“Now, Master, this woman has been caught in adultery - in the very act. According to the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman to death. What do you say about it?” They were using the question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 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. At this, those who heard began to go away, one at a time, the oldest ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman, still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
John 8:4-11
My first response to this story of the adulterous woman is “What about the man?” After all, Leviticus 20:10 states “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife - the wife of a neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” Adultery is a sin no matter who commits it. Jesus would have known this verse. But that was not the response he gave. Instead, Jesus showed love.
The Pharisees could have stoned the woman themselves when her sin was discovered. Instead, their intent was to trap Jesus because they did not believe in him. They were using the woman for their own purpose. If Jesus agreed that the woman should be stoned, he might lose the support of some of those who followed Him. If he did not, he would be in violation of the commandment. But Jesus would not be sidetracked from his mission. “God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:17) Satan was trying to get Jesus off of his mission through these men. Satan does the same thing to us when we judge others. We, unlike God, are not impartial judges. It is hard for us to love and judge at the same time.
We have all stood in the Pharisees shoes (sandals) where we have judged another. And although we may not have committed adultery, we have all sinned. We don’t like to deal with our own sin. We make ourselves feel better by pointing out that others are much worse. But Jesus taught that we must remove the plank from our eye to see clearly to remove the speck from another’s eye (Matthew 7:5). We don’t know what Jesus wrote in the dirt that day, but perhaps He was listing the “planks” of the Pharisees - hidden vices and personal sins. While Jesus did not directly call them out, he was able to convict them enough that they walked away.
Jesus never denied that the woman had sinned. He waited until after all the others had left to tell her that He did not condemn her. Perhaps He wanted her to know that he loved her because He saw her, recognized her potential, knew what she could become and wanted the best for her. She had been given a second chance. He gave her life back because it was not the Pharisees to take. He said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” He wanted her to leave her life of sin so that she could have “life to the full.” It would be her decision.
Scripture does not tell us if the woman or the Pharisees left their sin. But we can examine our own lives to see what sin we might need to remove. This is a daily decision - "to walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16a).
Before His encounter with the Pharisees and the adulterous woman, Jesus had gone to the Mount of Olives where He often spent time with God. He set this example to show us how to deal with others in love. First we must spend time with God. It is only through time with God and walking with the Spirit that we will not “gratify the desires of the flesh” but will learn to love and not judge others.
By this, everyone will know that we are His disciples - If we love one another. - John 13:35
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