My vantage point for this piece
is thru the amazing Theological eyes of Matthew Henry, and his wonderful
commentary on this passage. From my
perspective, a novice man’s opinion, Mr. Henry’s commentary is delightful and
exhaustive enough to fill my appetite for academics on the subject, while
stirring the Heart with Spiritual food of Christ’s Devine Power in the midst of
acutely controlled Strength in the form of Meekness. Oh to have been there to see and hear our
Lord speak with Authority and Compassion in the same breath, wow…
We all know the story. Scribes & Pharisees marched this woman in
before Jesus. Just as He had spoken to
the woman at the well in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, here to, He knew as God
incarnate that He indeed would see this woman brought to Him as an adulteress. He knew her Heart. He knew the accusers Hearts. Yet He in the composure of The Master, He
knelt down and drew in the dirt / sand.
We do not know what he was drawing or writing, but I admire Matthew
Henry’s comment on this subject. “Conscience
is God’s deputy in the soul, and one word from him will set it on work, Heb.
4:12.” I see this moment as a
dramatic pause for these Scribes and Pharisees; they must have delighted in His
silence as He knelt there. Then He
stood, to them, He stood there as a man they were about to trick or trap into
saying something they could condemn Him with.
But after He stood – He spoke, as God’s Son He Spoke, the wisdom of the
ages formed as The Word of the moment, timed and exercised perfectly. “He who is without sin among you, let him
throw a stone at her first”.
Thump, went the first stone, thud
went the next, then, as a bag of marbles spilled out unto the ground, they all
dropped their stones. For He alone,
among all the men present that morning – He alone was without sin, He alone was
blameless, He alone was pure and clean, The Very Word of God convicted their
conscience. They dropped their stones
along with their ability to accuse this woman of anything in light of their own
filthy sins. Christ knew their Hearts.
His Moral Object Lesson was over –
right? No. He carried on a brief conversation with her to
show “us” the Heart of this dear woman; she was in need of a Savior, a
Redeemer, and a Champion to rescue her from her own poor and sinful
choices. When she was placed in the
presence of This Great Light of the Living Water of Christ, she recognized her sin
and saw it as He saw – maybe for the very first time.
I see Christ looking at her with
deep concern, deep compassion for the condition of her Heart, and as He looked
upon her, He had already forgiven her in His Dynamic Economy of Time. For in His Eternity, the Cross was already a
finished work, thusly, her sins were forgiven.
Christ died for all sin, Past, Present and Future. She had been forgiven. She stood there alone, with The Master still
stooped and drawing on the ground. He
knew they were all gone, yet He stood up, looking around as to indicate to her
with His body motion / language, they are not here. Then He spoke to her, “Woman, where are those
accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
Her answer was more than likely offered with a shaky and broken voice, “No One, LORD”… Ah, acknowledgment of His Lordship, knowing in Her Heart she had just been saved, physically from these corrupt men, and Spiritually by her Lord…
Then the words spoken by our Dear
& Precious Lord are the words that those of us that Truly understand the
weight and depravity of our sin long to hear…
“Neither do I
condemn you; go and sin no more.”
You are no longer condemned to a stoning, no longer condemned to death… Now go on with your life and SIN NO
MORE !!! Folks, this is a call
to Obedience of the Word of God in its authority and Sovereign Holy direction
for our lives.
Grace – means there is nothing we
can do, say or negotiate to win God’s favor, for Christ fulfilled God’s
requirement for a death payment for sin.
If we take Christ’s Salvation – we must submit and yield to His
Lordship. 1st Corinthians 6:18
thru 20 - 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin
that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins
against his own body. 19 Or do
you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We are no longer our own – He bought
us with His own Life, thus His Word is ours to Obey…
America’s new culture is contradictive
to any sort of accountability, thus it teaches our citizens of all walks that
we are a group of individuals accountable to no one but ourselves. “It’s all about Me, what I want, when I want
it and where I want it – period”. Satan’s
schemes are all alike, nothing new under the sun.
Choose this this day whom you
will serve… Will you choose God, to which
the Blessings are first to be joint aires with His Son in Eternity, and all the
riches of Heaven are your reward. Or… Choose the ways of the world, believing there
is no accountability for living this life apart from God’s Holiness, and in the
end discovering you were serving your father the Devil.
The Gospel of Christ as written
by The Apostle John
Chapter 8 Verses 2 thru 12
2 Now early in the
morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He
sat down and taught them. 3
Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And
when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman
was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be
stoned. But what do you say?” 6
This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse
Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though
He did not hear.
7 So when they
continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without
sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and
wrote on the ground. 9 Then
those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one,
beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the
woman standing in the midst. 10
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her,
“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one,
Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go
and sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to
them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
