Woman Caught in Adultry

Chapter 8 4:-11

"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!" Then he stopped down again and wrote in the dust.

When the accusers heard this, they stopped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"

"No, Lord," she said.

And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."

I love this passage. Jesus saw through their trickery. I just want to know where the man was. They brought the woman, but where was the man? Who was the man? If this was adultery, then someone was married. Was she or he married, or both? What was he writing in the sand? Many people have speculated that he was either writing the names of the people in the crowd or perhaps even sins committed by people in the crowd. No one knows. Regardless, the older, wiser people left first. I love this passage because Jesus forgave the woman. Jesus came to save, not to condemn John 3:17 says, "God did not send his Son into this world to condemn it, but to save it."

God uses the sinners, not the self righteous to do his work. First of all, the self righteous have alternative motives, such as that of the Pharisees, who brought this woman to Jesus. Most of these people try to make themselves look good to others and are more concerned by what others think about them that what Christ thinks. For the sinner, they have the most to be thankful for. Adultery is one of the big "No" "No's". It's ok to tell a white lie, but to commit adultery, "Shame". However, the story of the woman caught in adultery was used here.

I know what it feels like to have people throw stones at me because I've made mistakes. Not the physical stone, but verbal stone. It's not a good place to be. It hurts when people judge. They don't know my heart. When people judge, they become self-righteous. I used to be like a Pharisee, self righteous and proud. Hey, I have a minor in Bible, I was raised in a Christian home. But God allowed me to be the one to be on the ground with people throwing verbal rocks at me because he wanted to teach me about judging others. I try very hard not to judge other people who are making bad choices because I've been there. Thank God, I found a safe place where other people who have been there helped me get up. The hardest part was that the people who had the rocks in their hands, judging me, called me their friends. Ouch. Their words still ring in my head. Those friendship have been strained. But, I've made new friends, friends I can be real with. Friends who still love me, even when I mess up.

I had a discussion about the mistakes I made with a friend. We were discussing the choices another friend had made, which had many similarities as my own. My friend was telling me how this woman was not respected anymore because of her bad choices. I reminded my friend that I had made some similar mistakes. My friend said, "Yes, but you got up. I respect you for that." It likes Jesus said, "Go and sin no more." I guess that's what I did.