At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
John 8:2-9 NIVUK
I was recently at a church service where this verse was programmed to be preached on. I was looking forward to it. I think these are some of the most wonderful verses in all of Scripture. They contain what is, without doubt, the essence of the Gospel: that Jesus came to save those who are utterly lost.
But not everyone agrees.
And I wonder if the reason why they disagree is not just to do with how Jesus treats the woman.
I wonder if it is anything to do with how the Pharisees treat the woman.
You see, what happens here is utterly distasteful. Thoroughly chauvinistic. One hundred percent wrong. There can be no excusing it.
Let’s walk through the evidence. This woman has been caught committing adultery with a man. That much is clear. They would have to have been witnessed by at least two people. That much is also clear.
But where is the man?
It isn’t possible to commit adultery on your own – not the kind in Jewish law anyway. It took two to tango.
So where is he?
The law is clear: if adultery is proven then both the man and the woman should die:
‘ “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife – with the wife of his neighbour – both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Leviticus 20:10
If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 22:22
What’s more, while Proverbs appears to indicate that the woman is the instigator (which is what you’d expect from a man who married over a hundred women), Job indicates that it can also be the man:
The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, “No eye will see me,” and he keeps his face concealed.
Job 24:15 NIVUK
In other words, in the eyes of the Law and the great Biblical wisdom teachers, in the case of adultery, both the man and the woman are guilty.
But only one person stands trial here: the woman.
Was the man too fast? Too strong? Was he one of their own?
We don't know. The Bible doesn’t say.
What we do know is that this woman was caught with a man, doing gestures that could only ever be interpreted as adulterous, and was dragged away from the scene of the crime into the Temple, where she would stand trial.
And what happens next is beyond distasteful.
You see, although this was a capital crime in Jewish law, the occupying Romans had prevented the Jews from killing anyone. We see their clear frustration at this when Jesus was on trial:
Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ ‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ they objected.
John 18:31 NIVUK
So this woman was guilty, the Jews wanted to kill her, and they couldn’t because of the Romans.
So what did they do?
Instead of taking her to the priests to try her for her crime, they drag her over to Jesus and use her for petty point-scoring.
If Jesus says she should live, then, as far as the Jews would be concerned, He would be both siding with the Romans and condoning adultery.
If Jesus says she should die, then He is defying Roman law and guilty of insurrection.
What makes this so utterly sickening is that the Pharisees care little for this woman. Her welfare means nothing to them. What matters is them getting rid of Jesus.
That is utterly disgusting.
They are using her as bait and have set their trap.
What happens next is truly astonishing:
They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
John 8:6-9 NIVUK
Jesus does three incredible things here that we might easily skim over and miss.
Firstly, He stoops down. He takes a low position. He chooses the place of humility to meet with a humiliated woman.
Compared to the bullying she is receiving from the Pharisees, this is extraordinary.
But then, Jesus has got form when it comes to stepping down:
who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:6-8 NIVUK
This small gesture is an expression of the larger reality. Jesus stoops down to meet a humiliated sinner in their wretchedness and shame.
And, do you know what? He did the same for us.
He then writes on the ground. He does something utterly inscrutable, beyond comprehension, totally unique. A women is facing the death sentence and Jesus, calm as you like, is scribbling in the dust!
What did He write? We don’t know. There are many theories, extending from the law on adultery, to a law on bearing false testimony, to the law these Pharisees had broken themselves. But the truth of the matter is that we don't know. And we don’t know because we are not meant to know.
In the midst of our sin and degradation, Jesus reserves His Sovereign right to act the way He chooses and to work in ways our finite mind cannot understand. It might not seem so now, but even the cross itself is a Sovereign act that many at the time struggled to understand and completely misinterpreted:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1:22-25 NIVUK
And thirdly, He straightened up and straightened out the Pharisees with words so searing and challenging that they have echoed down through the years with unstinting power:
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’
John 8:7 NIVUK
In other words, these Pharisees themselves had no right at all to judge her or convict her, since they themselves were sinners!
Consider that for a moment. Let it sink in.
Jesus here extends grace to a woman who clearly has sinned – of that there can be no doubt. She is guilty as charged.
But He issues a searing rebuke towards those who have sinned, but pretend that they have not.
Jesus welcomes the penitent sinner, but has no time for the unrepentant Pharisee.
If we are to apply this in our day, if someone from a seriously morally depraved lifestyle comes to Christ and repents, they will be accepted. But if the most loyal churchgoer, no matter how high their position or how respected they are, struts around like they are flawless, when in fact they are filthy sinners, they will be rejected.
This explains Jesus’ fervour in His astonishing accusations against the Pharisees (Matthew 23).
It explains the white-hot heat of Paul’s salvo against His own people in Romans 2.
It explains James’ uncompromising teaching against false religion (James 1:26-27, 2).
Our Lord Jesus will have no truck with hypocrisy.
Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus stoops to meet the woman in her humiliation, but He stands tall in the face of false religion and puffed up pomposity?
And what happens next?
Jesus meets their law with His law. You see, in the law it was the witnesses – those who had actually seen the crime – who should throw the first stone:
On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no-one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 17:6-7NIVUK
But Jesus turns it around. He says that the person who has not sinned should throw the first stone.
In fact, the Greek word used also has a second meaning. It also means someone who ‘cannot sin’.
So Jesus isn’t just saying that they should cast the first stone if they are sinless now, He is also saying that they should cast the first stone if they will remain sinless.
In other words, He is saying, ‘If you can say without fear of contradiction that you have never sinned like this women, and will never sin like this woman, then feel free to stone her.’
And what happens as a result of this challenge?
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
John 8:9 NIVUK
The older Pharisees pragmatically realise that they are sinners too and leave. The younger ones gradually follow.
Jesus has ended their accusations against the sinful woman.
And He ought to end ours too, because earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, He taught these words:
‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 NIVUK
So what can we learn from this?
The Pharisees were humiliated here because they stood in judgement on someone while they themselves were themselves were sinners. Religion, even if perfectly executed, is no substitute for repentance. It cannot in any way cover our own iniquity or confer on us the right to look down on and judge other people.
The Pharisees were sinners. They were sinners before they humiliated this sinful woman. They were definitely sinners while they did it. And sadly, as they left this meeting without repenting, they were still sinners afterwards.
We must do all we can not to so the same.
Questions
1. The Pharisees drag this woman into the Temple; Jesus stoops down to talk to her. What does this tell us about their different attitudes towards her?
2. What was so wrong about the way the Pharisees acted here?
3. How can you guard against hypocrisy when you meet someone who is clearly sinning, but wants to change?
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