My wife and I stayed home Sunday to deal with some family issues. It wasn’t that we had a bump or an argument, it was physical and mental health related. Iit was special to sing songs and worship together privately instead of the usual devotional.
Our church is trying to develop a ‘study series’ to help people become Christians. Central to any series is “What is the Gospel?” The prevailing thought at the moment is that the Gospel is the person of Jesus Christ, both man and God. In my mind, I am thinking of a story that would best describe the Gospel. Considering the chance to explore this with my wife, I believe I found this story in John 8.
Most Christians remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus does a few amazing things in this little tale. Because John is written in order to teach others about Jesus (John 20:31), I look at this story from the perspective, “What does this tell me about Jesus?” The answer inspired me, and I hope it can encourage you.
Jesus is teaching and his enemies produce a woman caught in sin. They had hoped to trap him in this situation by getting him to go against theLaw of Moses. (John 8:6)
When I look at Jesus’ reaction, I think about the things he could’ve done:
He could have told them they were hypocrites. (Luke 6:42)
He could have said that they were not obeying the Law because the Law states that both the man and the woman must be stoned (Lev 20:10).
He could have answered with a question. (Luke 13:15-16)
He could’ve sent the mob away so that he could continue teaching.
However, he answered by stooping down and writing on the ground with his finger. In essence, it seems like he blew them off. Here is this crowd full of indignation at this woman all ready to go with the stoning and the leaders of the mob confident that they could finally pull one over on Jesus. After all, if this whipped up crowd got an answer they didn’t want to hear, they’d stone Jesus, too.
But Jesus changes the focus of the crowd off her and on to him. They kept questioning him while he wrote (John 8:7ff). When he finally answered, they changed focus again, but this time to themselves. He made them think. When they thought about their own life, they walked away.
On a bit of a tangent, I find it interesting is that there were several capital offenses including having a bull that continuinally gores people (Exodus 21:29), being a disobedient son (Deut 21:18-21), or even cursing your parents (Exodus 21:17). This is in addition to the typical things you’d expect would be punished by stoning (murder, adultery, child sacrifice). I’m not saying that the crowd thought about these things, though I suppose there could have been one or two out there.
In any case, once the crowd was dispatched, he then put his focus on the woman herself. He assures her that he is not condemning her, he forgives her, and then tells her to stop sinning. Truly a compassionate moment that shows the heart of Jesus.
What does this have to do with a story exemplying the Gospel? Plenty, I believe.
We have accusers (Satan, our conscience, others) that really have us dead to rights. We have sinned and we know it, and our accusers know it. Yet, here is Jesus taking them on. In fact, the woman does nothing (and she cannot do anything). Jesus defends her and sends away the accusers. In the same way, Jesus defends us from our own accusers and sends them away. She was still guilty of the crime, but he defended her.
Then, when she could be punished by the one man that had a right to throw the first stone, he forgave her. Jesus could condemn us and his judgements would be right. Instead, he offers forgiveness. He could have forgiven her and left it at that, but he gives her a chance for a new life. It’s the same for us.
You know, it was clearer in my head on Sunday, but I felt the need to write it down before I forgot the whole thing. It helped my wife and I respond to God on a heart level, so it was a valuable study for what we needed.