The woman caught in adultery: Go and sin no more

Jesus taught as one with authority and power. His charismatic ministry was opposite to the way the religious leaders of His time approached their teaching. The powerful ministry of Jesus caused the religious leaders to be jealous. In one of His encounters with the religious leaders in Jerusalem, they demonstrated their unbelief in Jesus. They boldly declared that a prophet does not come out of Galilee (John 7:53). After this incident, Jesus had His moment of solitude where He redrew and spent some time praying on Mount Olives. Opposition wasn’t a limitation to Jesus. Remember, the leaders had openly opposed Jesus. They had declared that no prophet comes from Galilee. In that single statement, they literally condemned the ministry of Jesus. If Jesus is from Galilee, then He couldn’t be a prophet. Yet, Jesus returned again to the temple courts at dawn and all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them (John 8:1‭-‬2). This post will consider an incident that happened to Jesus while He was teaching.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group (John 8:3)

In the midst of Jesus’ teaching session, “the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (John 8:3‭-‬5). This question according to John was a trap they set for Jesus so they would have a basis for accusing him. Jesus did not quickly respond to them. He bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger (John 8:6). Imagine the woman who was caught in adultery at that moment. She was caught in the act and unfortunately, the leaders arrested her and let go of her ‘partner in sin’. The man who laid with her might have been aware that the woman was married. Why did the leaders arrest her alone and leave the man? This question is still relevant in the 21st century. Adultery is a sin committed by two people. Thus, any punishment should be received by the two people involved in the action.

The woman was not just shamed for her adulterous affair, by bringing her to Jesuss, she was also made a public case study. I can imagine that years after this incident, she would have had to live with the stigma of being dragged through town to the temple Court. However, the stigma couldn’t be compared with the mercy she received. Jesus, the teacher after hearing her accusers, just bent down and started to write on the ground. Then, “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.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” (John 8:7‭-‬8). Jesus did not justify the action of the woman, He invited her accusers to condemn her if they themselves are sinless. Whatever Jesus wrote on the ground, the invitation to the accusers definitely did not go down well. You would have expected them to start throwing stones but they did not. John 8:9 says that, “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.”

The accusers were sinners like the woman caught in sin. They had their own weaknesses but they were ready to stone another person. At this point, “Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”” (John 8:10). She replied, “No one, sir,”. Jesus said to her, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11). Jesus knew the woman was guilty but He still showed mercy and gave her another opportunity to live a sinless life. The woman might have left the temple happy and grateful that her life had been spared. If Jesus had not intervened, she would have been killed for committing adultery. However, Mercy said No to death but YES to LIFE.

The woman caught in adultery reminds us of the grace of God that has permanently redeemed us from the wages of sin. We have been set free to leave sin and to live for Jesus. What should be our response? We should live our present life in view of the grace and mercy we have received. We should not return to our old ways of life. God is a just God, we should not take His mercy for granted. We are no longer slaves to sin!