Nobody’s Perfect, That’s For Sure

“So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”  John 8:7

The self-righteous religious leaders of Jesus’ day brought a woman who was committing adultery to Jesus to see how He would respond.  What is it to be “self-righteous”?  It is to judge oneself by one’s own standards rather than by God’s standards.  In that case, righteousness would be whatever one said it would be.    Look where this has led us to.  It’s perfectly fine to kill one’s own unborn offspring according to the self-righteous leaders of our nation and also plenty of other things that are still a sin no matter how these things are justified in the eyes of the ungodly.  At least, back in Jesus’ day, adultery was still considered a sin.  In this particular case, though, these leaders were not really concerned with the woman’s sin.  Rather they were trying to trap Jesus into a hypocritical response to what He had been preaching and been claiming about Himself to be God’s Son.

These men had claimed that they had caught the woman in the act of adultery.  What?  Did they burst into her bedroom and find her having relations with a man who was not her husband?  It sounds as though they were looking for something, anything, to bring to Jesus in order to make Him look bad among the people in His response.  I haven’t thought about this before, but perhaps this was a setup, that is, if she had the reputation of an adulteress, the men might have persuaded a man to seduce her so that they would have a reason to approach Jesus in their attempt to trick Him.  That is only speculation, since they did not bring the man, but only the woman to the Lord for His response.  However, that’s the way it was in ancient times.  The women were basically possessions of the men which caused the women to be treated as second class citizens.  Besides, they could make an example of this woman before all the women that they better watch their step.  The men were trying to make Jesus look like a hypocrite, but who were the real hypocrites?  People who do hypocritical things are notorious at accusing others of hypocrisy.

Instead of answering these men forthwith, Jesus stooped down and began to write on the ground with His finger.  Perhaps He was writing down their sins, but more importantly, He was waiting for a word from His Father.  Jesus said in John 8:28 and 12:50 that He relied on His Father to give Him the words that He spoke. But the religious leaders grew impatient and kept pressing Him for an answer.  And He certainly gave them one:  “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”.  Adultery carried a death sentence by stoning; thus, this was a life-or-death situation.  Had the men had their way, the woman would have died, but her partner would have gone free.

After Jesus made His response, I can see these men, in my mind’s eye, having their own sins brought to their minds.  We already know that they lacked compassion, had wrong motives, gossiped, plotted, and perhaps they were guilty of breaking and entering the residence or place where the couple were found.  Now imagine what Jesus knew about the lives of these leaders.  He knew every sin that each one had committed, and these men knew that they were guilty and had been exposed by the Son of God.  They turned and left one by one, surely shamed by Jesus’ rebuke, yet more likely determined to rid their town of this One who had embarrassed them once again.

No one other than the Lord has a right to judge another for we all stand guilty before a righteous and holy God until such time as we repent and place our faith in Christ.  We, as believers, are not to ignore sin that we see in other believers, but we must be careful not to condemn others.  A loving and concerned attitude goes a long way in helping one to turn from sin.  We must remember that we are all vulnerable and need each other.  After these men were all gone, only Jesus and the woman were left.  Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?”  She answered, “No man, Lord”.  When the men had brought her to Jesus, she was likely very frightened.  She didn’t know how Jesus would react.  She likely knew the penalty for adultery, but like so many, probably thought that she wouldn’t get caught, but no sin is ever hidden from God.  Sooner or later, it catches up with us, and we are called into account.  Imagine the woman’s relief when Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.”  I think that woman walked away that day as a changed person.  How could anyone be forgiven by Christ and not be a changed person?