On Line Bible Study - For th Week May 28 - June 3, 2012

The Woman Taken in Adultery, Guercino.

Lesson 538

John 8:    ¹ Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the
 people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

 

Questions regarding the authenticity of this text date as far back as the Third Century. While the oldest manuscripts don't contain the story, most manuscripts do.  Some theorize that early church leaders removed the story for fear it would be interpreted as sanctioning adultery.

In spite of the textual uncertainties, this is one of the best-known stories in the Christian Testament.  From it we derive the idiomatic phrase: "cast the first stone".

Let's consider two things - The Trap, and Jesus' Escape.

The Trap   The Law of Moses calls for the execution of adulterers. However, under Roman occupation, were the Jews authorized to put persons to death?  The fact that the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees had not already done so is an indication of their reticence to enact the punishment called for in their law, perhaps out of fear of Caesar's law.  The trap is meant to put Jesus in an untenable situation - one in which he has to be in clear violation of either religious or secular law.  No matter which way he decided, he would be in trouble either with Jewish leaders or Roman leaders.  The "trap" was very well thought out, masterfully set and had a high probability of accomplishing its goal.

Jesus' Escape    Jesus did not respond immediately.  (Sometimes that is the best  strategy - to wait!)  By saying nothing, he puts the accusers in the position of having to escalate their position.  He stoops down and lets them turn up the volume.  As I imagine the scene, it must have been a bit awkward for the leaders and Pharisees.  Their attention is focused downward, away from the woman and toward the bending Christ who does not look them in the eye.  When Jesus finally does stand up, his tone is not harsh.  He does not 'put the accusers in their place', but he does set a trap of his own.  The difference between the trap they set for Jesus and the one he sets for them is simply this: one is intended to pin us down; the other is intended to set us free.  Let those without sin cast the first stone ...

By stooping down a second time, Jesus once again removes himself.  This time I imagine that, whatever their physical posture, the spirit of the accusers was directed heavenward.  Now they were invited to consider their own worthiness - or unworthiness, as the case may be - and in so doing the harshness of their judgment began to crumble.  The essence of life and the truly important issues are not the ones between us and some other 'sinner', or between us and Jesus.  The real issue is to be honest with ourselves before God.

The Gospel Message: We are forgiven.

The Gospel Challenge: Sin no more.