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.” 12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The passage that we are looking at this morning is one that has excited a lot of debate. The earliest manuscripts we have do not have these verses in them as most
translations point out. I am not going to take up that debate here, if you are interested you can read about it in any good commentary and get the basics of the discussion. However, I do think it is important to say that the principles we will be looking
at this morning from these 12 verses are easily seen in other texts of the bible.
As an aside, if you took all the texts of the Bible that have some questions about and got rid of them, we would not change one single doctrine of our faith. If you
took them all and included them all, the result would be the same. The fact that there are a few questions about a few texts of the bible, is nothing that should shake our confidence in God’s Word, in fact careful study shows just the opposite, the message
of Scripture is one from beginning to end.
In this story we have a woman who falls into the hands of a group of people who in their arrogance and legalism, their impersonal hatred for this woman, bring her
to Christ. In the NT we find the Pharisees acting like they know the law and that they know God but over and over again Jesus reveals that they know neither. They are in fact rebels in their hearts against God, hiding themselves, hiding their sin, and hiding
it, of all places in the law of God. Oftentimes, we can hide ourselves in the law and the law becomes for us a cloak by which we hide a deep seeded self-righteous arrogance. That is, we can point at how everything is in line, everything looks good, but we
leave the heart untouched and the truth is, our hearts are a mess.
And what a spectacle we have here. Not one of these men could say he was NOT guilty, not one of them had any righteousness, even from the very sin for which they dragged
the woman forward. Suppose I live in a community where I am of one race and the police are of another.
Suppose someone of my race is stopped by the police as a consequence of the arrest, mysteriously dies. So, I and others are outraged and appeal to the law, pleading
the law’s case, invoking the law and hoping for justice. Suppose at the end of the ordeal a judgment is rendered that satisfies my understanding of what the law should say and do, my sense of justice. My cause was righteous, the law has been upheld and I know
am vindicated, and I walk away with a sense of the righteousness of my cause and even that I myself am righteous because the law agrees with me. I am on the right side of the law.
But what if the truth of the matter was this, that regardless of high regard for the law, I am a horrible racist. What if that were the truth? And in my zeal for the
law, I am actually hiding myself IN the law? The law has become a place for me to hide, the law has been served and I think myself to be innocent and I rejoice in my righteousness, but it is nothing but the righteousness of the Pharisee.
The question is, what if underneath it all, there is a deep seeded hatred for African Americans, or for Hispanics or for whites. Is my hatred on trial? The Pharisee
says No. Jesus, the author and expositor of the law of God, the one to whom these people appeal with this woman, says just the opposite, He says yes. Yes it is, your hatred IS on trial, your self-righteousness is on trial, maybe not in the courts of men, but
in the courts of heaven, which the law serves. Your hatred, in fact IS the point. If you do not understand this, or if you think to get away with it, then you have missed not only the point of the law but you have missed the point of the gospel.
Perhaps you are thinking about this woman, “But she was guilty, let’s cut the Pharisees some slack here, they merely were seeking to obey the law of God.” But what
Jesus is revealing, is that those folks had no understanding of mercy but more importantly, they didn’t even know the law’s purpose. The first century Pharisees didn’t see themselves as guilty before God, only sinners are guilty and they did not consider themselves
in that “group”. This woman, or the fishermen Jesus called, or those who Jesus healed, they are sinners,they deserve God’s anger, they deserve death, but not us!”
Jesus is saying in effect, Ok, I will deal with her, according to the laws of my kingdom…and I will deal with you according to the same.” So, what does Christ do?
Well, for those men, they want the law as their judge…then so be it. But to the broken sinner, to the heart prepared by the Holy Spirit, Jesus brings the gospel. In the gospel…in Jesus there is mercy, forgiveness to be found.
Did the woman deserve to die, according to the law? Yes, yes she did, as did every person standing there that day, as did everyone who spoke of her guilt, as does
every one of us. But Jesus does not speak about what is deserved but demonstrates the purpose of His being in this world to begin with…to save sinners. She was an outcast, she stands condemned under the law but after Jesus makes the statement, “He who is
without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” the crowd disperses…“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.
It is the same thing Paul says in Romans 8: “Who will bring any charge against those God has chosen? It is God who justifies, who then can condemn?” When Grace
speaks, the world is silenced! Grace doesn’t say, you didn’t sin, Grace says, I cover your sin…all of it. Are you guilty before the law? Is God right to condemn you? Yes…yes He is. And yet, what does Jesus say to you? If by faith you are trusting and living
for Jesus, if this is you…you hear these words too…Neither do I condemn you.
Are there more glorious words than these? Is this not the gospel…is this not what you have staked your hope upon? Not pretending your sin isn’t the awful, rebellious
death deserving reality that it is…But by falling at the feet of mercy!
Prayer: Father, I often content myself that I am not like the Pharisee. And yet, my own self-righteousness cannot be hidden. I think too highly of myself and often
exalt myself above my brothers and sisters. Help me to see my true state apart from Jesus, what I am as sin has made me. And then, Father of all mercy, chase me to the Savior that I might embrace who I am as grace has made and is making me to be; Through Jesus
Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Buy Grace I’m Saved, Grace Free and Boundless (click show more for lyrics)