John 8:1-11

May 29 / John 8:1-11

Adulterer

This is a short but powerful passage today. There were several things wrong with the way this was going down. I guess the most obvious is the fact that adultery is a two person matter but only one gets drug into this situation. (Of course it must have been her fault for seducing the poor innocent man.)

The less obvious, but perhaps even more infamous, issue is that the whole thing was basically a trap for Jesus. His enemies catch this woman and... someone who escaped in the act of adultery. Instead of dealing with it in some fashion they decide to use her life to put Jesus in a bind. Obviously if He says to stone her then she will receive a punishment that was apparently rarely enforced. If He says not to stone her then He is standing against Moses! They care nothing for the fact that she could die. That in itself says a lot more about them than the adultery says about her.

Jesus of course throws it back to them. The One who said, “Don’t judge the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a plant in your own eye,” gives them the choice. He simply tells then the proper way to carry out the sentence. To their everlasting credit they all leave.

She isn’t out of the woods. The One who has the right to cast the first stone is standing right in front of her. He doesn’t. He pardons her and tells her to leave her life of sin. Guilty unto death but offered life and freedom. That is the gospel of Christ.