“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group…” (John 8:3 NIV)
My heart goes out to this woman. Who among us has not sinned? And to be seized amidst such startling indiscretion? How humiliating! David Guzik brings insight to the law about stoning for the act of adultery. There had to be two witnesses and the witnesses had to be in perfect agreement. It seems probable that this girl and her missing lover were entrapped. Set up from the start. The stoning law for adultery was old and virtually unexecuted, not to mention in direct conflict with current Roman law during that time. The religious leadership did not have authority for the death penalty, which is probably why this entire debate took place within the relative privacy of the Temple courtyard. It was yet another test of Jesus’ loyalty.
We note the absence of the guilty man and wonder if he is among the accusers. Was he part of an elaborate and sinful set-up? What recourse did this woman have? Who was she to accuse a church leader? (This scenario rubs raw in our current culture, doesn’t it?) The adulterous woman was but a pawn in the Pharisees ongoing game of wits with Jesus.
And suddenly, insight crashes through.
The woman is us; the sinner. The Pharisees represent the enemy. He is heartless, driven by his own agenda. We are mere fodder for his fight. He does not care about our soul. He is not invested in our success or happiness. Just as this woman was flattered or hoaxed into bed, our enemy woos and tricks us into sin, wholly unconcerned with the damage done to our reputation, relationships and eternity.
And this is exactly what Jesus does: He stands between us and our accuser. He does not dismiss our indiscretion, but instead pays the full price. He alone could offer grace to this guilty woman because He alone was about to go to the cross on her behalf. He offers us the same
This account clearly reminds us: Satan is not our friend, but Jesus is our Savior. When the cold, hard light of morning comes and our iniquity is on full display, the enemy will accuse and Jesus will absolve. Consider these two contrasting characters and decide who you want to worship. Who is worth our allegiance? Jesus displays His love and grace, His sovereignty and strong. The enemy only exhibits his devotion to our destruction.
“Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you, ” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””
(John 8:10-11 NIV)
For the adulterous woman, every hour and every day thereafter was a gift; an hour and day she did not deserve. How bright the sun must have shone that morning! How clean the air after she had been cleared of her crime! What did she do from there? How did she invest the rest of her days after her narrow escape from public stoning?
I am arrested. How am I spending my own acquittal? Just like the adulterous woman, Jesus stepped into my sinful scenario and liberated me from the hard evidence gathered by my enemy. Jesus’ sacrifice has bought me a lifetime of unwarranted opportunity. How am I employing these days and hours for His Kingdom?
The text moves on, but we are left wondering, what happened to the woman? Did she take up with Jesus, become a follower and tend to His Kingdom? Dd she indeed abandon her life of sin after His glorious and expensive intervention? The tension in her story gives way to our own. We cannot know her ending, but we can tend to the final pages of our earthly narrative. It is the only story we have any real say in.
Lord, today we recognize the two characters vying for our future: our enemy and our Savior. We see the opposition as he truly is: accusatory, entrapping and destructive. We see You as our champion, paying the price for our freedom. May we honor Your sacrifice by living different, by deeply investing in Your Kingdom and telling our story to anyone who will listen. We are so glad for Your intervention, may we not receive it casually. Amen.