Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 7, 2014 Gospel Reading John 8:2-11 1 Sermon Series The Gospel of John Part 15 A Woman Caught In Adultery 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? 11 She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Just recently, I was thinking about how this summer has been, sort of, the summer of militant Islam. It started with the Boko Haram group in Nigeria, slaughtering entire villages of Christians and kidnapping young women and girls. Then, as the summer wore on, the terrorist group ISIS took center stage. From their base in eastern Syria, they swarmed across central Iraq, killing everyone who stood in their way. They executed two American journalists and posted videos of their vicious crimes on the internet. But they saved their most horrific acts for the Christian villages that they captured. In those villages, they killed Christians in ways too horrible to imagine. Then there is the ongoing concern about entire countries which are under Islamic rule, where Christians are being persecuted and brutalized. We think of Iran, where Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, is still in prison. And then there s Sudan, where Bob Yarbrough just sent me another article about a Christian Church in Khartoum whose property was seized and the leaders were arrested. And, of course, don t forget about Al Quaeda! They just recently posted out a video saying that they were planning attacks in Europe and the US, to coincide with the
2 anniversary of 9/11. I guess they felt like ISIS was upstaging them and they needed to get the attention back on their group. And all of this is being done in the name of their Islamic religion, in the name of their prophet Mohammed, and in the name of their God, Allah. Their twisted version of Islam is a religion of hatred and violence and judgment. It is a religion of the sword. And if you think about it too much, or dwell on it too long, it can really weigh you down. You can really get discouraged. And that s kind of where I was at the beginning of this past week. I was watching too much news, and I was praying for friends in Sudan and Christians around the world who are suffering. And I was discouraged. But then I started to prepare for this sermon, about the story of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. It s a story that I know so well. I ve read it at least a hundred times. But this week it really hit me between the eyes. And I said to myself, This story is why I am so glad that I am a Christian. This is why I am so thankful that Jesus Christ has come into my life. Because, in a world full of hatred and condemnation, this story reminds me that the God I believe in, the one true God of the universe, is a God of love and mercy. He is a God of grace. And other than the actual story of the crucifixion, there is probably no story in the Bible where the grace of God comes through more powerfully than in this story of how Jesus deals with A Woman Caught In Adultery. Now before I get into the story itself, there is one issue that I need to talk about. It is an academic issue. You see, some Bibles like the one that I use for my study put this story in the text of John s Gospel, right at the beginning of chapter 8. But other Bibles deal with it differently. Some Bibles put it as a footnote at the bottom of the page. The reason for this is that this story does not appear in all of the early manuscripts of the New Testament. As Bible-believing Christians, we believe in the inspiration of Scripture that God inspired the writers of the Bible, so that what they wrote was truly the Word of God. But we don t actually have the original documents in our possession anymore. What we have are copies of the originals. And these copies were done by hand for many centuries, until the printing press was invented in the 1400 s A.D. Because the Scriptures were hand-copied, over time there came to be some slight differences between the copies. We call these differences variants. But what is amazing is that, with all of the copying that was done, we really have very few variants. In fact, R. C. Sproul says that, With respect for the main substance of Scripture, more than ninety-nine percent of it is in agreement in all the families of the copies; it is in less than one percent of the texts in the Bible that variant readings are found. And he says, No major doctrine of the Christian Church is affected by those variant readings. The fact that the Biblical texts are consistent over more than ninety-nine percent of the copies is a testimony to how greatly the early Christians honored and respected the Bible. It is also a testimony to the fact that the same God who inspired the writing of the Bible also protected the process of copying it and handing it down through the ages. But having said that, this story of the woman taken in adultery happens to be one of those texts that fall into the less than one percent. It appears in some of the ancient texts of the Gospel of John, but it does not appear in some of the other ancient texts. So it is a variant. But it is also consistent with the overall teaching of Scripture and it is certainly consistent with the character of Jesus. And for those reasons,
3 among others, I do believe that it was in the original text of John. And I ve always treated it that way. So let s take a look at the story. And I hope that it moves you as much as it did me while I was studying it this week. I want to divide the story into two parts, and I m going to call the first part I. The Trap That s what s really going on here. The religious leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees, are going to try to trap Jesus in this story. That s the whole point of bringing this woman to him. And the reason that they want to trap him is right there in verse 2: Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. You see, Jesus had been doing miracles. And because of the miracles, large crowds of people had begun to follow him. Now, of course, many of those people only followed him because they wanted to see more miracles. But some of the people were actually beginning to listen to what Jesus had to say. And this alarmed the Scribes and Pharisees, because they had already made up their minds that Jesus was a false teacher. The reason they thought this was because, when Jesus did one of his miracles the healing of a lame man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem he did the healing on the Sabbath day. And that was a violation of their rules. So they thought that Jesus could not be from God. He must be a false teacher. It reminds me of a story I read some time ago about a lifeguard in Hallandale Beach, Florida, named Tomas Perez. One day, Tomas was alerted to a man who was drowning and he did what a lifeguard is supposed to do. He jumped out of his chair and swam out to the man and saved him. And what did he get for his trouble? His supervisor fired him! It seems that the drowning man was outside of the area that Tomas was supposed to be taking care of. And that was a violation of his employment contract. To his credit, Tomas said that, if he had to face that situation again, he would still save the man, even though it cost him his job. So Jesus had broken the rules of the Scribes and Pharisees and they believed that he must, therefore, be a false prophet. And now here he was, teaching in the Temple. And people were listening to him! Back in chapter 7, they had already tried to stop him once. They had sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. But when the guards heard Jesus speak, and when they saw how the people responded to him, they went back to the leaders empty-handed. The Pharisees said, Why did you not bring him? And the guards said, No one ever spoke like this man! So the Scribes and Pharisees came up with a new plan. They would try to trap Jesus in a theological and political dilemma. In verses 3-6 we read, The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Let s take a look at this woman for a moment. The text says that she was caught in the act of adultery. Adultery is when a married person has sexual relations with someone other than his or her spouse. And since she was caught in the act, it means that her husband, or someone else, caught her with the other man. She was
4 probably dragged right out of the bed and taken to the religious leaders. And the leaders saw an opportunity. The leaders dragged the woman over to where Jesus was teaching in the Temple. They threw her down in front of Jesus and then they asked the teacher for his moral opinion. They cited the Law of Moses, in Leviticus 20:10, which said that she should be stoned to death. And they asked Jesus what they should do with her. Now, a couple of things should jump out at us right away. First, if she was caught in the act of adultery, where is the man that she was with? Leviticus says that the penalty is the same for the man as it is for the woman. And second, why are the Pharisees suddenly concerned, about the proper application of Leviticus 20:10? Biblical historians say that, at the time this story took place, the Sanhedrin almost never enforced the Old Testament penalties for adultery. They also say that many of the leaders themselves were involved in adulterous affairs and, therefore, they would not want to publicly condemn someone for the sin of adultery, for fear that it might come back to bite them someday. But now they are going to use the sin of adultery in order to trap Jesus. And this woman is the pawn in their game. And they know that they have Jesus between a rock and a hard place. Here is the dilemma. Adultery is a serious sin. It destroys families. And when families are destroyed, communities are destroyed. So from a purely legal standpoint, they were right. They had a legitimate case that this woman deserved to die. But their accusation was all for show. It was pure hypocrisy. They weren t really shocked at this woman s conduct. It happened all the time. They didn t care about her and they certainly didn t care about the fact that God s law had been violated. They were just exploiting this woman s sin in order to trap Jesus. If Jesus had said, Don t stone the woman, then he would have been contradicting the Law of Moses. And if he did that, then the people would turn against him. The people revered Moses. He was the one who had led the Israelites out of Egypt. He had gone up on Mt. Sinai and received the Law from God. If Jesus contradicted the Law of Moses, no one would believe that he had come from God. On the other hand, if Jesus had said, Yes, go ahead and stone her, then he would have undermined his own message of mercy and forgiveness. Jesus was the friend of sinners. He said that he had come, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. So his message would have been muddled if he had approved of this execution. But that wouldn t have been the only problem. If Jesus had approved of the stoning, the Pharisees would almost certainly have incited the crowd to attack the woman immediately. And that would have brought the wrath of the Romans down on Jesus head, because the Romans had to approve all executions. That s why the religious leaders would later have to go to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, to get Jesus crucified. So Jesus was trapped. Whatever he said, Yes or No, would bring trouble on his head. But there was a bigger issue at stake here. It was an issue that was bigger than the Pharisees and the crowds and the Romans. What Jesus faced here was something that John MacArthur calls, The most profound moral problem in the entire universe. The problem is, How do justice and mercy harmonize? God s perfect righteousness demands that there be punishment for sin. God s holiness burns against sin and evil. He will not allow sin to enter into his presence. There will not be any sin in Heaven. If you sin, you die. That is justice. That is
5 holiness. That is righteousness. But if that is true, then what happens to the poor sinner? The Bible tells us that the God who is pure holiness and righteousness is also the God who is pure love and mercy and forgiveness. The God of justice is also the God of grace. But how is that possible? How can you have grace when you re swinging the sword of justice? And how can you have true justice if no one pays the penalty for sin? If the judges in our courtrooms just waved their gavels and wiped away everyone s crimes, it would make a mockery out of our justice system. This is an impossible dilemma. It really is a trap. Human wisdom has no answer. But God has an answer. And that brings me to the second part of our story, the part that I m going to call II. The Answer How do we, as sinful human beings, escape from the justice that we deserve so that we can experience the love and mercy and forgiveness of God? The answer is the cross of Jesus Christ. On those two wooden beams the justice and mercy of God came together. Our sin required punishment. And Jesus, who never sinned, took our punishment on himself when he died on the Cross. Jesus was our substitute. He took our place. And God unloaded all of his judgment for our sin on Jesus. And then, when the judgment was all poured out, and the sin was paid for, God was free to give us his mercy. God gave Jesus the justice and he gives us the mercy. Jesus was the only one who could bring the justice and mercy of God together. That s why he is the only way to salvation. If you don t go through Jesus, then there s no one to absorb the judgment of God against you and there s no one to take the punishment for your sin. So you can never get to the mercy and forgiveness if you don t go through Jesus. Those Scribes and Pharisees didn t know who they were dealing with when they laid their trap for Jesus. They were dealing with the only person who could free us from the trap. Jesus had the answer. Verse 6 says that, after the religious leaders laid their trap for Jesus, Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. Now, down through the ages, many Bible commentators have ventured all kinds of guesses about what Jesus may have been writing in the dirt. Some say that he was writing out the sins of all of the men who had brought the woman to him. But I don t think that s what is going on here. I think that Jesus is simply taking control of the moment. During my baseball playing years, I would sometimes, as a hitter, come up against an opposing pitcher who wanted to get the ball back from the catcher as quickly as he could, so that he could wind up and throw the next pitch. And the reason that a pitcher does that is because he wants to put pressure on you. He wants you to be rushed. He wants to push you out of your comfort zone because, if he can do that, then he is in control of the situation. It s just one of those little psychological battles that are a part of baseball. It s why I love the game so much. So do you know what my Dad taught me to do when a pitcher was trying to take control like that? He said, Step out of the batter s box. Mess with your batting glove, or tie your shoe, or knock the dirt out of your spikes. Make him wait. Take him out of his comfort zone. You take control. And I think that s what Jesus was doing here.
6 Jesus paused, and stooped down, and doodled in the dirt. And the Scribes and Pharisees got uncomfortable. And they probably started pushing Jesus harder. Maybe they even shouted at him to give them an answer. What do you have to say, teacher? What s your answer? And the more they pushed, the more their true motives came to the surface. This wasn t about the woman. This was about getting Jesus. Jesus doodled a little bit more, until he was in full control of the moment. And then he calmly rose to his feet and looked at the leaders and said, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. What an incredible answer! He doesn t minimize the woman s sin. He doesn t quibble with the Law of Moses. He doesn t challenge the authority of Rome. He simply says, If you think that you have the right to judge her, then throw the stone. But here is the qualification for judging this woman. You have to be without sin. The Greek word that is used here is anamartetos, which means to be without a desire to sin. He was shining a bright light on their hypocrisy. In an earlier exchange with the Pharisees, Jesus had said, You have heard it said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, if a man looks at a woman with lust, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He turned the accusation back on the accusers. Jesus words in Matthew 7:1 come to mind: Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. After Jesus had spoken that amazing sentence, he then he bent down and doodled in the dirt again. And one by one, the Scribes and Pharisees left. First the older ones left, hopefully convicted of their sin. And then the young hotheads followed. And Jesus was left alone, with just the accused woman. It was a powerful moment. Years ago, Lisa and I were invited to a banquet which was a fundraiser for a Christian ministry to unwed mothers in central Illinois. And one of the women who had been helped by that ministry gave her testimony that night. She told a pretty rough story about how she had been addicted to drugs and how she had been selling her body to get money for drugs. And then she got pregnant. But she kept using the drugs. Finally, one night, she overdosed on heroin. Someone called 911 and she was rushed to the hospital. She woke up there on a gurney in a hallway. People kept walking by her nurses and doctors and others. And they could see that she was pregnant and they seemed to know what she had done. And the look in their eyes was a look of utter disgust. But she understood their attitude, because she was completely disgusted with herself. Her life was in a shambles. And now, maybe, she had also harmed the innocent little baby that was inside of her. She closed her eyes and wept. And when she opened her eyes, there, looking down at her, were a man and a woman in their 60 s. And the look on their faces was pure love. What she didn t know then was that the love she saw in their eyes was the love of Jesus. This couple, who were the founders of the ministry that the banquet was for, had just felt called by God that night to go to the hospital and look for someone who needed help. And they found this woman, and it was the beginning of a whole new life for her. And what was really cool was that, after this woman was done talking, she introduced her beautiful 12 year old daughter. And then she introduced her husband of 9 years and the two young children that they had together. Jesus looked at that woman who had been caught in adultery and his look was pure love. He said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
7 She said, No one, Lord. And then Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more. It was a moment of pure grace. Jesus didn t minimize her sin. He simply looked at her and saw her broken, repentant heart and said, I don t condemn you. Because, you see, Jesus was planning to take the condemnation for her. In just a few short months, when he went to the cross, Jesus was going to die for her sins. That s why I love being a Christian. No other religious group on the face of the earth has what we have. They can have their swords. I ll take the cross. I ll take Jesus. Amen and Amen.