Bible Study Notes - John 7:53 to 8:11

Bible Study Notes  - John 7:53 to 8:11

In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters five, six and seven, the Lord Jesus declares He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it through His life, preaching and teachings.  He establishes a “New Law of Love” which exceeds the requirements of the black letter commandments of the Torah and Decalogue, The Ten Commandments.  According to Jesus, simply adhering to the Law’s stringent requirements does not equate with righteousness before the Heavenly Father.  Jesus condemns the Pharisaical stratagem of building a hedge around the Law by staying within its requirements to ensure a person does not break the Law.  If the Law allows forty lashes, Pharisees would stop at thirty-nine lashes seeking to guard against breaking the Law.  Rather, Jesus demands His disciples consider the human element in observance of the Law.  He harshly criticizes the Pharisees for arguing against His performing miracles on the Sabbath though broken, lame, blind, diseased, mute and otherwise unhealthy people would be left in their pain and suffering due to technical adherence to the Law.  The “New Law of Love” overrides this stench of religiosity, piety and perhaps hypocrisy.  Rather, it prioritizes the needs and well-being of hurting people. 

The first chapter of the Gospel of Mark concludes with a story in which Jesus demonstrates extraordinary love to a leper.  The evangelist says Jesus looks upon the man, probably being the first person to show that man this kind of consideration and respect in quite a while, and loves him.  Remarkably, Jesus touches the man thereby demonstrating His love for this leper.  Jesus’ actions actually violate the Law by having any contact with the leper.  The black letter Law prohibits Jesus from touching this leper lest He contaminate other people with whom He would have contact afterwards.  However, the “New Law of Love” mandates that disciples look beyond technicalities and meet direct embodied needs of people who linger in pain and suffering.

The great apostle of love, John, vividly depicts the “New Law of Love” in this most compelling scene in which Jesus extends love, grace and mercy to a woman caught in the act of adultery.  He looks beyond the permissive punishment of the Law and offers her forgiveness, healing and redemptive love.  Chances are most people recall this story because of the immortal and often quoted line, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.”  Recitation of that line focuses mostly on the sin and the questionable right of the crowd to condemn the woman and justly punish her.  More significantly, Jesus refuses to condemn this woman.  He even encourages her to find a new life by ceasing her personally destructive behavior.  Jesus’ graciousness and mercy are genuine attributes of agape, the highest form of love which is selfless, sacrificial, redemptive and transformative.  Jesus unfailingly loves this unnamed woman with His authentic concern for her well-being as a child of Almighty God.  He desires that she accepts her inheritance as a daughter of God and begin cultivating a character and lifestyle consistent with her true identity. 

In this story which I peg as “The Beauty of Mercy,” Jesus demonstrates the true essence of the entire teachings of the Law and the Prophets.  Some biblical scholars suggest that Micah 6:8 summarizes the teachings of Jesus.  “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God.”  This beautiful story of mercy illustrates this verse.  It would be unjust, unreasonable and unprincipled to condemn and stone this woman as the man with whom she is caught goes free.  She deserves mercy instead of retribution as she is exploited by the religious leaders.  Conceivably, she may have been a prostitute and thus oppressed by certain economic and social conditions necessitating such a demeaning and dehumanizing lifestyle.  As Jesus argues with Pharisees and other religious rulers, He reveals their inability to walk humbly before God as the man who was with the woman may have been one of them.  In granting the right to anyone in the crowd who had led a sinless to cast the first stone, Jesus establishes mercy, grace and humility as cardinal principles in executing and adjudicating matters under the “New Law of Love.”

This story emphasizes the necessity of understanding and applying mercy when relating with fellows disciples and even unbelievers according to the “New Law of Love.”  Mercy differs from grace as mercy means sparing a potentially guilty person of a punishment he justly deserves.  As it relates to American criminal law, an act of mercy equals a pardon of a conviction whereby an incarcerated person is freed and the State relinquishes its due right to demand that he serve the remainder of his sentence.  Grace, in contrast, is God’s unmerited favor; practically speaking, grace is God’s kindness toward a person which emerges from God’s generous character.  In this story, Jesus exemplifies both of these divine attributes.

Consider the following questions and ideas as you study the passage.

·         This story occurs in the temple courts.  John contrasts official and institutional religion with cultivating a relationship with Almighty God through Jesus Christ.  Religion would execute the woman caught in adultery.  A relationship with a loving, gracious and merciful God yields a pardon.

·         As you study the passage, compare the theological differences between Jesus and the Pharisees.

·         Most Bibles note the textual and manuscript problems of this story.  The oldest and most reliable texts do not have this story.  Some scholars question the reliability of this story.  Do you find their objections to be reasonable?

·         Nevertheless, this story offers one of the most compelling instances of divine love and grace.  The power of its message overshadows the textual and manuscript challenges.

·         Though we have read it many times and possibly have hard numerous sermons on this passage, it deserves our meticulous and careful reading and analysis.

·         After teaching the crowd at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus retreats to the Mount of Olives as they crowd disperses and returns to their homes.  The Mount of Olives was one of Jesus’ favorite places to pray and communion with the Heavenly Father.  There, Jesus ultimately prays the “High Priestly Prayer” on the night Judas betrays Jesus and the other disciples desert Him.  On this occasion, Jesus goes there for spiritual rejuvenation.  Jesus allows the Father and Spirit to regenerate Him after teaching.  His example is instructive for those persons who serve in the household of faith.  Strength, power and wisdom come from God.  We are vessels which require refueling like automobiles. 

·         Further, this trip to the Mount of Olives prepares Jesus for His forthcoming encounter with the Pharisees and this woman who is caught in the very act of adultery.  He gleans the divine wisdom and insight to teach this smaller crowd about God’s attributes of love, grace, mercy and compassion.

·         Just after sunrise, at dawn, Jesus appears in the temple courts where the people had gathered.  He sits down in order to teach them about the character of Almighty God.

·         Note the evangelist’s use of the themes of light and darkness with his mention of the dawn.  As the fourth watch of the night yields to the burst of dawn, John recites an incredible story of grace and mercy versus legalism and religious tradition.  This literary technique entices the reader to determine who stands in the darkness and who lives in the light.  The evangelist posits Jesus is the “Light of the World.”  Persons who refuse to believe in Him stumble forever in darkness.  Adherence to religious traditions and self-righteous personal piety which the Pharisees and teachers of the Law personify equates with walking in darkness.  Instead, disciples have an opportunity to leave the darkness of self-reliance and ritualism and walk into the dawn of new life in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

·         Providing an ideal opportunity but with the ulterior motive of entrapment, the teachers of the Law and Pharisees bring a woman caught in the act of adultery to ascertain what Jesus recommends as to her punishment given the clear and explicit commandments of the Law.

·         It does not appear these religious rulers and teachers have any concern for this woman.  She is a pawn in theological chess game.  They relegate her to collateral and expendable human waste as they seek to discredit Jesus and His teachings.  The evangelist cautions disciples against this rabid and irrational indifference to humankind’s dilemmas.  The Gospel of our Lord and Savior challenges disciples to grapple with people’s incapacities and daily messiness of their lives.  Ironically, these learned, religious people are indifferent to this hurting woman.

·         It stands to reason that if the woman was caught in an act of adultery she was with a man.  Where is the man?  Who was the man?  Why do the Pharisees and teachers of the Law fail to insist that the man be punished? 

·         Admittedly, during those biblical times in the Ancient Near East, woman did not possess equality with men.  However, the Law stipulates that both persons caught in adultery be stoned to death.

·         At the Weekly Bible Study and Prayer Meeting, participants reasoned that the man was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious council of the Jews comprising an equality of Pharisee and Sadducees.  The leaders were protecting one of their own.  They allow him to hide within the crowd and escape scrutiny and judgment.

·         The religious leaders ask Jesus for a decision regarding this woman’s fate as a means of entrapping Him.  They hope He will proactively violate the Law.  They would like justification for their desire to assassinate Jesus.  If they can deceptively gain His acquiescence, then they will garner the support of the crowd in their dastardly deed of committing a “righteous murder.”

·         This scene teaches us to be discerning about the motives of people’s questions.  What is the “real” question?  When people ask us a question, what do they really want to know?  Have you ever had the experience of someone calling to ask for your counsel and advice only to discover that the person called merely to gain your approval of an idea they previously determined was correct?  The person really was not interested in your thoughts and suggestions.  He only wanted your uncritical cooperation.

·         In response, the text says Jesus bent down and wrote in the sand with a His finger.  What a bizarre reaction to such a pivotal question proffered by the religious leaders of the nation!  What leads the evangelist to include this detail without telling us exactly what Jesus writes in the sand?  After all, John witnesses this event firsthand.  He read what Jesus wrote. 

·         What do you think Jesus writes in the sand?  I suspect it was something merciful and gracious perhaps the word, “Forgiven.” 

·         It is generous of John to leave this detail open as he allows us to fill in the blanks of what the Lord would write were we to exchange places with this woman.  Really, all disciples have been in her place at some point along their spiritual journey.  In omitting this detail, John invites us to personalize this passage just as he encourages us to develop a very personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Doubtless, until the day of her death, this woman vividly remembers what Jesus writes in the sand.  For anyone who genuinely encounters Him, the day and time of the beginning of a relationship with Jesus remains indelibly within a person’s mind and heart.

·         The teachers of the Law and Pharisees persist in questioning as to His interpretation and application of the Law in this instance.  They greatly desire success of their entrapment scheme.

·         Jesus straightens up and says these immortal words, “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  This spiritual maxim teaches us to reflect with levity and grace before quickly passing judgment upon someone.  Have we done what they have been accused of doing?  Have been recipients of God’s grace when we rightly deserved punishment and condemnation?  Can we identify with the accused persons pain, fear, ignorance, incapacities and other defects of character that may have contributed to the commission of sin?  Were we ever given a second chance?  Can we determine a resolution that is restorative rather than retributive?  Do we have any legitimate right to stand in judgment of anyone?  The list of questions we ask in response to Jesus standard of justice is inexhaustible.

·         The verse, John 8:7, establishes the “New Law of Love.”  As the crowd reflects upon their past mistakes, sin and patterns of behavior that undermine their inheritance as children of Almighty God, they extend mercy to this woman as they realize they previously had committed offenses punishable by death but had also been recipients of the grace of God.  As receivers of forgiveness and grace, they become givers of mercy.

·         Jesus’ words offer an entire new beginning to the woman and the crowd as they receive a new insight for adjudicating sin.  They now have a new spiritual guide with which to handle people’s errors.  The “New Law of Love” mandates the importance of human pain and suffering as well as building better relationships will enable the creation of a more just and equitable society as disciples strive to adjudicate disputes with a transformative purpose for the individual and reconciliation within relationships.

·         Then, Jesus stoops down and begins to write in the sand again.  True to His method of teaching, Jesus announces a profound spiritual principle and then allows it to explode in the mind, consciousness and heart of the hearers. 

·         Usually, Jesus embeds divine wisdom within a story as the parables in the Gospel demonstrate.  We are not privy to how the rich young ruler, Simon the Pharisee or the nine lepers ultimately processed and applied Jesus’ teachings.  We simply know that the rich young ruler went away sad.  In time, he may have joined the Jesus movement.  Simon the Pharisee castigates Jesus for allowing a prostitute to touch Him yet alone wash His feet with her hair and perfume.  Did this upright and stalwart religious man ever understand divine compassion and forgiveness as Jesus instructed him that afternoon in Simon’s dining room?  As it relates to the nine lepers who did not turn around to express thanks for their healing and new lease on life, perhaps, they “paid it forward” in subsequent years as they graciously and bountifully help other suffering people.  Simply put, it may have taken time for these lepers to realize fully the incalculable and miraculous blessing they received.  In that time, gratitude grew within their minds and hearts.  When the epiphany occurred, they practiced their thanksgiving by helping other people.  Decades after graduating from high school and college, students finally appreciate the sacrifices of their teachers.  Lessons that they did not grasp while enrolled in courses burst with clarity on the horizon of their minds and consciousness like a new dawn.  Then, these students may write their teachers and genuinely express gratitude for their commitment and dedication to education and learning. 

·         When the truth erupts between their ears like the burning, fierce lava of an active volcano, the crowd drops their stones and disperses acknowledging their inability to judge this woman.  They leave her standing alone in the presence of Jesus who is the only Person in the crowd qualified to pass judgment on this woman.  Consistent with the teaching of the fifty-first psalm, disciplines sin against God and God alone.  Eventually, sinners stand before the presence of God to receive His decision relating to their choices and consequences.  Only a perfect and loving God can perfectly adjudicate sin.  Disciples like this woman stand alone in the presence of Almighty God.

·         It is particularly significant that John explicitly states that the older persons in the crowd leave first!  A walk down memory lane usually yields compassion and forgiveness.  However, periodically “senior and seasoned saints” forget the days of youth, temptation, ignorance, impulse, and immaturity.  Their mental lapses inadvertently lead them to employ an unjust standard when evaluating the behavior of seekers, sinners and other people who come to church.  They expect people to arrive without challenges and character defects.  They forget the long and painstaking process of spiritual growth they experienced enroute to becoming a person of honesty, integrity and truth.

·         A critical conversation ensues between Jesus and this woman.  After the crowd leaves them alone, Jesus straightens up again and directly addresses the woman.  He asks about the whereabouts of the people who sought to stone her.  “Has no remained to condemn you?”  She says, “No one sir.”    

·         With the elegance of mercy, Jesus tells her that neither does he condemn her.  He spares her death sentence which would have been executed had He not intervene.  Moreover, Jesus gives her new life.

·         He concludes their conversation with an encouraging and empowering word, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  In order to receive her new life, this woman must make fundamental changes in her choices and lifestyle.  She cannot continue a life of prostitution and adultery.  Otherwise, she would trample upon the grace of God.

·         Contemporary disciples have a similar obligation to appreciate God’s gifts of grace and mercy by daily practicing spiritual disciplines which enable their spiritual maturity and personal growth.

·         Notwithstanding the enduring and valid textual criticisms which biblical scholars and other serious students of the Bible offer relating to this passage, it is a priceless portrait of “The Beauty of Mercy.”  Utilizing the grand literary techniques of duality (light and darkness, religion versus a relationship with God, legalism and liberty, punishment versus pardon and judgment and mercy), the great evangelist of love brilliantly and succinctly paints with meticulous detail a divine example of unfailing love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy.