(Looking at watch) Whooo. I’m gonna have to preach quick!
Are you ever pushed for time?
If so, you may relate to the busy executive in New York who needed to catch a train. He had just about given up trying to live a consistently "personal" Christian life because of the demands on his time. But on the way to the station he promised himself that he would try to be a Christian that day instead of only talking about it. By the time he picked up his ticket, he was late. He charged across the lobby with his bags and down the ramp. He heard the last "all aboard!" He was just about to get onto the train when he saw a small boy who had been bumped into by a suitcase. The boy had been carrying a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces were now scattered all over the platform under the passing feet.
The executive paused. He saw the child in tears. With an inward sigh he stopped, smiled, and helped the boy pick up his puzzle as the train pulled out.
The child watched him intently. When they had finished, the little boy looked at the man with a kind of awe. "Mr.," he asked, "are you Jesus?"
And for a moment the man realized that on that platform he had been.
This morning in the Gospel of John, Jesus is handed a puzzle. He puts it together. But what is more important is that He puts together a life.
(John 7:53 - 8:11)
This is a powerful and startling encounter. It is so startling, it is so powerful, that it posed severe problems for the early church. This is why you don't find it at all in some translations. In other translations, you find it in little type or enclosed in brackets.
All this is because nobody knew quite what to do with this story. One ancient manuscript group makes it a part of the gospel of Luke. Others place it after John 7:36. Others after John 21:24.
The reason for all of this confusion is a debate which arose in the early church over this story. Some saw the story as containing a permissive attitude toward sin. Others saw it as one of the great pictures of the grace of Christ.
Finally those who believed that the story needed to be told as it happened won out. But by that time, nobody was sure where it belonged. It probably doesn't belong where we find it today since it breaks right into the middle of Jesus' teaching on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. But there is no real doubt that it tells us about an actual event.
Jesus is in the Temple. There is a noise and a sound of scuffling. The Scribes and Pharisees are dragging and pushing a woman. They place her in the middle of the circle formed by those who are there to hear Jesus teach. Then they say "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act."
We need to understand what's going on here.
According to Jewish law, a person could not be accused of adultery on the basis of circumstantial evidence. This is not a case where a husband comes home and finds his wife with an unknown man who escapes by jumping out a window.
A charge of adultery can only be filed by two independent witnesses. They must see the woman and man in the actual sexual act. No other explanation of the behavior can be possible. They can’t be accused on the basis of a "compromising situation" like being seen walking out of the Notell Motel. It’s not enough that they are lying on the same bed together. The physical actions must be explainable by no other action than adultery.
These conditions are so stringent that they can only be met on rare occasions. This is usually when a suspicious husband lays a trap for his wife. But before he can set the trap, he first has to confront her with his suspicions. The principle is "no penalty without a warning."
There is therefore a very important question that is raised from the text.
You’ve already thought of it.
Where is the man? Why isn't he dragged into the Temple?
The only explanation is that he was allowed to escape. Perhaps he was the bait to catch a woman who is distrusted by her husband and, for some reason, hated by the community. The accusers are after Jesus. But they seem to be after this woman too. It’s a “twofer”. There is no need to make her stand in full view of the crowd while the case is brought to Jesus. But this is what they do.
The accusers say to Jesus: "In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. What do you say?"
They are right in one respect. The law is clear. Leviticus 20:10 states that the penalty for adultery is death. Deuteronomy 22 states that in the case of a girl who was engaged to a man but not yet married to him, the death is to be by stoning.
In other cases, according to the Jewish law book, the Mishnah, death is to be by strangulation. Even the method of strangulation is set down in the Mishnah which is a very precise book. The adulterer is to be placed in a manure pile up to his or her knees. A soft towel set within a rough towel is placed around the neck. The towels are drawn tighter and tighter until death occurs.
But the one thing the accusers of the woman leave out is that both the man and the woman caught in the act of adultery are to be killed. Still, the Pharisees are perfectly correct. Assuming that this woman was a virgin engaged to a man which means she is probably about 14 or 15 years old she is liable to death by stoning.
Of course, by the time of Jesus, this was rarely done. The usual action was for the husband to divorce his wife and receive monetary compensation from her partner. Still, the law is clear. The offense is clear. So why do they come to Jesus to get His decision?
John comments in verse 6: "but they were saying this in order to test Jesus, in order that they might have grounds for accusing him."
As philosopher, mathematician, and theologian Blaise Pascal comments, "People never delight in doing evil so much as when they can do it for religious reasons." We have certainly seen that in our own time from terrorists who claim the name of Muslim. But it’s not just a Muslim phenomena.
What is the nature of the test?
As they see it, Jesus has two choices. He can say "stone her" or He can say "don't stone her."
If Jesus says, "stone her", He will be open to a charge under Roman law. Around 28 A.D., the Roman Senate reserved the "eis gladeai," the right of the sword or capital punishment, to Rome alone. You can't take a human life without Roman approval. If Jesus says "stone her," He will be in violation of this law.
And if Jesus says "stone her", he will also lose the name he is gaining for love and mercy. He will no longer be called "the friend of sinners". His enemies can say "Sure He says ‘come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden’ But when you do come, He's going to hit you with a brick."
If, on the other hand, Jesus says "don't stone here," He will be open to a charge of disobedience to the law of God.
The Pharisees have been watching Jesus. They know He won't go along with stoning this young woman to death. But they know that if He doesn't, He will lose that part of the populace who want a strong "law and order" candidate for messiah.
The test is vicious and cynical.
The woman is the pawn.
How does Jesus respond?
Jesus stoops down and begins to write with his finger on the ground.
I sure wish I had the concession on all the ink that's been used in the discussion of why Jesus wrote, what Jesus wrote and even whether or not He could write. Some suggest that Jesus writes a record of the people's sins. Some suggest that He is giving Himself time to think. Some suggest that Jesus just wants to make the Pharisees declare their charge aloud a second time. Maybe then they will recognize the sadistic cruelty in their own words. Still other suggest that Jesus stoops to write on the ground to divert the eyes of the people from the shattered woman in the center of the ring.
One explanation might be found in the practice of Roman courts. The presiding judge first wrote the sentence and then read it aloud from the written record. Jesus, by His motion, might be saying in effect, "you have asked me to usurp the function of the Roman governor. Alright. But I'll do it in the approved Roman fashion.” Then he stoops down to write what He will say.
For whatever reason, He does it, Jesus slows everything down. He dictates the pace. He takes the situation out of the hands of the Pharisees into His own hands.
John Hanley, former chairman and president of Monsanto Chemical told of the shock he had when he arrived as his oldest son's first Little League baseball game. "I arrived a bit late, just as my son’s team was coming back into the dugout. I asked him, "what's the score?" He said, "twentyeight to nothing." Whose favor?" My son shrugged, "who knows? We haven't been to bat yet."
I’ve been to games like that.
Well the Pharisees are confident that they have Jesus down twentyeight to nothing. But now Jesus is about to come to bat. The accusers keep asking for a ruling. Jesus says, "He who is without sin among you, let Him be the first to throw a stone at her."
They ask Jesus, "What do you say about her?" He turns the question around. "What do you say about you?"
Some writers suggest that what Jesus wrote on the ground was the first part of Exodus 23:1: "Put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." He may be reminding the Pharisees that their actions in the whole affair are unsavory. If this is really a case of offended morals where is the man?
In any case, Jesus words cut deep. "If any of you have never wanted to do the same thing this woman is accused of and if you haven't been fantasizing about her here in the middle of the circle and if you are clean from other guilt, go ahead and stone her." Then Jesus stoops down once again and resumes writing on the ground.
The people are left to look inside themselves. Then John tells us that they begin to go out one by one with the older ones going first. The verb tense indicates something like a continued procession. They don't all leave at once. They leave as they evaluate the impact of Jesus' words on their own lives.
Some have seen in the order of their going a picture of the younger men standing politely back until the older men leave. I don't think there was anything so formal. I think the older men go first because they are quicker to understand what Jesus has said. They know their own frailty and the depths of imperfection in their own lives. They have lost the cocky attitude of the younger men.
I bet that some of the younger men don't even realize that Jesus had not only passed judgement, but also made it impossible for them to carry out the judgement until they see that they have been deserted by the elders. They look around and say “Where’d everybody go? Oh!”
There is only one person in the crowd who is qualified to throw the stone. That is Jesus. He is the sinless one. He stands up and faces the woman. They are now face to face. He asks her, "Has no one condemned you?" She says: "no one, Lord." Jesus says, "Neither do I condemn you. From now on, sin no more."
Notice what Jesus does here. He shifts the woman's focus away from that angry, menacing, hypocritical crowd to her own life and her relationship with Him. She has to face Jesus as we must all face Jesus.
He doesn't ask if she is sorry for what she has done. He doesn't ask her if she's ready to turn over a new leaf. He extends compassion and calls her to start over on a new life. He also doesn't say that she hasn't sinned. He doesn't say "don't sweat it. It could have happened to anyone, you're only human." He says, "from now on, sin no more."
Jesus extends forgiveness to the woman and calls her to live is a way that shows that she welcomes what Jesus has given her. He calls her to repentance. Repentance isn't just feeling bad about what you've done. It's turning around and living in a different way.
When Michigan played Wisconsin in basketball early in the 1989 season, Michigan's Rumeal Robinson stepped to the foul line for two shots late in the fourth quarter. His team trailed by one point.
Robinson could regain the lead for Michigan. But he missed both shots which allowed Wisconsin to upset Michigan.
Of course Robinson felt terrible. But his sorrow didn't stop at the emotional level. It led to a change of behavior. After each practice for the rest of the season, Robinson shot 100 extra foul shots.
This is why Robinson was ready when he stepped to the foul line to shoot two shots with three seconds left in overtime in the National Championship game. Michigan was one point down. Swish went the first shot. Swish went the second shot. Those shots won Michigan the
national championship.
Robinson's repentance was genuine. It bore fruit. His sorrow caused him not just to feel bad but to shape his life. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "godly sorrow leads to repentance."
Jesus says to the woman, "it's time to change your life. From now on, sin no more."
The gospel of Jesus is the gospel of the second chance. It's not a second chance easily given. Jesus does not gloss over the sin lightly. He pays what he does not require her to pay.
He has cheated the crowd of blood. For that he will have to pay. He has humiliated the Pharisees. For that he will have to pay. He has done good to bad people. That cannot be forgiven. Many people want a leader who will trample evil not bear it. Jesus is finally to die for the sin of this woman, the sin of her accusers, the sin of her husband, and the sin of the missing man.
What is amazing is this passage is the extent to which Jesus stretches himself in love for one that much of the world considers fallen beyond repair. What we're talking about here is grace. We see the grace that we can receive from Jesus. We also see the grace we can give in His name -- a grace that I have seen many people in this congregation both teach and live.
How does the woman respond? We don't know. We’ll explore some possibilities this week in our small groups. But we don’t really know.
Jesus gives her a fresh start and calls her to a change of life.
She has a choice. She can go back to her old ways or reach out to the new way with Him.
The story is not finished to our curiosities' satisfaction. It’s left hanging.
But then, every story - including our own stories - is really unfinished until we also stand face to face with our Lord.