Tag Archives: caught in adultery

12 BY THE WAY…WHAT DID JESUS WRITE?

Bible Study, ,

There’s a story in John’s gospel that doesn’t appear in the original text…but perfectly fits the context. It’s a story about Jesus and the Pharisees…and a woman who, seemingly by chance, got caught in the act of adultery. 

If we ignore the context, we come out with a mysterious situation…and one full of conjectures and a variety of interpretations. Why did the Pharisees happen to discover this sordid situation…obviously taking place behind closed doors? Why were they so keen to drag the guilty woman before Jesus but leave the equally guilty man behind! Of course, it takes two to tango!

What was their motive for setting this up, if it was a setup? Was this about the woman and her guilt…the rightness of punishing her according the law of Moses…or about something more sinister? 

In the background, another Jewish festival was in progress…the Feast of Tabernacles, the last feast of the Jewish calendar year. Jesus arrived late for the feast after a tangle with His brothers… but just in time for the closing ceremony. The high priest was pouring out a jug of water on the ground. What did this mean?

“Pouring water during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) was a symbolic prayer and ritual asking God for rain and celebrating His spiritual and physical provision.” (Google AI)

For Jesus, water had a far greater significance. It symbolised the life  of God, in the person of His Spirit, available and given to anyone who was thirsty. So, He called out in a loud voice and made the offer to anyone who would come to Him. 

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.””

‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭37‬-‭38‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus’ invitation was the culmination of centuries of Israel’s defiance. In the words of Jeremiah…

“This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves… “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬, ‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“In John 7:37, the “water” or “living water” that Jesus offers symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who brings spiritual life and eternal satisfaction to believers.”

(Google AI)

Let’s watch how this scene played  out. 

Not only did the Pharisees reject Jesus’ offer of ”living water” but they also planned to arrest Him for blasphemy.  They sent the temple guards to do the job…but the guards returned empty handed. They were mesmerised by Jesus’ words. 

“Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.”

‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭45‬-‭46‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, against this backdrop, the Pharisees devised a plan. 

They happened, conveniently, to find and, consequently, dragged an adulterous woman before Jesus for His verdict. Would He forgive her and in doing so, violate the law of Moses or…would He condemn her and go against His own nature?

Jesus did something else…He said nothing. Instead, He bent down and wrote on the ground.  Now, here’s the puzzle. Why did He write, with His finger, on the ground? What did He write? 

There have been many guesses at what He wrote! Amazingly enough…the Bible itself gives us the answer…and in context! Jesus knew the Word…and so did the Pharisees! After all, He is the Word! 

What Jesus wrote in the dust shocked the Pharisees so much that they quietly slunk away and left the woman at Jesus’ feet. 

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? …Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬, ‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There it is…as clear as daylight! What did Jesus write? The names of every Pharisee involved in the scam! What was Jesus saying…without saying a word?

“i know you. I know your hearts. I  know your guilt…and I know your names!”

Jesus knew that these men had rejected His offer of living water. They were bent on trapping Him…in the end, to kill Him. He knew their plot and the setup they had created…and the names of every one of them. 

So He wrote their names in the dust…as a warning…a verdict…and a sentence! 

The perpetrators were shocked…guilty, and terrified…so they quietly disappeared!

There was another spinoff of Jesus’ action. An indictment and a guilty verdict needed at least two witnesses according to Mosaic law…so He made the witnesses go away!

The witnesses gone, Jesus was exonerated. He could apply His mercy, forgive the guilty woman, and set her free. 

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Bible Study, ,

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought 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 8:2-5 (NIV).

How convenient! Just when they needed some way of catching Jesus out on some (perceived) breach of the Law, one (or some) of them “happened” to come across this woman in a little liaison. Would these guys stop at nothing to nail Him? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it! Was this woman part of their trap? Were they willing to sacrifice her to get their way? And what of the male member of the conspiracy? Where was he? It takes two to tango.

In this whole debacle, what kind of a god were the religious leaders representing? Was this the God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt; the God who led them; cared for them; protected them; fed them and entered into a marriage covenant with them in the wilderness and gave them the Promised Land? Is this the God who taught them about loving Him and loving their neighbour as themselves? Was God’s Law intended to turn them into monsters or to show the world what kind of God He really is, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness?

Jesus was, along with rabbis Hillel and Shammai who preceded Him, a rabbi with authority. How often did the common people not wonder at His authority because He showed, them by His words and works, the true nature of God, and they marvelled! The other rabbis perpetuated the tradition of a God of law and justice who wreaked vengeance on those who stepped outside the Law, especially the way they interpreted the Law. They made a fetish of the Law and twisted the nature of God to suit their distorted version.

Jesus’ yoke was unlike theirs. He portrayed a God of mercy and compassion, one who was on the side of the poor and oppressed. He was not out to destroy but to restore. He had forgiveness and mercy for those who repented and healing for the sick in body and mind. His kingdom was built on love, God’s limitless and unconditional love for all people, and man’s love for each other because all barriers had been removed.

The Jewish leaders hated Jesus because He made God too nice. It didn’t suit them because a “nice” God took away their power to control the people through fear, and stripped away their cloak of hypocrisy.

How insensitive these men were! Imagine them dragging this poor, half naked wretch in front of Jesus, flinging her down on the ground and loudly demanding that He pronounce His “Guilty!” verdict on her or else…! ‘Come on, Jesus. We caught her IN THE ACT! Moses said we must stone her. What do you say?’ They were confident that they had Him. If He showed mercy to her, He would be deliberately acting against the Law of Moses. If He agreed to their stoning her, He would be applying their yoke, not His own. He would be going against His own authority and bowing to theirs.

Was Jesus caught off guard? Would He have an answer that would vindicate Him and be merciful to the poor victim who lay trembling on the ground, waiting to hear her fate?

I can imagine the self-satisfied grins on the faces of these men as they looked at one another in triumph. ‘We’ve got Him now,’ they must have thought. ‘There’s no way that He can wriggle out of this one!’ In full view of their audience of people eager to listen to the gracious teaching of the rabbi whom they admired and followed with expectation and enthusiasm, they waited for their answer.

But they didn’t know Jesus. He knew exactly how their minds worked. There was one small part of the Law they had forgotten…

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.