Uncondemned

Once again this morning we come to a scripture that is not what it seems. The title in my study bible is the adulterous woman. The thing is that this passage is not really about the woman at all. Even the scribes and the Pharisees who brought her to Jesus were not interested in the woman herself, they were just setting a trap for Jesus.

Like most of the bible this story is not about the woman and it is not about us, it is about Jesus. The woman in the story was just used for a purpose, like a tool by the Pharisees and scribes. Lets look at the story.

John 8:1–11 NASB95

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

Jesus had come to the temple in the early morning and was sitting down and teaching whoever would listen. Of course we know that the things Jesus taught often rubbed the Pharisees and the scribes the wrong way and I am sure they were trying to figure out a way to put a stop to it. And of course they had a plan. They showed up with a woman accused of adultery and dropper her in the lap of Jesus. Of course there were some things wrong with their story.

First off they said she was caught in the very act of adultery but somehow they did not have a man in tow. Was she caught in adultery by herself, how does that work? Why did they not bring the man she was caught with?

I have wondered and speculated over that from time to time. Was the man someone they didn’t want to embarrass, was he one of them, was he too important to accuse or was it just that they could have cared less about the sin of adultery and just needed someone to use to plan a trap for Jesus.

There was no reason to bring this woman before Jesus, they admitted that the law was clear about what to do, they had done it before, why not now, what was the problem. Were they going to wait until she was dead and then prove she did not commit adultery to try to embarrass Jesus, was the man too important to accuse and they wanted to trap Jesus into asking about him, what exactly was the trap here.

It was obvious that there was a trap since the scripture says they were testing him so that they could accuse him, they must have made some sort of plan to entrap Jesus.

I have heard many people speculate on what Jesus was writing in the dirt, some say it was sins that the accusers had commited, some say it was their names, others have other guesses. I wonder if he didn’t first write the name of the man she was accused of sleeping with. Whatever he wrote he did not answer them, Jesus just ignored all of them, but they didn’t give up,they kept after him.

He did not tell them not to stone her, he did not defend her, he did not say her sin was OK, he did not explain it away. He said he who is without sin cast the first stone. Then he continued to write on the ground. We have no idea what he wrote, in a movie he would have been writing the names of the mistresses of all the accusers. Whatever it was, between it and his words the accusers felt guilty and left. When no accusers were left Jesus also refused to accuser her and told her to go and sin no more. So what was this all about?

The story was not about adultery, we know nothing about the circumstances and Jesus never mentioned the sin of adultery or the consequences of that sin. We have no new rules for adultery and no new incites about marriage or faithfulness. In fact the subject is almost completely ignored except as a an accusation against this woman. Jesus neither defends her or accuses her. In fact he really doesn’t address her sin at all.

The one statement Jesus does make while everyone is still there is not addressed to the woman or her sin but to the accusers. He doesn’t tell them they are right or wrong to accuser her and he doesn’t change the punishment he just speaks to them about their own spiritual condition. What he writes on the ground we have no idea but it also seems to have been directed at the accusers.

I submit to you that this entire encounter had nothing at all to do with adultery and very little to do with the woman who was brought to Jesus. Jesus obviously did not disagree with the law of Moses, Jesus is God, the one who gave Moses the law. It is obvious from Jesus’ teachings that he did not support adultery and that he was not a fan of sin. Why did he let this woman go, because no one accused her and the law said that there should be witnesses.

So what was this encounter about? It was about Jesus teaching the people and the leadership not liking it. Do you think Jesus was teaching wrong, .........of course not. Was it that Jesus was a bad teacher .......... obviously not. So why did the Pharisees and scribes get upset? It could have been that Jesus was teaching something different than they were but then why not address the issue. Many other times the Pharisees took issue with something that Jesus or his disciples said or did. I don’t think they were upset because they thought Jesus was teaching wrong doctrine. Do you know what I think the problem was? I think it was that Jesus was doing something that they considered to be their job and they didn’t want anyone disturbing their apple cart.

I was in a church one time where there were a group of people who ran the kitchen. I think you could say that in their minds they owned the kitchen. My wife loves to cook and so she wanted to help and I am not sure they appreciated anyone stepping into an area that they felt was theirs. They wanted the say so and they wanted the control. One day someone brought in some snacks for our bible study class and I went to the kitchen to get some plates and napkins for us. It was then I got a shock.

I couldn’t find any plates or napkins in the cabinets I could open and someone from the kitchen committee came in and asked what I was doing. I told them and asked where the plates and napkins were and they told me they were locked up because in the past Sunday School classes had helped themselves to the kitchen supplies and that stuff came out of the kitchen budget. I offered to pay for for the plates and napkins if we could use a few and I was told that I could not, that these were not to be used for classes but only for entire church events. They had put locks on the cabinets and locked up supplies to make sure only authorized personnel could access the plates and napkins. It boggled my mind.

The next week we bought plates and napkins for our class and had to keep them separate from the church supplies and mark them as such. I couldn’t believe it.

The church was not having money problems and no one I knew of was complaining about how much we spent on plates and napkins but someone had decided that they needed to protect these supplies from the rest of the church. Someone had determined that this was their area of the church and had to be protected at all costs.

Have you ever seen someone who stakes out an area in the church that they consider theirs. No one else should enter or interfere with their ministry, their area, their project. There is a huge problem with that way of thinking. Nothing in the church is mine, it all belongs to God. If God wants someone else to teach or preach in his church then that is perfectly all right. It’s his church. I have never been in a church where there were too many people serving and not enough to do. Every church I have been in had too much to do and too few people to do it. We should be grateful whenever anyone wants to help.

I once went into a restaurant in a small town with three of my co-workers. We sat down and were waiting on the waitress when a family came in and walked up to our table, they said we needed to move because that was their table and we were in the way. The waitress came over and told us to move that they always sat at that table. I was blown away. I thought how rude can you be. Then again I have had the same thing happen in church.

I once visited a church where my wife and I sat down in a pew and were later told that we had to move because that was where someone else always sat. We did not feel welcome and we did not go back.

I don’t think this account was about adultery at all. I don’t think they cared about the woman or what she might have done, if they did why did they walk away and leave her there. I think the whole think was about Jesus stirring up the part of the church that they had claimed for themselves without asking their permission. I think many of the scribes and Pharisees cared more about their status and their reputation than they did about the people or about God. I think Jesus knew that and that is why he got so upset with them.

When Nicodemus came to him with questions he didn’t get upset, he answered them patiently and calmly because Nicodemus really wanted to know. When the scribes and Pharisees came with questions they were almost always trying to trap Jesus or make him look bad in front of the people. They didn’t care about the people and they didn’t care about God they just cared about getting their own way and being important in front of everyone else.

That is why we don’t know what Jesus wrote and why we don’t get the details of the adulterous relationship, it was never about that. It was about Jesus stepping on someones toes by taking away their place or their status. Jesus didn’t care about their status and what they thought they deserved, Jesus cared about their souls and the souls of the people. He knew that the quickest way to stop their attack was to embarrass them because what they were really worried about was their own reputations and their own importance. We don’t know exactly how he did it because Jesus did not desire fore them to be embarrassed but to change. If Jesus had wanted then to be embarrassed for all time he could have given us their names and what he wrote to embarrass them, but he didn’t.

Jesus doesn’t want to embarrass us today, or knock us down, but he does want us to care more about God and about others than we do about our own reputations or our own importance. Jesus doesn’t want us to stake out a ministry or a part of the church to call our own, he wants us to work together under his leadership to include everyone who wants to help and everyone who is willing to be a part. Jesus wants us to serve the church and each other, not to own the church and each other.