribes and the pharisees repeatedly used this “trap tactic” on our Lord—but it never worked! He was never caught by surprise with their sneaky legal maneuvers. He always knew what to say in order to prove His INNOCENCE and His attackers’ IGNORANCE. Perhaps the best example of this is seen in our text for this morning. Take your Bibles and turn to John 7:53. We’ll be reading through chapter 8, verse 11.
John 7:53 – Then each went to his own home.
8:1 – 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. 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, “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.
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.”
Now—if your Bible is like mine—before verse 53 it says something like this:“The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.” How many of you have a notation like that in your Bibles? This cautionary statement is here because these twelve verses are not in some of the oldest manuscripts of John’s gospel…and the reason they aren’t is that there was a time in the life of the church where the leadership thought it best to leave these verses out. Apparently some of those early Christians were embarrassed by how graciously Jesus treated this woman. They thought this account might be interpreted by people that Jesus was light on sin so they decided to omit it.
We know this is the reason because in his writings St. Augustine’s says this is what happened. He says that this story was removed—even though it was believed to be authentic—because “…some were of slight faith,” and also “…to avoid scandal.” So that’s why you have that note in your Bibles. In the very early days the people who edited the New Testament text thought this was a dangerous story…a justification for holding a light view of adultery…so they just left it out.
And—we mustn’t be too hard on these people because in that day Christians were living as a little island in a huge sea of paganism. I mean, it would have been very easy for a new convert to lapse back into their old way of life. I guess as the years rolled by and the church became better established, the leaders thought it was safe to put the story back in Scripture, which is why we do find it in the newer manuscripts.
And—even though this is not in some of the oldest copies of the Bible, the overwhelming consensus is that this account is absolutely authentic and should be included. William Barclay says that some of the early church fathers wrote saying they viewed it as being an authentic record of a part of Jesus’ ministry….dating back as early as 100 A.D.— so this really did happen.
Okay—with that behind us—let’s get back to the story—and I for one think the very FIRST VERSE is interesting. It says, “They (Jesus’ followers) each went to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” Now—the events in this text occurred in October—which means it would have been cold at night—especially in the hills around Jerusalem. As we drove home this past Saturday through the North Carolina mountains I noticed there was frost on the grass—and I imagine there was frost in the hills around Jerusalem at this time of year. This tells us that, unlike His followers who had homes and warm beds to go to, Jesus—God in the flesh didn’t—so He spent many a night alone out in the elements—huddled in His robe under an olive tree. As Jesus said in Matthew 8:22,“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” I point this out to remind you how far God came when He lowered Himself to become a man in order to save you and me from our sins. He can indeed sympathize with our weaknesses!
Well, after a night spent in the cold, the next morning found Jesus teaching in the temple courts when suddenly the scribes and pharisees came up and forced a woman to stand in front of Him.
They claimed she had been caught in the act of adultery and asked what He thought should be done. They asked, “Should the law be applied here? Shouldn’t this woman be stoned to death? You be the judge Jesus. What should we do with this adulteress?”
Now, as people who live in a very morally lax culture we must understand that in the eyes of Jewish Law, adultery was a very serious crime. Back then the Rabbis said, “Every Jew must die before he will commit idolatry, murder, or ADULTERY.” So in their minds ADULTERY was one of the bid three when it came to sins. And the LAW about adultery was very clear. The penalty was DEATH. There were different ways to carry out this penalty but death was the end result. Leviticus 20:10 says,“The man that commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer…and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” You’ll note that the method of death is not specified here…but in Deuteronomy 22:13-24 the penalty—death by stoning—is stated when this sin is committed by a girl who is already betrothed. The MISHNAH—the Jewish codified law—states that penalty for adultery is strangulation. I’m saying that from a strictly LEGAL aspect, the Scribes and the Pharisees were correct. The woman deserved death for her sin.
But I have to point out something else. It would have been very hard—almost impossible—to CATCH someone committing this sin unless it was a SET UP. I mean, this has the smell of entrapment all over it! You see, the Jewish law was embarrassingly precise in describing exactly what had to been seen in order for someone to be charged with this capital offense. In fact there had to be multiple witnesses whose testimony agreed on every sordid detail. So, this adultery charge had to have been planned. In fact, I think the MAN involved was part of the set up. I mean, it takes two to tango so where was the man? Why wasn’t he brought before Jesus for judgment? In the eyes of their law he was just as guilty. Some have theorized that he was a pharisee himself—used to catch this woman in a sin they could then bring to Jesus.
And their devious trap was a good one because it looked like no matter what our Lord said—no matter what His judgment—He would be in trouble. I mean, if Jesus said, “Yes, stone the woman.” two things would happen. First, He would lose forever the reputation He had gained for love and mercy. Never again would He be called the “Friend of Sinners.” And—if that weren’t bad enough, He would be in trouble with the Roman authorities because the Jews did not have the power to carry out the death sentence on anyone. This is why the Jews brought Jesus not to Caiaphas but to Pilate in order to demand His crucifixion. On the other hand, if Jesus said the woman should be pardoned, it could be said that He was teaching people not to obey the law of Moses and He would lose His popularity with the people. So from man’s perspective this was a good trap…a truly devious plot. No matter what Jesus decided He would be in trouble.
I’m reminded of the story of King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere. King Arthur’s most trusted knight, Lancelot, had an affair with the queen. Remember? Mordred, who caught Guinevere and Lancelot in their unfaithfulness taunted the king. Much like our Biblical story Lancelot escaped, but Guinevere was captured and sentenced to death by the court. In the climactic scene, King Arthur is called upon to give the signal to carry out her execution, and Mordred mocks him with wicked joy. He says, “Arthur what a magnificent dilemma! Let her die, your life is over; let her live and your life’s a fraud. Which will it be Arthur? Do you kill the Queen or kill the law.” Like Mordred and Arthur the Scribes and the Pharisees were quite certain that they had Jesus in an unbreakable steel trap. I’m sure they had been working out the details for days.
What would Jesus do? What COULD He do? John tells us. He says that like a backyard quarterback drawing out a play in the dirt, Jesus began to write something on the ground with His finger. Now think of it. This is the only record we have of Jesus writing anything and He wrote it on the least permanent surface of His day! He chose as His medium a palette of sand even though footsteps, wind, or rain would soon erase what He wrote.
Two questions pop into my bald head. First, WHY did Jesus do this? Why did He stoop to write? Why would that be His first response to this situation? Some manuscripts give us the hint of an answer by adding the phrase, “He wrote…AS THOUGH HE DID NOT HEAR THEM.” This infers that perhaps Jesus stooped to write on the ground as a way to deliberately force the Pharisees to repeat their charges so that as they did they would hear them again…and realize how sadistically cruel a thing it was that they were doing and perhaps come to their senses. Well—that could be true but I really don’t know…I don’t know WHY Jesus wrote…but I have a second, more important, question….namely “WHAT?” WHAT did Jesus write? There are SEVERAL theoretical answers to this one.
- Some say Jesus wrote the words, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin” from the book of Daniel—the words God’s finger wrote on Belshazzar’s wall which meant, “You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.” (Daniel 5:25-29)
- Others think Jesus wrote the words of Jeremiah 17:13 where it says, “O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”
- My favorite interpretation though is that of the Armenians who say that Jesus wrote a list of the particular sins that the Pharisees and Sadducees were guilty of on the ground.
And this makes sense because the Greek word used here, “katagraphein” meant “to write down a record against someone.” You may remember that in his movie about Jesus’ life, Cecil B. DeMille followed this line of thinking because in this scene he depicts Jesus spelling out the names of various sins: Murder, Pride, Greed, Lust. Each time Jesus writes a word, a few more Pharisees file away. But even though this is my favorite, like all others, this is just a guess. All we know is that Jesus paused, kept silent, and fingered something—words or symbols—on the ground. John tells us that when the scribes and pharisees persisted in their questions, Jesus straightened up and said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” By the way, the word, “Without sin” can be translated “Without sinful DESIRE.” It was sort of like saying, “Yes, you can stone her, but only if you never wanted to do the same thing yourselves.” And then Jesus began to write on the ground again. As He did you could hear the sound of rocks hitting the ground one at a time as they started to leave…the oldest first…perhaps because they had more sins to remember…and then the youngest…until only Jesus and the woman remained.
Think of the outcome of their legal trickery. Instead of passing judgement on the woman, Jesus passed judgement on the judges. No one remained to condemn….the witnesses had all disappeared….so legally there was no case. Roles were reversed. Instead of being taught a thing or two by these “experts” in religious law, Jesus used their actions to teach both them and us two vital kingdom principles.
(1) Here’s the first. When it comes to sin God’s Word is not meant to be used to TRAP people…but rather to FREE them.
I think it’s cool that in Jesus’ rebuttal to their legal maneuvering He proved that He had a better grasp on God’s laws than they did—but of course that makes sense—because He was the Author of those laws! These “religious lawyers” — these “experts” in the law of God mistakenly thought of Scripture as a tool to make them look good and others bad. I mean, they didn’t bring this woman to Jesus because they were zealous on this particular morning to uphold the law against adultery. They didn’t bring her because they were scandalized by her actions—not really. All they cared about was using Scripture to set a trap that would help them get rid of Jesus. Have you ever met someone like that? Have you ever known a Christian who acted more like some sort of religious policeman…sort of a “Barney-on-bullet” believer…focused on throwing the Book—the Book of books that is—at you or others?
Listen—God’s Word was not meant to be used that way. God inspired the writing of these Words in order to FREE us from our sins not to trap us—because as sinners we are already trapped. Without Jesus we are already enslaved. I’ve never been to a tractor pull but this week I read about them. Apparently they are very popular in certain parts of the country. Now—as you can see—the “tractors” used in these events don’t look much like farm tractors. They are really more of a dragster than a piece of farm equipment. Like this one some have multiple engines and are longer than a truck. The only thing on them that makes them look tractor-like are the huge rear wheels. In the competition these high-powered machines are hitched to a wedge-shaped trailer that creates more and more resistance the farther it is pulled. The tractor, racing toward the finish line usually starts out pulling the wedge, but quickly labors and often stalls under the ever-increasing resistance. The wheels of the tractor often spin so rapidly that the tractor becomes literally stuck in the mud, spinning its wheels and unable to continue. Only when the trailer is unhitched from the tractor can it move again. Well, in my mind that gives us a picture of sin. It drags us down like that wedge-shaped trailer. It enslaves us to a weight of guilt. We feel condemned and hopeless like that poor woman who was caught in the act of adultery.
Don’t misunderstand me—God’s law DOES put a spotlight on our sin. As Paul says in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known what sin was except through the law.” The Bible opens our eyes so that even in an immoral world where sin is commonplace—we can see the difference between right and wrong. It shows us our sin…it reveals our guilt….but it doesn’t stop there. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to set us free. He came to make our forgiveness possible. Jesus came to unhitch the wedge-shaped trailer of sin and guilt…and then empower us to say NO to sin. Think how FREED that woman felt when God in the flesh said to her, “I do not condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.”
You know, I have had people in my office numerous times over the years who asked to see me because they had done something very wrong. And as they poured out their hearts confessing their actions, I could almost see the BURDEN of guilt they were bearing. Even their body language showed this as they were stooped over…their head in their hands. It felt so good for me to be able to show them 1st John 1:9 where it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then, as they bowed their head and did that…prayerfully confessed their sins to Jesus…I could almost literally see the burden lifted…see them FREED from the guilt of their actions. That’s how the Bible is supposed to be used—not to TRAP people—but to FREE them.
Listen—if you feel burdened, trapped, enslaved by your sin, hear these words from the Bible. In John 8:34ff Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin…but if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed!” In Romans 8 Paul writes, “Through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” This Book is not a LOCK to bind us…but the KEY to free us. Jesus freed that woman by dying in her place. He has done the same for you and me. That’s the central message of this Book of books.
(2) A second kingdom principle we see in Jesus’ actions is a reminder that sinners are PEOPLE not THINGS.
I mean, these religious lawyers looked at this poor woman—not as a broken individual—but as nothing more than a THING to be used for their nefarious purposes. The truth is they weren’t really all that interested in the law. They didn’t care about her sin. They just wanted to trap Jesus and she was the THING that made that possible. She was the BAIT. Well, Jesus refused to treat her that way. He didn’t point His finger at her—affirming her sin—no, He focused on her accusers. He took the focus off this poor woman…because first and foremost that is what she was—a woman—not a thing.
There is a scene in the movie, IRONWEED where the characters played by Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep stumble across an old Eskimo woman lying in the snow, probably drunk. They are drunk as well and they begin to debate about what they should do about her. Nicholson asks, “Is she drunk or a bum?” Streep responds, “Just a bum, been one all her life.” “And before that?”
“She was a prostitute in Alaska.” “She hasn’t been a prostitute all of her life. What about before that?” “I dunno, just a little kid I guess.” “Well, a little kids’ something. It’s not a bum and it’s not a prostitute. It’s something. Let’s take her in.” These two were seeing this Eskimo woman as a person. And of course that is what Jesus was doing here. The Pharisees saw only a THING. In spite of her guilt, Jesus saw a person…a woman…who had once been a little girl. His actions remind us that our first response toward someone who has sinned should not be judgement but pity—and even empathy as fellow sinners. Our first thought should be, “How can I help this person?”
Unfortunately most of the time we don’t even look at people who are down and out—victims of their own sinful choices….and if we do look…we look at them as hopeless failures…as unredeemable things…not unlike junk cars on a dump lot. In his new book, Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado writes,
“Stanley Shipp served as a father to my young faith. He was thirty years my senior and blessed with a hawkish nose, thin lips, a rim of white hair, and a heart as big as the Midwest. His business cards, which he gave to those who requested and those who didn’t, read simply, ‘STANLEY SHIPP—YOUR SERVANT.” I spent my first post college year under his tutelage. One of our trips took us to a small church in rural Pennsylvania for a conference. He and I happened to be the only two people at the building when a drifter, wearing alcohol like a cheap perfume, knocked on the door. He recited his victim spiel. Overqualified for work. Unqualified for pension. Lost bus ticket. Bad back. His kids in Kansas didn’t care. If bad breaks were rock and roll, this guy was Elvis. I crossed my arms, smirked, and gave Stanley a ‘get-a-load-of-this-guy glance.’ Stanley didn’t return it. He devoted every optic nerve to the drifter. Stanley saw no one else but him. ‘HOW LONG,’ I remember wondering, ‘SINCE ANYONE LOOKED THIS FELLOW SQUARE IN THE FACE?’ The meandering saga finally stopped, and Stanley led the man into the church kitchen and prepared him a plate of food and a sack of groceries. As we watched him leave, Stanley blinked back a tear and responded to my unsaid thoughts. ‘Max, I know he’s probably lying. But what if just one part of his story was true?’ We both saw the man. I saw right through him. Stanley saw deep into him. There is something fundamentally good about taking time to see a person.”
Have you ever made Lucado’s mistake? I know I have. If I am not careful I become judgmental and look at blatant sinners as things. You know, we get a lot of people coming to the office for a hand out. And…they give this same kind of spiel…words and actions that tell me they are not being honest. I mean, RARELY do I sense authenticity in their explanations of why they need help. I remember one guy who came by the office one day and gave some of the same reasons for needing help. He’d had to spend all his money traveling to his father’s funeral…and during his absence he had lost his job. He smelled like alcohol and his story “smelled” as well. I’d heard it all so many times before. I got him one of the GIANT food gift cards and a couple Macdonald’s gift certificates and gave them to him. I explained that we don’t have the resources to help him more than once. He left, thankful for those two things, saying he understood. Well two days later he was back and before I could say a word, he gave me the same spiel. I said, “Friend, you were here two days ago and you told me the same thing. Remember?” A look of guilt came over him but he said, “Oh—that wasn’t me. That was my twin brother.” Well, that kind of shenanigan makes it easy for me to cease looking at beggars like this as people. If I’m not very careful I look at them as con artists…as INTERRUPTIONS…and anytime I do that I sin…because sinners…no matter what their actions…sinners are people…PRECIOUS to my Heavenly Father. In His eyes they are equal in value to the life of His only Son.
What about you? How do you SEE sinners? What do you see when you look at the people sleeping on a steam grate in D.C.? What do you see when you see a homosexual picketing for special rights? What do you see? Matthew 9:36 tells us what Jesus saw when He looked at sinners. It says, “When He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” The word “compassion” means to be moved to “one’s bowels.” It means to SEE PEOPLE and almost literally feel their hurt deep in the core of your being.
That day in the temple courts Jesus saw a woman enslaved by sin. He saw a PERSON shamed by her actions. And because of that, the only One qualified to cast a stone refused to. Jesus told her to leave her life of sin and refused to condemn her. Instead a few months later He condemned Himself for her sins when He died on that Roman cross.
LET US PRAY