Year 8, Day 256: John 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

John 8 opens with a great story.  Here a woman comes before Jesus, accused.  Jesus teaches the religious leaders a great saying.  The one who has no sin in his life is welcome to cast the first judgment.  The religious leaders go away, because they get the point.

While that is a great message, that is only a small portion of the story.  Keep in mind the broad context.  The religious leaders are looking for a way to kill Jesus.

That leads to a really interesting question.  The religious leaders leave because they get the point.  But what is the point that they get?  Do they really understand what Jesus is teaching?  Do they leave because they are convicted of the sin in their heart?  To be honest, with all the arguments that have come before and after this story, I would honestly find it hard to believe that they leave because of their guilt over Jesus’ conviction of the sin in their heart.

Could it be that they leave because they aren’t going to get what they want out of this scenario?  Remember, they bring the woman before Jesus to force him into a position.  Does he side with them and risk alienating the crowd?  Does he side with the woman and give the religious leaders an opportunity to show how Jesus doesn’t take sins like adultery seriously?  They want to force Jesus into a position, knowing that as soon as Jesus takes a side they have an angle against Him.  They leave, then, because by taking no overt side in the debate He gives them no angle against them.

Jesus’ teaching is masterful, and it teaches us much about sin and judgment.  But the greater context of this story is about Jesus, not the woman.  This is why we continue to read in the story that the religious leaders come again and again to argue with Jesus.  They are after His death.

What’s really interesting is what Jesus focuses on inside the trap of the religious leaders.  Jesus teaches us that the truth will set us free.  The truth of the presence of sin set the woman free in the beginning of this chapter.  The truth of each of our sins sets us free as we turn to God, confess them, and allow Him to work on freeing us from that bondage.  When we live in sin, we are in bondage.  When we turn to God and confess our sin, the Son can set us free.

I love that even when Jesus is threatened, He continues to teach about freedom.  Instead of defending Himself, Jesus focuses upon what God has sent Him to do.  It nearly gets Him stoned, but I am willing to bet that He knew that possibility existed.  He knew that the message of truth was worth the trouble it would bring to Him.

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