Go and sin no more

John 8:3-11 (NLT)

As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.  “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.  They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.  When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

We humans love to find fault.  We take pleasure and relish when someone is caught doing something wrong.  Self-righteous people, especially, love to judge compare themselves favorably with others.  The self-righteous people in Jesus’ day, in a supreme act of showing off their self-righteousness, barged in front of a crowd listening to Jesus’ teaching and accused this woman of adultery.  Adultery perhaps is the second worst sin a person can commit (murder the first although Jesus said that the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, Matt 12:22-32).  Her accusers were using the woman as bait to trap Jesus.  Either He would have to condemn the Law of Moses (e.g. Lev 20:10) or condone the sin of the woman.

Adultery in biblical times was punishable by stoning.  Stoning was basically torturing the victim to death because rarely did one or two stones kill someone; thus, great suffering preceded death.  Stoning is still a method of capital punishment in several Muslim countries.

Had Jesus not been around when this woman was supposedly caught in the act of adultery, they surely would have summarily stoned her.  This story shows the discrimination of women in those patriarchal times and even in some countries today where the man involved in adultery is often set free, but the woman punished.   

Have you ever wondered what Jesus was writing on the sand?  The author, John, chose not to reveal what Jesus wrote so perhaps He was just “doodling” on the sand like we doodle on paper as we are contemplating something.  However, I cannot accept the possibility of the Son of God doodling!  Was He writing the commandment about adultery on the sand like God wrote it on the stone tablet (Exo 31:18)?  Was He writing the woman’s name?  Was He writing the names of the accusers?  I found a website* by Julie Barrier that offers some very interesting views about what Jesus was writing in the sand.  This offers an explanation on why the oldest accusers left first.

Adultery was and is a very serious sin (Exo 20:14, Gen 39:9, Deut 22:22-24, Matt 5:28, 32).  Yet, Jesus did not condemn this woman who committed adultery.  Why?  Did He feel sorry for her circumstances that caused her to be a prostitute?  Was she being unfairly treated by men?  Did He know that she had no one to defend or rescue her?  Did He not believe that God’s laws were to be enforced?  No, Jesus did not condemn this woman’s sin because His first coming into the world was not to judge (John 3:17), but to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).  The message of the gospel is shown in this story, that Jesus came to forgive sins once and for all.  Someday Jesus will judge His people (II Cor 5:10), but for now Jesus saves those who come to Him.      

Think about Jesus’ words-----“Neither do I (condemn you). Go and sin no more.”  Jesus’ judgment upon this sinner was not to condemn her although He did not condone the sin.  He freed her from the penalty of her sin.  He would pay the penalty for sin by suffering and dying on the cross.  Jesus gave her a second chance, but with the challenge “go and sin no more”.  He called her from a life of sin to a life of faith. The woman was to live the rest of her life (“go”) and sin no more. 

How does this story give you hope?  Do you sense Jesus talking to you like He talked to this woman?  How must you respond?       

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http://www.preachitteachit.org/articles-blogs/piti-blog/post/archive/2011/october/article/what-did-jesus-really-write-in-the-sand-in-john-8/