John 8: 6b-8
” 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.”
God is definitely one very cool dude. I apologize if that sounds disrespectful. It is not meant that way. It is a little lingo from my youth. (Yes, I’m getting to the “Older Than Dirt” end of the age spectrum.)
Confronted with what amounts to an unsolvable puzzle meant to trap Jesus into either (A) Confirming the Covenant Law given by Moses and being guilty of breaking the Roman law, or (B) choosing to honor the Roman law governing Judea and disavowing the laws given by Moses under the Covenant Law instituted on Mt. Sinai, Jesus bends down and ignores the whole situation.
Talk about cool!
Everyone is watching Jesus. What will he do? His followers and disciples are there expecting him to choose. The Pharisees are standing around him demanding that he make a choice. The woman brought before him is awaiting judgment, possibly death by stoning.
Jesus ignores them all. In effect, he lets everyone sweat out the moment while he waits for the perfect time.
When the emotions of all watching have reached a peak and everyone is straining to see what Jesus will do, he stands. I suspect the crowd, including the Pharisees, went suddenly silent. You probably could have heard a pin drop! The Pharisees might have even been drooling in their excitement at watching the trap close on their victim. Which way would he choose?
Jesus (God) knowing the hearts of men and their utter failure to keep the Covenant Law that the Pharisees are flaunting says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And then he breaks eye contact with everyone. He ignores them. Nobody is challenged by Jesus to justify their position or up their game. They are left with his permission to obey the law of Moses and stone her if they want. (Jesus is not worried about the Roman law part of the trap because he knows nobody will take him up on his offer.)
Q: How does this story teach us about our need for Jesus as Savior?
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I think it teaches us to Fear and look for mercy to the God who is Judge and savior. We are guilty and deserve death, even accused by Satan, but it all comes down to the Judge to decide. Jesus is the just judge, but he is also the merciful savior. The sad part of the story is that the Pharisees are also guilty, but because they don’t see their need they don’t receive the forgiveness Jesus gave the woman.
On another note…(tangent : )…while this is one of my favorite stories it probably isn’t original to the Gospel of John, but was added later (lots of Bible footnotes address this). The story however is a true one from Jesus ministry. It is referenced in a few other ancient writings such as those of Papias. The story was well known and fit with the book of John. I think it is one of the many stories that falls under John 21:25 (last verse of John):
“25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
Nathan,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I especially appreciate your comments about the origin of this story.