John 8 verses 1 - 11.

 

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.

 

³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

⁷But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 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." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 

⁹At 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. ¹⁰Jesus 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."

 

This incident tells us a great deal about the Lord Jesus and His attitude to sinners!

 

Jesus believed that only a person who is without fault has the right to express judgement on

others people's wrongs.

 

Matthew chapter 7 v 1  Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

 

Matthew chapter 7 vv 3 - 5.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

 

One of our most common faults is that so many of us demand a standard from others that we don't even try to live up to ourselves. Whilst some condemn faults in others that are glaringly obvious in their own lives.

 

The qualification for judging is not knowledge, we can all gain that from reading and study, it's achievement in goodness and none of us have got it.

 

Only God had the right to judge for the simple reason that no-one else is good enough.

 

No man or woman has the right to judge anyone or to stand in judgement over a fellow human being because we are not good enough! 

 

The Scribes and the Pharisees were out to discredit the Son of God!

 

In the time and land of Jesus, when difficult legal questions or matters arose, people would come before the Rabbi for his counsel.

 

So the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus as Rabbi, and as he taught in the temple courts with a crowd of people hanging onto his every word, the Lord was interrupted by the Scribes and Pharisees

 

John 8 v v 3 - 4

 

³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery

 

Now this was a serious crime! One of the three gravest of sins and the law was quite clear on this matter.

 

John 8 v 5  ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

 

This was a reference to Deuteronomy Chapter 22 verses 22/24

 

If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

 

When the Scribes and Pharisees confronted Jesus, it left him with a dilemma!

 

If Jesus gave the decision that the woman ought to be stoned to death, then two things would

happen.

 

1. Jesus would lose forever the name that he had gained for Love and Mercy. Never would he again be called, 'The friend of sinners'.

 

2. He would come into collision with the Roman authorities as Jews had no power to pass or carry out a sentence of death.

 

So, if Jesus said that this woman should be stoned then he would loose the devotion of ordinary people and would become a criminal in the eyes of the Roman Empire.

 

However, if he gave a decision that said the woman should be pardoned then he would be accused of teaching people to break the Law of Moses and condoning and encouraging adultery.

 

It was a trap! What was Jesus to do?

 

It was fairly obvious what then Scribes and Pharisees would have done.

 

They had no feelings of pity or compassion for the woman otherwise they would not have dragged her into public.

 

The sinners way of treating sin is to regard it as curious speculation, always contrasting the sin of the sinner with the immaculate virtue of the accusers.

 

They take pleasure in the terrible details of sin, but show no pity for the sinner.

 

The laws of treating sin were to stone and condemn, the executioner shows no mercy.

 

Jesus' way of treating sin was to forgive.

 

The Scribes and the Pharisees were men of position and authority and their concept of authority was to judge, to condemn and to punish!

 

Its' interesting to know the origins of the phrase, 'There but for the Grace of God go I."

 

So often we use this phrase to express sadness of someone's poverty or health.

 

The phrase was first used by the great preacher George Whitfield.

 

Whitfield saw a man on the way to the gallows and uttered that now famous phrase, 'There but for the Grace of God go I."

 

The Scribes and the Pharisees didn't see this woman as a person at all.

 

They saw a thing. an instrument for them to formulate a charge against Jesus.

 

Those men angered by Jesus' success in reaching  people and frustrated by their inability to get rid of him.

 

They seized an opportunity to embarrass him before people but they embarrassed this helpless woman as well.

 

They didn't even know the woman's name - God is not like that.

 

God said to Moses, I know you by name. He told Jeremiah that He knew him even before He formed him in his mother's womb!

 

In Isaiah 43 v 3, God said 

 

But now, this is what the LORD says-
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 

 

To God we are not things to be used! We are not numbers on a board or statistics.

 

We are people created by Him and He knows us by name!

 

He cares and loves us like no-one else.

 

The Scribes and the Pharisees used their authority to use people. They were using this woman.

 

God uses His authority to love people into goodness.

 

To God no person ever becomes a thing or an object!

 

How did Jesus respond to the Scribes and the Pharisees?

 

Well, firstly he ignored them. The Lord looked down and wrote in the dust

 

Then, maybe the lustful leering look of the Pharisees, the curiosity of the crowd and the shame of the women all combined to twist the heart of Jesus in agony.

 

The Scribes and Pharisees continued to insist of an answer and boy did they get one!

 

John 8 v 7  "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her

 

In effect he was saying, 'Ok, stone her! But only if you've never wanted to do the same thing yourselves, because the Greek word for without sin doesn't just men without sin, it means without sinful a desire.'

 

The was silence!

 

The Scribes and the Pharisees were thunderstruck by the words of Christ and one by one, they melted away into the crowds, frightened by His words.

 

Happy are those who because of their relationship with Christ don't fear words.

 

Only two remained. The sinner and the friend of sinners.

 

Here Jesus is teaching us something.

 

Our first emotion to people who have made a mistake is pity. Its' not, 'I'll see he pays', or' I'll have nothing to do with them.' Our first emotion should be, 'How can I help.'

 

I don't want you to make the mistake of thinking that Jesus forgave lightly, as if sin didn't matter.

 

He said, 'Im not going to condemn you just now. Go and sin no more, prove that you can live better.'

 

You see Jesus' attitude to sinners involved a number of things.

 

It involved a second chance.

 

'I know you've made a mess of things but life isn't finished yet and I'm giving you a second chance.

 

Jesus isn't interested in what you've been but in what you could be!

 

The difference between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees was that they wanted to condemn whilst Jesus wanted to forgive!

 

They wanted to stone the woman. They would have taken great pleasure in it.

 

They knew the thrill of exercising power to condemn whilst Jesus knew the thrill of exercising power to forgive!

 

Jesus' attitude also involved a challenge!

 

The challenge was a sinless life!

 

Jesus didn't say, 'Its' ok! Just carry on as you are.'

 

He said, 'Go out and fight, change your life from top to bottom. Go and sin no more!'

 

This was no easy forgiveness. Here was a challenge which pointed a sinner to the heights of goodness.

 

Jesus believed in human nature! Think on it! What a strange thing to say to a woman who a tart - Go and sin no more!

 

However Jesus believed in men and women. When he met someone who had done wrong, Jesus never said, 'You low life, you who are too rotten for words'. He said, 'go and sin no more.'

 

Jesus believed that with His help, the sinner could become a saint!

 

What did he say? 'Who condemns you?'.

 

'No-one sir.'

 

'Well, I don't condemn you either! Off you go, but don't sin again!'

 

You see there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus

 

Romans 8 v 1

 

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

 

Wherever you are reading this website, you can know that forgiveness today!