Caught in the act! A phrase that usually leads to accusation, conviction and sentencing. There’s no need for further testimony or deliberation since there are eyewitnesses to the crime and the perpetrator has been apprehended.
The account in John’s gospel of the woman caught in the act of adultery seemed like an open-and-shut case to the religious leaders. It was during the Jewish Festival of Booths and people were wondering if Jesus would show up in Jerusalem. The contest between the Pharisees and Jesus was heating up and their murderous hatred for Him was growing. Their previous attempts to either discredit Him in debate or catch Him in some wrong interpretation of the law so they could arrest Him had failed. But now here was Jesus, seemingly ready to spring the trap they had set.
But another person was caught up in the Pharisees' scheme, the bait in the trap. The Scriptures don’t tell us how this nameless, faceless woman became known to the Pharisees and then captured in their web. Suddenly she found herself, early on a festival morning, snatched away from her bed and her lover’s arms, manhandled through the streets and finally pushed into the middle of a surprised-then-hostile crowd.
Some of those people may have been her neighbors, even family members. They all stood gaping at her as she tried to clutch her clothes more tightly around her.
The Pharisees shouted questions at Jesus like a pack of howling dogs, trying to get Him to say the wrong thing, not realizing they were trying to debate the author of the law.
Here is where the story took a surprising turn for me. Jesus did not answer the Pharisee’s accusations or address the adulterous woman. Instead,
“He stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger (John 8:6, New Living Translation).”
Many suggestions have been made about what Jesus wrote in the dust. Some have proposed the Ten Commandments, others thought He was writing the sins of the Pharisees. I confess I voted for the latter thinking that should shut them up — forgetting that I am a recovering Pharisee.
As I puzzled over this, the thought came to me, what if Jesus wrote this,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love, ... with unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself (Jeremiah 31:3, NLT).”
“… you are precious to Me. You are honored and I love you (Isaiah 43:4b, NLT).”
This revealed to me a completely new perspective on this account of Jesus’ interaction with this woman. I was so intent on accusing and condemning the Pharisees that I missed Jesus’ great heart of love for her, cowering in the face of death. John didn’t say if the woman was standing or had been thrown to the ground. But either way, she probably was facing or looking down, fearing to see that first stone hurtling at her head.
Because He was stooping down, Jesus could look up or over at her face as He expressed the Father’s love for her. He was right on her level, reaching out to her. Was she shocked to sense such love and acceptance from Him at the time when her worst sins were exposed to the whole community? Thinking it was her last moments, did she find comfort and peace knowing that Jesus knew all about her and still loved her?
“He is also directing attention to the Pharisees’ motives and intent to sacrifice this woman to their jealousy and bloodlust toward Jesus.”
Jesus then turned His attention to the Pharisees and their accusation toward the woman, pointing out that there are two kinds of evil to be purged. He is not excusing the woman for her immoral behavior. That must be dealt with. But He is also directing attention to the Pharisees’ motives and intent to sacrifice this woman to their jealousy and bloodlust toward Jesus. Both immorality and murderous hatred are evils to be purged from God’s people.
“All right, but let the one who never sinned throw the first stone (John 8:7, NLT)!”
As the story famously goes, the Pharisees, not wanting to be seen as self-righteous, relaxed their grip and dropped the stones they were so eager to throw and slunk away into the shadows of the temple.
The woman stood face to face with love incarnate, not knowing what to do or where to go.
“‘Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?’
“‘No, Lord,’ she said.
“And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I. Go and sin no more’ (John 8:10-11, NLT).”
“God’s heart expressed through Jesus’ posture with this woman is one of redemption and restoration.”
Here is the application not of the letter of the law but the heart and spirit of the law. God’s heart expressed through Jesus’ posture with this woman is one of redemption and restoration. Jesus preached the gospel to her by assuring her that her sins were forgiven, freeing her to live a new life.
There are other instances where Jesus stressed the importance of mercy to the Pharisees, e.g., Jesus and His disciples went to Matthew, the former tax collector’s house for a meal which was also attended by social and religious outcasts. The Pharisees of course were scandalized by this, asking the disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with such scum (Matthew 9:11, NLT)?”
Jesus replied, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor — people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
In another encounter with the religious leaders, Jesus again refers back to Hosea 6:6 when they protested the disciples’ picking and eating heads of grain on the Sabbath.
“But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices’ (Matthew 12:7 NLT).”
“God’s law was never intended to be a cudgel to beat people into submission and certainly not a murder weapon.”
God’s law was never intended to be a cudgel to beat people into submission and certainly not a murder weapon. I am shocked and repulsed by the Pharisees’ willingness to shed blood to maintain their positions of power and, yet, I have to admit my own calloused self-righteousness toward others whose choices and priorities offend my sense of right and wrong.
The hymn, “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven,” has a wonderful line describing the Lord in the second verse: “Slow to chide and swift to bless.” I am just the opposite — quick to judge, condemn, and slow to give grace and mercy. Jesus had every right to throw the first stone at the woman caught in the act of adultery. He knew all about her and how she came to be in that situation. Instead, He withheld the punishment she rightly deserved, offering her forgiveness and redemption — the essence of God’s mercy.
I’ve been “caught in the act” my fair share of times and much more than is fair the Lord has extended mercy to me. But when I catch others, I still have a long way to go in learning the lesson of Hosea 6:6, mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, not burnt offerings. During this Christmas season, will you join me on this journey to know God and love people better?
Michelle A. Melchor is a writer and lead editor for Cru Inner City. She has served with Cru for 49 years.
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