Year 2, Day 256: John 8

The Trap Of The Adulterous Woman

John 8 begins with a story that the earliest of manuscripts do not include.  However, we have such overwhelming evidence from the later manuscripts that we include it in our Bibles with a special note to indicate that the early manuscripts do not include this story.  Whatever the case, this story gives us a really neat avenue for thought.

First, you will notice that a woman is brought before Jesus.  The Jewish leaders push her to the front – even seemingly interrupting Jesus in His teaching!  They remind Jesus that the Law says to stone a woman who is adulterous.  However, you will notice that they don’t actually obey the Law themselves.  See Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22.  In both of the passages from the Old Testament, it is clear that both offending adulterous parties should die.  Where is the man?

What is sad about this story is that the Jewish leaders are not looking to obey the Law, they are just looking to trap Jesus.  This is so true of many people who would interact with people of faith in the world today.  They aren’t actually looking to believe; they are simply looking to demonstrate their own cleverness and “win the day.”  Think about it.  If Jesus says, “Stone her, she’s guilty,” then what happens to His reputation as a “friend of sinners?”  If Jesus says, “Leave her alone,” then they can accuse Him of disobeying the Law.  So what does Jesus do?

Pay close attention here.  This is where we as human beings do not often follow the example of Jesus.  Jesus acknowledges the sin of the woman.  Jesus commands the woman to go and sin no more.  But Jesus also reminds the accusers that they are not without sin, either.  To the sinner, Jesus says, “You need to repent and change.”  To the accuser, Jesus says, “Don’t you dare be the judge over her until you have dealt with all of your own sin.”

This is where we mess up:

• Sometimes we want to be judgmental and judge everyone else in their sin.  When we do this, we fail to act in love.  Remember that none of us can live perfect lives.  None of us have the right to look at another person and say, “You’re not worthy to be here.”  As human beings we want to do that all the time, but Jesus tells us quite clearly that judging others is not our place!
• On the other hand, sometimes we are so afraid that we will judge someone else that we actually never stand up and point out the errors of the ways of people to whom God actually wants us to speak.  Sometimes we feel the need to be so permissive that we don’t actually end up actually helping people.  Remember that Jesus tells this woman to go and sin no more.  Jesus is interested in revealing the woman’s sin to her and encouraging her to live a better life.

What is the answer?  We must not be afraid to talk to those to whom God has called us to talk.  But, we must talk to them in love.  If we cannot talk to them as Jesus talks to this woman, then either we aren’t actually the ones that God has called to help them or we are not in the right spiritual place to be obedient to God.  When we cannot talk to people in love about their sin, the problem is not with the other people; the problem is with ourselves.  Either we’re not right spiritually with God or we’re not discerning God correctly.  If we are doing both of those things, then we should be able to talk to other people about their sin in love.  That’s a fundamental lesson of this illustration with the woman.

Jesus’ Discourse

Jesus then begins a long discourse with the Jews around Him.  Let me talk briefly about some of the neat points of the theology that comes out of what Jesus says.  First of all, notice the comment into which Jesus flows naturally.  “Whoever follows me will walk in light.”  Jesus makes that comment with respect to the woman’s condition as well as with respect to the people who would judge her.  Both parties erred.  Both parties need to alter their approach to life if they should desire to follow Jesus.

Jesus then spends quite a bit of time talking about His testimony.  While much of His speech is very interesting – and far too deep to get into over a blog – I can summarize a good bit of what he is saying fairly quickly.  God has not left Jesus.  When Jesus is dying on the cross, God’s witness about Jesus will be plainly made known.

I think that point is really pretty cool.  Jesus is basically saying the same advice to the Jews as the Old Testament prophets said to the kings.  Jesus is saying that when the future events unfold, it will be clear who is right.  Everyone can debate right now and have their opinion.  But the future will tell who is right.  Jesus knows how the future will pan out.  For the sake of the Jews, He wants them to be thinking about it beforehand so that when the future does pan out they might recognize the error of their ways.

More Disciples Leave Jesus

As we move into verse 31, notice that this actually a fairly sad story.  As these verses unfold, we discover that it is not actually the Jews who are the debaters in the verses that follow but the Jews who believed Him!  Even the Jews who believed Him take up issue with Jesus’ teaching.  This is a sad revelation, but it is unfortunately true.  Many come to Jesus for a while but do not have what it takes to stick with Him.  Many come to Jesus until Jesus begins to talk about things that take effort to think about or change and then they abandon Him.  It happens all the time.  It is sad.

In this particular chapter, the argument is over freedom.  Even the Jews who believed Jesus – not to be confused with His disciples, though – have the wrong perspective on freedom.  They believe themselves to be free.  They believe themselves to be their own masters.  They are blind to the fact that no man is free.  We are all slaves to our fleshly desires.  We are all slaves to our nature.  We all need to be set free – and only God can set us free.

Then Jesus gets pretty blunt with them.  Jesus says to them that they cannot bear His teaching.  It isn’t that they aren’t smart enough – certainly they are!  It is that they are unwilling.  They do not wish to genuinely follow the desires of the Father.  Instead they wish to follow the desires of their flesh.  They prefer to do and think the things that make sense to them.

That Which Should Bind Actually Separates

At last we reach the point at which they pick up stones to throw at Him.  The Jews – some of whom were even Jews who had believed Jesus and had been following Him – turn on Him.  What is it that pushes the conversation over the edge?  Eternal life.  The thing that should be our greatest treasure becomes the stumbling stone upon which many people fall.  Ultimately the question that we face is a simple one: do we actually believe that Jesus was, is, and is to come?  Do we actually believe that Jesus is the source of life?  Do we actually believe as we heard in the beginning of the Gospel – that through Him all things were made?  If we believe it, do we live like it?

This is a tough chapter, full of many pools of deep theology.  But ultimately this chapter is about the identity of Christ and whether we really desire to follow Christ and believe in who His is.

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