God of Second Chances

The Stage is Set

John 7:53–8:11 ESV

53 They went each to his own house, 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

A Difficult Passage

The passage at hand bears some difficulty for the modern Bible junkie. It is not found in the earliest manuscripts. When it is found, it is found in different places. Some place it later in John, some place it at the end of John, and some place it in Luke! The language is not typical of John. For example, “teachers of the law (grammateus)” is used 22 times in Matthew, 21 times in mark, 14 times in Luke, this once in John. According to Alfred Edersheim, Jewish New Testament scholar of the 1800s, this passage isn’t very Jewish. In fact, his comments regarding this passage were a lengthy footnote explaining why he did not include it in his great work “The Life of Christ.”

This passage illustrates us (the adulterous woman) before God, (the Law) Jesus as advocate, and Satan as the accuser (the Pharisees and Scribes). 'Caught in the act' but with no credible witnesses, Jesus withholds condemnation but ushers her into a new life with a new identity!

They tried to trap Jesus - and they had no problem exploiting this woman in the temple courts to do it!

If Jesus said go ahead and stone her then He would have been violating Roman and Sanhedrin laws that required a Roman curator to be involved. As it was, Jewish law required a 23 person council to make such decisions!

There also had to be credible witnesses.

The law of Moses was very clear that there had to be witnesses and that the witnesses were to lay their hands on the accused and be the first to stone them. Rabbinic tradition evolved that the witnesses had to be adult males who kept the law and were required to warn the person before they sinned and give them a chance to stop or explain that they knew it was sin.

Jesus masterfully replied, ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone’

He makes them look into their own hearts, to consider their own guilt.

When we look into the Word, it looks into us.

As we seek to understand the Word, it reveals more of God, but not revealing ourselves to us. It makes us aware of our shortcomings and also how He fills our lack!

Why do you suppose He wrote in the dirt? Perhaps it was to illustrate that they were not just challenging Jesus, but attempting to justify the Rabbinical traditions in reinterpreting the Law of Moses to fit their ‘modern’ culture and understanding of the Law. In truth, the Law didn’t fit into their theology so they reinterpreted it accordingly.

I want to look at this event in the life of Christ as an event in the life of the adulterous woman. How do you understand it from her perspective?

How does this fit us today?

She has no idea this is about who Jesus is. She only knows that this isn’t going to end well. These men are crazy and certain death awaits her! We don’t know if she was trapped or forced into whatever had occured whereby she was “caught in the act.” It is possible she didn’t have much for clothes on. Talk about being ashamed.

I think we can all identify with her.

The Bible says in Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Psalm 53:1-3 and Psalm 14:1-3 both say the exact same thing, and Paul quotes them in Romans 3:10-12.

Psalm 14:1–3 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Paul quotes other similar verses too when he concludes that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I want to say that Jesus reacted the way He does because she was unsaved - of the world, but this is just as likely Jewish woman who was caught with a Jewish man (although I suppose if the man wasn’t a Jew, that would explain why he was absent from the story).

Yes we came to Jesus as filthy, broken, sinners with no hope. Our sins were blatant, they were plain. We had no defense and no way to make one. There was no one to hear our case. Our accuser, Satan, just wouldn’t shut up. He kept prompting and pushing us into sin and then made us for guilty for it. But my point is that didn’t just end or go away when we got saved. We can still sin and fall short.

We don’t have to - but sometimes we do.

With no defense, just a heart after God, a heart of repentance, we can come to Him time after time and receive His forgiveness.

Romans 3:23–24 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more!

Not only does Jesus forgive our past, but He grants power for today and tomorrow!

Romans 6:4–6 ESV

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:11–14 ESV

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

In Romans 7 we read how it’s not always that easy. We might want to live righteously but fall back into sin. But when we give ourselves fully over to Jesus we find that we are no longer condemned to that kind of life. We can walk freely in His grace!

The woman had nothing she could say and no opportunity to speak until Jesus silenced His enemies and gave her opportunity.

Romans 8 really drives home for us the concept and the power to Go and SIN NO MORE!

Something happens when Jesus speaks. The words, wisdom, grace, love, truth, and power of God all culminate together informing and empowering us by the Holy Spirit to go and sin no more!

This woman had no chance, until God gave her another.

That’s just what Jesus does for us - gives us second chances.

She came to Jesus an adulteress, a sinner. She was broken, used, and thrown away.

But just gave her a second chance and the power to and the identity to overcome the past.

If she only trusts Jesus’ words, she will go and sin no more.

She will find that she is a new person.

The old is gone. The new is come!